If you’re concerned about Trump’s nominations, the most impactful thing you can do is to reach out to your US Senators and voice your opposition. A large volume of brief phone calls do make a difference at strategic times. Immediately after a nomination announcement is one of those strategic times, because they are figuring out how/whether to respond publicly. Democracy must be fought for even after elections have ended.
Contacting Senators from both parties also matters right now. The prevailing message in the media is that Dems need to cater even more to Republicans to win the next election, they need to hear your voice if you disagree with that.
The most effective phone calls take less than a minute: say your name, your city or ZIP code, and what you support/oppose, maybe a sentence on why. You’ll be marked down on a spread sheet that is discussed at the daily office strategy meeting.
Other actions like brief emails, meeting in-person at the district office, meeting in-person at the DC office, can also be effective, but take more time and energy. Emails aren’t always read right away like a phone call must be answered for example. And you generally need to make an appointment for an in-person meeting.
Some inside perspective:
You are talking to staff or an intern. You might be the hundredth call for the day. They’ve heard all kinds of shit, from long-winded conspiracy crazies to the most courteous and intelligent calls ever. Yelling at them or being a jerk will get you nowhere. Be prepared to state your case clearly and concisely. Your concern will indeed be noted and logged.
Do not call a congressperson that isn’t your own. They are not required to listen to you, you are not their constituent. Do not write a congressperson that is not your own. The letter is almost guaranteed to go straight into the trash.
The best letters go on the intern break room fridge to be enjoyed by all.
Even so, unfortunately the congressperson may not act in a way consistent with the majority of people’s calls and letters. Thank money and power plays in politics for that.
Do not call a congressperson that isn’t your own. They are not required to listen to you, you are not their constituent.
Unless they happen to be chairing a committee that you have an opinion on.
Then it’s fair game.
Counterpoint: call them anyway. Gum up the works. Change the mind of their interns. Send enough letters that it becomes a waste disposal problem.
Be annoying and difficult and make them work for every inch.
But also be nice. The interns are people too.
Democracy doesn’t end at the ballot box
This time, it did
Anti-genocide protesters did more than just pick up a phone and call. We all saw the result.
Don’t know why you’re getting downvoted. While we all hate the outcome, we can’t argue they were effective in getting what they wanted.
Except they didn’t get what they claim to have wanted, they got a result that is much worse for Palestinians.
They got ignored by the people they petitioned for help.
YSK call your house rep. They’re more likely to answer. Also call your state reps first. Most issues are handled on a state level, not federal, and state house reps tend to be the most accessible.
Totally agree it’s important to engage all levels of government. But only the US Senate has the authority over nominations
Gotta love that this needs to be explained to American adults.
I tell you, they really love the uneducated here, folks.
I love threads like this. I find so many interesting people to block
Unless you’re wealthy enough to own two or three senators they don’t give a flying fuck what any of us have to say.
Just called mine! I probably sounded like an ignoramus, but hopefully I said enough intelligible buzz words.
Awesome!
“We should call our representatives”
“na na why should I bother? This requires effort and I have to figure out what to say. And anyway my cynicism dictates that it doesn’t matter. na na blah blah”
“How do you know, you’ve never tried”
“I just know blah blah they don’t care blah blah”
“Well, you’ve definitely proved that not calling produces no results”
I’ve tried nothing and it hasn’t worked. I’m all out of ideas.
They don’t have to take away your power if you stop yourself from using it first. Don’t willingly give up your voice.
God, the doomerism in the comments here fucking sucks. If you won’t even pick up a phone why am I expected to believe you’ll be the hardest antifa soldier there ever was when the revolution comes (which, conveniently, is never)?
This is more embarrassing than those people who spend real life money prepping for a zombie apocalypse. At least those people have things that might actually be useful in a real disaster.
Are you implying that this doomerism is of no use to anyone?
Correct. Doomerism is at best capitulating in advance.
why am I expected to believe you’ll be the hardest antifa soldier there ever was when the revolution comes (which, conveniently, is never)?
Are people here claiming to be that? Don’t conscript me to your make believe army.
There are very clearly some people that are accelerationist. I guess it’s possible they think they won’t have to fight, which makes being an accelerationist even shittier.
Also, if it’s wasn’t about you then it wasn’t about you.
LOL
Sure they do.
How do you know? Have you ever actually tried?
I have. Quite a lot. I think they actually made things worse just to spite me.
Cool. I’m actually in the same boat. My House rep is a Republican fuckwit who’s been in office for a billion years, give or take. We agree on exactly nothing. I still call and email for the simple reason that even though he will always go with the majority opinion if I don’t do it then there will never be a chance for it to not be the majority opinion. I know it seems futile but it still important to represent our views and make sure those we disagree with aren’t the only thing the hear.
What do you even write in the email?
“Do what I want or else…”
I think the lack of correlation between public opinion and government policy is more than satisfactory to demonstrate how much our federal legislators care about your phone calls, yes.
I think the lack of correlation between public opinion and government policy is more than satisfactory to demonstrate how much our federal legislators care about your phone calls, yes.
I hear you and acknowledge it is frustrating. But your assumption seems to be that your view is shared by all and thus “public opinion” aligns perfectly with what you believe or at least that a majority agrees with you. We all do this because we imagine our opinions to be sensible and hey, why wouldn’t other people share them? But they don’t.
They don’t give a shit about that. They don’t pick up their phones.
They have automated email responses, and if you send them an email you are put on their campaign donation mailing lists.
If you can’t get in their face or them into you back pocket it is not worth it.
Revolution is required at this point.
Have you tried calling their phones? Sure some don’t pick up, but enough do.
I’m in favor of larger structural changes, but I’m not about to roll over and allow fascists to get everything they want in the current system. How many people do you expect to join a revolution if they won’t even be bothered to pick up a phone?
How many calls cancel out each dollar from corporate lobbying
Less than you would think, but it also depends on how you contact them. A physical call is way more powerful than an email. 10 people passionate enough to call can easily translate to 1k people passionate enough to vote about it.
It’s highly variable, and yes I absolutely agree money in politics is a big problem. I do have a direct experience where reaching out to my Senators led to them aggressively and successfully opposing a provision in a law that would have had a big impact on me. Don’t want to dox myself, but this real change to a bill made a huge difference to me and many others. So it is possible to make an impact.
Probably worth crossposting to !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world
I’ve been calling my representatives nonstop for a year to end their support for the genocide in Palestine. When is this supposed to start working?
it doesn’t work, this trick is merely a psyop to shift the blame from the regime whores to plebs.
If you want your voice to be heard, get a lobbying like an adult alpha male.
These tactics are not always a guarantee to have things go your way, but they increase the chances. For phone calling, numbers of people calling in matter the most, particularly at strategic times, including: right after big announcements, right before a committee vote, right before a floor vote. It’s also more effective before dominant narratives have arisen around a topic and there is uncertainty on how things could shake out.
That makes it sound like a secular version of thoughts and prayers.
These tactics are not always a guarantee to have things go your way
See also: Atlanta city council voting for Cop City despite over two hundred people showing up at the meeting, in person, to speak against it. (Not to mention a petition for a referendum that got hundreds of thousands of signatures but was illegally withheld from the ballot anyway.)
You’re right that actually talking to your representatives works surprisingly often, but sometimes it really blatantly doesn’t.
That’s a nice fantasy. But the sooner you accept reality, the sooner you can begin to get to work on actual solutions, instead of playing along with the illusion.
Why not use multiple tactics? It’s not all or nothing and yes I’m certain Senate offices care about hearing from constituents, far more effective than simply doom scrolling.
The only benefit to attempting to push progressive policies and candidates through the existing system is to illustrate to people on the fence that system cannot be reformed, and it must be destroyed before it will represent us.
Accelerationist bullshit
I’m for larger structural changes, but I disagree that rolling over and allowing fascists to get their way in the current system is acceptable. Let’s do both
If you think either of the only two parties allowed to run aren’t both fascists, you’re not paying attention.
Being aware of local and state politics is always a good thing to do and so much stuff is streamed since Covid. It makes you an informed voter and it’s where most of the stuff that impacts you will take place. Marijuana is one example of the impact of state law winning out over federal law for example.
Reach out in any form you choose. Get to know them and what they stand for through their actions. Explain how things will effect you and people you know. Like anywhere else being an asshole is not the way to go. You might not change their mind but reminding them that everyday voters are paying attention has an effect even if you respectfully disagree.
