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.
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.
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
“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.
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.
Thought I’d add that mass phone calls are a tactic used by the NRA and other powerful lobby groups. Getting a lot of their group’s members to voice their opinion is the key to their success…perhaps to the point of making an office fearful of the backlash via phone calls for going against them.
It also helps if you have a very specific and narrow cause … muh guns rights … and anti or pro specific legislation. This creates broad consensus… that follows the NRA draft talking points they usually bring out.
How many calls cancel out each dollar from corporate lobbying
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.
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.
I love threads like this. I find so many interesting people to block
Just called mine! I probably sounded like an ignoramus, but hopefully I said enough intelligible buzz words.
Awesome!
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?
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.
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.
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.
That makes it sound like a secular version of thoughts and prayers.
LOL
Sure they do.
How do you know? Have you ever actually tried?
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 your 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?
yawn. I think it’s pretty dead.
wake me when we live in a just society with laws that apply to all except for that one guy who basically says" fuck you im guilty so what" about everything.
otherwise these… whatcha call them? senators? they’re too busy insider trading, and making money off the laws they write
also lol at both parties will listen. llllooollll
Nazis rose to power in Germany and kept doing worse things because too many people had this defeatist attitude
That’s an incredibly reductionist and ahistorical explanation of how the Nazis overthrew the Weimar Republic…
Not to mention incredibly dismissive to the thousands of people who were literally battling brown shirts in the streets of Berlin leading up to the burning of the reichstag .
The Nazi didn’t rise to power because people had a defeatist attitude, it’s because the Nazi murdered their opposition, were perfectly fine with intimidating voters, and were backed by corporations and a significant portion of the population who blamed socialism for the economic slump of postwar Germany.
If you truly believe this, I highly suggest reading “The Death of Democracy” by Benjamin Hett. Phone calls aren’t going to sway the opinions of someone who fundamentally doesn’t think you should be alive.
Nazi has rose to power in Germany because liberals elected them.
Probably worth crossposting to !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world
