One Common Advocacy Tactic Not Worth Your Time (and What To Do Instead!)

I’d bet the moon and most of its cheese that an email like this has shown up in your inbox.

It comes from an organization telling you about the famine in Haiti or the water quality near data centers or how billionaires are making hay while the rest of us clamber for crumbs.

The email is designed to stir up our care. We must do something to right this wrong! And that something, the email tells us, is: “Click this link to send a note to your legislator to tell them..."

But complex problems don’t have solutions as simple as clicking a link.

In Congress, these formulaic emails get batched up and are all given a generic response written by a staffer who usually has zippo influence over what the politician does on the issue at hand. (I know a bit of what I speak: I was once that staffer at the bottom of the office food chain.)

In statehouses, which are mostly populated by part-time legislators with few if any staff to assist them, a flood of form emails can be nearly impossible to find time to respond to.

These “click this link” emails identify problems worthy of solving, but their solution doesn’t move the needle.

So what does?

There’s no quick and easy answer. But if we want to roll up our sleeves and be part of the remedy, here’s how we can show a politician an issue is worthy of their time.

For Congressional Issues: Strategically Contact Your Member of Congress (U.S. Representative or Senator)

• Call one of the district offices to get the name and email of the D.C. staffer who handles the issue.
  
• Send that staffer a short, respectful note with one clear ask. FDR offers good guidance here: “Be sincere, be brief, be seated.”
  
• If the issue hits close to home, why not add 1-2 sentences about how your life has been impacted. No hyperbole needed; we have enough of that. Just plain, clear truth telling.
  
• Ask for a response. This is not a bullying tactic, this is an accountability measure.
  
• Include your address or town to show you're a constituent.
  
• Ask 3-4 friends who also live in the politician’s district - that’s key, politicians are beholden to the folks who live in their district, not another politician’s district - to send an email to the same staffer, but using their own words. This is homegrown care, not a pressure campaign organized by paid lobbyists.

For State-level issues: Strategically Contact Your State Senator or State Representatives

• Call or email your state senator or representative.

If you call, the legislator may likely be the one to answer. State Senators are addressed as “Senator.” State Representatives are addressed as “Representative.”

• Keep it short, clear, and kind. Most notes are filled with anger, threats, righteousness; kindness could be what gets the politician to actually think differently about an issue.
  
• Ask 3-4 friends in the politician’s district to also call or email, using a similar tone and brevity. Only one-third of folks can name their state legislators. (If that’s you, no shame! We don’t get taught this. Here’s where clicking a link can help: click this link to find your state legislators.) A few respectful calls/emails could shape how a politician thinks about an issue.

“Click this link” emails are like sugar: sweet, go down easy, feel good. But real issues aren’t often bettered by spoonfuls of sugar. If we can give these problems a few more minutes, we could be one of the many hands it takes to fashion a real solution.