The Secret Sauce to Changing Policy
While Michigan Congressman John Dingell might not be a big name in most households, his work touched nearly every person in this country.
The Dearborn-area legislator got some of the most high impact legislation of the late 20th and early 21st century across the finish line, including Medicare, the Clean Air Act (which limits the amount of pollutants in our air), the Clean Water Act (which limits the amount of sewage and pollutants in our water), Obamacare, and as a member of the NRA, he watered down gun control provisions.
The Congressman was so effective at building up and out his power, that - as Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee - when he pointed to a picture of Earth taken from space and said, “That’s our jurisdiction,” he wasn’t wrong.
A fellow House member described working with Congressman Dingell as like playing with Babe Ruth: he knocked policy wins outta the park again, again, again. Like what he got done or not, the Congressman was more work horse than show pony.
How’d he do it? This quote from him says an awful lot: "I’ll let you write the substance,” he said, "you let me write the procedure, and I’ll screw you every time.” The more you know about how things work, the more you can make them work for what matters to you.
Congressman Dingell was a student of government and power. We talk a lot about power here, and we’ll keep on doing that. But what I want to do today is come at it through the back door: if we know how our government works, we have the power to make it work better.
Since Congress is the branch of the federal government we have the most influence over, toss some ice in your drink and let’s get into some basic mechanics of our esteemed legislative branch. Not everything, but a few essential pieces.
Congress is a tree with two branches: The House and the Senate.
The House has 435 members and is often called the People’s House because members are supposed to be closer, more accountable to the people. That’s why they have small-ish districts (about 760,000 constituents) and are elected every two years.
You address House members as Congressman/woman/person or Representative.
A word on titles: Policy change turns on trust, and everything we do with a politician or their staff signals whether or not they can trust us. The more they trust us, the more likely they are to take our ask seriously.
A title is usually the first thing we say to a politician, whether in-person or writing. Getting that right outta the gates is the first sign we’re trustworthy.
The Senate has 100 members who each represent an entire state. The upper chamber, as the Senate is often called, is designed to be more removed from the changing political passions of the electorate. That’s why they’re elected every six years.
You address Senators as “Senator.” Some will also probably respond to “Your Highness.”
There are only three politicians worth your time.
We live in a representative democracy - of, by, and for the people as Lincoln said at Gettysburg. In practice, that means we have two Senators from our state and one House member from our Congressional district who are our voice in Congress. (Don’t know who represents you? Click here to find out.)
And we have a bit of leverage with them because they depend on we the voters to get elected, which means they need to keep enough of us happy to get re-elected.
Don’t spend one second reaching out to a politician who doesn’t represent you. Doesn’t matter if they’re Speaker of the House, Senate Majority Leader, or Vice Chair of the Joint Committee on the Library.
We have no leverage with them, and are clogging up the phone lines or inboxes for people who do.
For the three politicians we do have some sway with, here’s one way to make our voice heard. Want to up the ante? Here’s a high-impact, long game alternative to phone calls.
Verrrrrry few bills become law. Only spend your time on the serious ones.
Introducing a bill is easier than melting ice cream on a 100° day. In the House, a Congressperson walks onto the House floor and drops a bill into a lovely wooden box called a hopper. In the Senate, a Senator walks onto the Senate floor and hands the bill to the Senate clerk.
Passing a bill is hard. Last session, 19,315 bills were introduced and only 3% of those became law.
So if a politician says, “I’ve got a bill to address that very issue!” or “I’ve cosponsored a bill to address that issue!?” the question to ask is, “What’s the plan to get it passed?”
There's miles more we can discuss. And we will in the coming weeks.
So let’s wrap with another line from Congressman Dingell: “In democratic government, elected officials do not have power. They hold power – in trust for the people who elected them.”
Which is to say: politicians’ power comes and goes, but the voter’s power remains.