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.
this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
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The real power of the NRA is their membership is mostly reliable voters.
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
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.
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.
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A self-fulfilling prophecy if his constituents don't try to make him care
They actually do care believe it or not. When our city council was voting on municipal fiber we showed up to petition our conservative city council representative to vote in favor. Guess who also attended, a representative from our federal senator’s office. Oh man the look on his face when only 3 members of the public showed up, two of them major supporters of municipal broadband, and the third spoke up to agree with us. Mmmm priceless. The city council man and conservative rep were so damn flustered. The senator’s rep took notes the whole time and we got to talk to him one on one. These outreach events do way more than you would think, this is how they gauge what they can get away with. Don’t let them discourage you, show up and bitch!
If anyone doubts it, just look what lunatic conservative Karens have done at school board meetings across the country.
It's gross when it's about banning books, but when it's something positive, it's actually pretty amazing to see. Like the handful of students that you'd see show up between Karens to give impassioned pleas to, you know, please don't do that.
If anything that makes it more important. We already know how essentially all the Democrats are going to vote. A couple of Republican defections is all it takes to hold the Senate.
The key here is they don’t have to defect on everything. Turning every Republican senator into a never Trumper isn’t happening. But making some of them defect some of the time is a lot more feasible, and requires constant pressure.
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"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"
They don't have to take away your power if you stop yourself from using it first. Don't willingly give up your voice.
I've tried nothing and it hasn't worked. I'm all out of ideas.
Being aware of local and state government 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 despite federal law.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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It's too late, buddy; the fascists already control everything.
They do not, Trump's appointments are not yet in place. It's never too late to fight for democracy.
As a Canadian looking in, it's hard not to agree with pearsaltchocolatebar. Although I do love your determination, you might end up having to fight for it more literally.
Resistance to authoritarian regimes takes many forms, I found the book Why Civil Resistance Works to be a very helpful analysis of different resistance movements and their tactics
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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.
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Just called mine! I probably sounded like an ignoramus, but hopefully I said enough intelligible buzz words.
Awesome!
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