If you're going to Washington to protest

With all the talk about protests at the end of January/beginning of February, I want to make a suggestion for everyone planning to go to Washington.

While you're there, try to meet with your Senators and/or Representatives.

We know the value of calling, faxing and e-mailing our Congressfolk (CF). Think how much more powerful talking to them in person would be.

Sure, you can't just walk up to the Capital and expect an audience and there are some who avoid talking to constituents like we have cooties. I have some suggestions to overcome some obstacles:

Contact the office(s) of the officials you want to meet with ASAP. As soon as you know your travel plans, start staking out your place in the Congressfolk's (CF) schedule.

Decide what you want to talk with them about. Recognize you may not get more than 5 - 20 minutes actual time with your CF so get your message together and make the most of the opportunity. You may also want to make up a package of info (paper or CD) to leave with them. The office will also probably ask what you want to talk to the CF about. The more organized and reasonable you are, the better your chances of getting a meeting.

If you did any volunteer work for and/or donated money to their campaign, don't be shy. Tell their office that you don't just talk the talk. For that matter, if you volunteer and/or donate to other campaigns but not theirs, tell their office about it and tell them you want to know their guy/gal better before you do the same for them.

You may want to team up with some other people with like messages. 3 - 10 concerned voters (especially registered constituents) are harder to ignore than just one. You can organize people yourself or offer to join with others if the office says they have too many requests to accomodate them all. If you do meet as part of a group its expecially important to be organized to get your particular message accross.

If you absolutely can't set up a meeting with the actual CF, someone from their office should be able to meet. Try for the Chief of Staff or Policy Director, but see how far up the food chain you can get, especially if you have a group with a clear message.

Finally, if you can't fit a meeting in during your trip to DC, or for all those people who won't be able to go to DC for the protests, don't be shy about meeting with your CF at their home offices. Its a good idea to sit down with your CF at least once and get a contact at their office you can follow up with as you have new information and/or opinions you want to share.

I wish people would stop thinking of our elected officials as celebrities we see on tv but never expect to meet or connect with. Their time is not unlimited, but given enough advance notice and flexibility and a reasonable, mature approach, they have a responsibility to listen to what we have to say.

Sometimes I think that all people want to do is come here to mock, rant, or be shocked. You have given very good suggestions on how to really connect with your "CF".

I hope more of us are able to organise such trips whether in Washington, DC or in our own states.

Your post tells me that there are still rational minds out there.

And if my experience is any indication, things said to them in person have a lot more impact than emails, faxes and snail-mail letters that only reach their staff members.

more about a march on the SOTU
Jan 31, 2006 - SOTU Address: IMPEACH NOW March on Washington
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5676298

Never hurts to make a phone call or knock on a door.

Everyone-- kick and recommend this thread- keep it up top

It was sad to see the part here about not being able to just walk into the capital and have an audience with your elected congressional representatives. When my daughter was little, we were still able to do that. Visit the White House by getting in line. Go to Congress and eat in the Congressional lunch area, go visit our congressman in his office (big floor vote that day, so everyone was in). True, we all live in fear these days (long forgetting the history of "all we have to fear is fear itself") and congress has been a target too.

Still, how sad. And a commentary on how things really need to change. If we can't just openly reach our representatives, maybe the entire system should be scrapped and rewritten. I'm thinking Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Tom Paine, would NOT be happy with the government we have today. Maybe it does NOT need to be one big country but broken into smaller ones with representation closer to the people of each new country. Just thinking out loud here ... maybe good, maybe not.

When I was young my family went to Washington DC and I remember standing in line for a tour of the White House, going to the Capitol into the gallery to watch "government in action" and stopping by our Senators' and Congressman's offices and finding one of them in so we could say hi. The meaning of it all was over my head, but I remember the idea that this was all for me and that if I ever wanted or needed to, I could go back and see my Pesident and Congressmen.

We do have a system with representation broken down into smaller and smaller jurisdictions. I live near Chicago and I not only have President Bush, Senators Durbin and Obama and Rep. Davis in Washington, I also have Governor Blagojevich, Senator Lightford and Rep. Yarborough in Springfield and more representatives on a County, Township and Municipal level. I meet with my Mayor and Village Board members often. In fact right now we have a small group of Village residents (about half dozen) who are meeting with each Village Board member one at a time to get to know more about them and their vision for our Village.

Like I said, we have to stop thinking about our elected officials as celebrities - famous people we see in on tv or in the papers, but are out of our reach. I think this disconnect is a factor in people not wanting to run for office. The idea that our elected officials are "them". Some special class of people, seperate from "us". It aint so. "We" are "them" and "they" are "us".

I wish everyone would take the time to meet each person that represents them from their School Board to their US Senator. They can hold off on President until we elect one worth talking to.