Who represents you?

Published on January 9, 2006 By Spc Nobody Special In Politics

Surprise quiz time!!! You live in a "democratic" country. Technically, so do the north koreans, but we're trying to be literal. I think of it more as a republic myself.

So you're living in this "democratic" nation, where you have a vote! You make the difference! Exclamation points are fun!!! We were created as a nation to the cry of "no taxation without representation." So here's an easy question, right? Who represents you?

Do you know your congressman? Your senators? Somebody was talking about that last night, and for all that I know the issues, current events on the war, a great number of details involving politics and the white house, I felt like those poor bastard high school grads from the infamous test where a sizeable minority of them couldn't name the two countries bordering the States.

Outside of the president, do you even remember who you voted for last election? Did you vote? How about at a state and local level? Who's your daddy......I mean mayor.

If you can remember all of these, you're doing better than me. If not, here's a little something to help ya along.

Now that I've got 'em, maybe I'll write a couple of letters. Why don't you do the same? All the ranting in the world won't do as much as one letter. I remember hearing a senator on NPR saying that getting a hundred letters is a huge deal, bigger than a lot of money from a Washington lobbyist. He said that normal people almost never contact them, except to maybe get help with a problem from a federal agency.

Senators Link

Congressmen by state. Link

Mine are ole' Kay Bailey (Hutchison) (R) and John Cornyn (R) in the Senate, and for the House, John Carter (R), of the 31st district.

Comments (Page 2)

Texas Wahine

on Jan 09, 2006

Actually, yes you can. If you still declare Texas as your state of residency, you are allowed to vote absentee.

Two problems:

1. I have jumped through numerous hoops, but still can't get Texas to allow me to register to vote (I have been registered and voted previously). I know it CAN be done, but after several months of trying and playing mail tag, I gave up.

2. Pretty difficult to stay informed about issues there from here (not impossible, but it requires more effort than I'm willing to expend on issues that don't even remotely affect me since I don't live there).

shadesofgrey

on Jan 09, 2006

I remember hearing a senator on NPR saying that getting a hundred letters is a huge deal, bigger than a lot of money from a Washington lobbyist. He said that normal people almost never contact them, except to maybe get help with a problem from a federal agency.

You'll be surprised to know that this politician lied to you. Of course it varies by the member, but when I was working in the Senate, we have five memebers of staff whose job it was to respond to constituent mail. Yup, that's five people, usually working more than 40 hours a week just responding to letters for ONE SENATOR. And this was just on his committee--he had staff in his personal office that did the same thing. Loads of "normal" people write in all the time--trust me, I was one of those people who responded to letters for 40 plus hours a week.

shadesofgrey

on Jan 09, 2006

1. I have jumped through numerous hoops, but still can't get Texas to allow me to register to vote (I have been registered and voted previously). I know it CAN be done, but after several months of trying and playing mail tag, I gave up

TW: Who would your TX Representative be? Call that office (let me know if you need the number)--explain to their Constituent Aide what the issue is (be sure to throw in that you are a military family and serving the country, and what a disservice it is that Adrian could be heading to Iraq to ensure democracy for Iraqis but you can't even vote in your own country). Let the aide know that you would be voting for their boss if you were allowed to vote in their district (which by law you should be). Doesn't completely matter if you wouldn't actually vote for them, they don't actually need to know that and they can never check, but the promise of a vote can usually make people work a bit faster. Remember it's an election year--play it up. "I would be so grateful if you could help me out, I'd be sure to let all my friends and family back home in (name of district) know how helpful you were and encourage them to vote for your boss (the member of congress)." You'd be amazed at how far flattery goes in this world.

Spc Nobody Special

on Jan 09, 2006

You'll be surprised to know that this politician lied to you.

Politician lying? Never. Don't believe it. Maybe your senator was just really popular. Yeah.

MasonM

on Jan 09, 2006

Represents me? Those guys, you know, the crooked politicians, the ones that went to law school. Yeah, those guys.

Dr Guy

on Jan 10, 2006

You'll be surprised to know that this politician lied to you.

NO! Really?

singrdave

on Jan 10, 2006

Latour,

City Councillor: Franco Magnifico

What kind of name is "Franco Magnifico"? Isn't that Italian for "Magnificent Frenchman"? Maybe that's why he plays so well in Canada...

Gideon MacLeish

on Jan 10, 2006

But the power of numbers still applies in other ways. One way to gain political influence, I have found, is to volunteer to serve on the boards of various organizations. I found that when I addressed representatives as "Gideon Macleish, citizen at large", it had less of an impact than "Gideon MacLeish, co-chair of Valley Homeschoolers, a group of 175 families in your district". The latter had TREMENDOUS impact.

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