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Comment by mikeash | Hacker News Reader

Get involved how, exactly?

I do vote. I have a hard time convincing myself that it's even worth the time it takes to do so, but I do it.

I've tried writing to my representatives to express my views. I get form letters in response, with absolutely no indication that my voice has been taken into account in even the smallest way.

People say you should get involved in local party meetings and such, but there are no viable parties that I agree with even remotely, and in any case I'd rather stab myself in the eyeballs with a toothpick than attend such meetings.

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> I get form letters in response, with absolutely no indication that my voice has been taken into account in even the smallest way.

They listen; they just don't have the staffing to write an individual response to every comment. Unfortunately, they listen by having a staffer say "We had X people contact us in favor of this; Y were opposed." But they do listen. Or: Our voices have been abstracted into sort of a reverse-poll thanks, in part, to technology.

As an anecdote, the only time I had a staffer actually respond to my opinion with more than "I'll pass along your comment" was during the SOPA/PIPA call ins. The staffer I spoke to was clearly (and kind of understandably) irritated with the volume of calls and was somewhat short with me. I think everyone views that whole thing as an exception, though.

They listen; they just don't have the staffing to write an individual response to every comment.

The latter statement really calls the first into question. Similarly, they care about my vote, except to the extent that it's completely lost in the noise of thousands of other votes.

I can't prove it, but I imagine we'd be surprised at how few letters they actually get during parts of the election cycle. Depending on your district your congressman may be far more accessible than you think.

I know my state representative and senator are accessible; I've had email conversations with both in the last couple of months. I've never contributed to either of their campaigns.

However, there's an obvious difference when one sends letters or emails to the federal level. When I've gotten responses, it's always been at least several weeks later, and sometimes several months. The messages I've received have been loosely related to my original message, but they have never addressed any actual point I might have made. I'm not feeling the love.

THIS is why local politics are so much important and yet they receive the least participation.

Politics is also a hierarchy and its worth keeping in mind that local politicians may have much better connections to people in the next tier than you do from outside. Your local state senator may have much better access to your federal senator and that level of access can turn into opportunity for them to influence them. If your state representatives know how important their behaviour with regards to federal issues is to you as a voter, you stand a much better chance of the system working how it's intended.

It's systemic lack of involvement that's causing the most issues in American politics. From the top with "lifetime senators" largely immune from their constituencies, and from the bottom with voter turnouts under twenty percent.

If there's an issue you care about, call your congressional rep's office and ask to get on the schedule for a meeting. It might take a while, but you'll probably eventually get to talk with staffers. Be prepared when you talk with them, and be ready to tell them exactly what you would like your representative to do.

That's assuming you're in the US, but I expect it's pretty similar in all the other Western democracies.

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