I’m as bad as anyone when it comes to blowing hot air.
I’ll rant and rave, but only in the safety of friends.
Sometimes I’ll fire off an email or vent on social media, but that’s as effective as shouting in the wind. When it comes to politics, our representatives receive thousands of emails a day.
No, if I really want to get an official’s attention the best way is to call. That’s right, to Washington, D.C.
As it turned out, it wasn’t nearly as intimidating as I feared.
First, I prepped myself on what I wanted to say. In this case, I knew I wanted to voice my concern about the nomination of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education, and that our Kansas Senator Pat Roberts, as a member of the Education Committee, would be considering her appointment.
So I wrote out my script, saying I disagreed with her idea of using public funds for private schools and those who home-school. I mentioned DeVos’s lack of experience in education should disqualify her for the position. And just for good measure I tossed in that I am the mother of two teachers and that I worry about the future of their profession.
Then I called Roberts’s office at 202-224-4774.
My first attempt went to a voicemail so I rehearsed my speech there. Then I called again and got a nice young man who listened to my two-minute spiel and said he would relay my concerns to Sen. Roberts.
I have no reason to doubt he won’t or that at the least my remarks will go into some kind of tabulation.
Even if nothing happens, it felt wonderful to actually take some concrete action.
I FIRST heard that calling legislators is effective when, as one of their first actions of the new administration, a majority of the House of Representatives voted to gut its ethics commission. When constituents flooded the phone lines with calls of concern, the measure was quickly buried. Their voices — actual voices — made the difference.
For those not up to making a phone call, you can go to the “We the People” website, an official White House site, whoever the president, and sign any of a myriad of petitions. The most popular is one asking President Trump to release his tax returns. To date, almost 370,000 Americans have signed that one.
I’ve also found a helpful aid in the website thesixty-five.org, which lists ongoing legislative concerns, those who can effect change and how to contact them. Though the name of the site refers to the 65 million U.S. voters who did not support the election of Donald Trump, the site refers to bipartisan concerns including immigration, health care, Social Security, Medicare, climate change and criminal justice.
