Writing Letters

I wrote a letter to my Congressman today.  That in itself is not newsworthy; I am quite accustomed to writing to my elected officials to voice my opinion on various topics.  What's unusual, for me, is that this time I wrote to a member of the other political party.  I'm not sure if I've ever done that before.

I'm kind of surprised to realize this about myself. 

What's the big deal, where is the real effort, in writing to members of one's own political party?  Certainly, if one is concerned that said official is not going in what would seem to be the proper direction for a representative of that party, one should speak up.  But for the most part, I know how my Senators are going to vote, and I normally agree with their votes.  My occasional letters (and sometimes phone calls) to them are usually just to let them know I agree with their direction and to keep going.

My representative is a completely different story.  He pretty much votes the opposite of whatever I stand for.  To me, his emails and newsletters are frustrating doublespeak. I pretty much ignore him as much as I can.

Today I got another email from my representative, about the failure of the Congressional supercommittee to reach a budget and deficit deal.  Having not been surprised one bit by the failure, I was actually a little interested to see what my Congressman would say about it.  Would it distress me? Frustrate me? Anger me?

As it turned out, his email was essentially a few paragraphs of platitudes, citing principles we can all pretty much agree upon: fiscal responsibility! enact policies that will remove economic uncertainty! restore confidence in the marketplace! put more Americans back to work!

On the surface, I'm ok with these statements.  But how to accomplish these things?  Ah, therein lies the rub.

After I read his email, I sat and thought.  I realized a few things:

• I had never written to him because I thought he wouldn't listen to me. 
• He had been writing to me throughout his term, whether I was listening or not (and I wasn't). 
• I was being unfair to him, not letting him know what I think, not giving him a chance to listen. 

So I gave him a chance.  I wrote him a letter, admitting that I hadn't ever written to him before because I thought he wouldn't listen.  I explained why I had thought he wouldn't listen.  Then I told him what I thought, and invited him to respond.

I hope he does respond, and I will read whatever he says.