Contacting a member of congress

Russell

Member
Jul 6, 2011
63
5
6
Hi All.
Have you tried contacting a member of congress on the internet? I have two questions to ask.
First, they tell you any response from them is "As a congressional courtesy..." This condescending tone is to put you in a position of of supplication before your lord and master or lady and mistress. Is it a courtesy for a member of congress to do his or her job, or is it a duty to the nation, as well as to their constituents?
Second. Members of congress have "Step One - Zip Authentication" which disallows anyone who is not a constituent from contacting them via E-Mail. This leads me to believe that members of congress only care about constituents (votes and money/donations) and the rest of the city, county, state and nation do not matter. Do others feel the way I do?
Thanks, Russ
 
I have contacted a few. Sometimes I get a personal response, other times a form letter. Usually nothing.

But then I get put on their spam lists and I get all their e-mail blasts about whatever topic they wanna' pontificate about. Durbin and Pelosi are the worst offenders in that area.
 
Hi Paul & Sallow,
Thank you for your replies. How did you get past the zip authentication? The moment I put in my zip code I am rejected. If I use a zip code in their district, they want an address. Do we make one up?
Thanks. Russ
 
Hi Paul & Sallow,
Thank you for your replies. How did you get past the zip authentication? The moment I put in my zip code I am rejected. If I use a zip code in their district, they want an address. Do we make one up?
Thanks. Russ

It's kinda up to the congressperson. I've contacted congress people from other districts about issues I had with their stances. Sometimes they write you sometimes they don't. They are under no obligation to deal with anybody. Of course..that could be fatal in an election.
 
Hi Sallow,
Am I correct in assuming that you sent a letter via snail mail?
Thanks. Russ
 
What's so damned important that you feel obligated to hound an out-of-district congressperson who probably has a full time aide dedicated to handling thousands of emails daily?
 
Hi Mr. H.
If you want to know, I'll tell you.
I am a registered Democrat and feel embarrassed that democrats dropped the ball on Hr 235, The Social Security Fairness Act of 2009. A republican, H. McKeon of California, re-introduced it as HR 1332, The Social Security Fairness Act of 2011 and it already has 82 co-sponsors. Not only republicans but democrats are now realizing the damage done to hard working Americans by Ronald Reagan and his cronies. If you didn't know, "Ronnie" took away 60% of our social security because we were federal workers. Remember, no one told us we would be deprived of our social security when we were paying into it. I fully realize that Reagan took it away but neither Clinton nor Obama returned it to us.
I woud like to urge all members of congress to vote for this bill, and especially for democrats to cross the aisle on this one. I need my social security and believe that I am more deserving of it than illegal aliens or foreign nations.
And, by the way, from what I understand, God has already punished Reagan for this crime. He was buried on the San Andreas Fault line, every time California has a quake or tremor, his bones rattle, rock and roll. He will never have peace. He doesn't deserve it.
Thank you. Russ
 
Hi Mr. H.
If you want to know, I'll tell you.
I am a registered Democrat and feel embarrassed that democrats dropped the ball on Hr 235, The Social Security Fairness Act of 2009. A republican, H. McKeon of California, re-introduced it as HR 1332, The Social Security Fairness Act of 2011 and it already has 82 co-sponsors. Not only republicans but democrats are now realizing the damage done to hard working Americans by Ronald Reagan and his cronies. If you didn't know, "Ronnie" took away 60% of our social security because we were federal workers. Remember, no one told us we would be deprived of our social security when we were paying into it. I fully realize that Reagan took it away but neither Clinton nor Obama returned it to us.
I woud like to urge all members of congress to vote for this bill, and especially for democrats to cross the aisle on this one. I need my social security and believe that I am more deserving of it than illegal aliens or foreign nations.
And, by the way, from what I understand, God has already punished Reagan for this crime. He was buried on the San Andreas Fault line, every time California has a quake or tremor, his bones rattle, rock and roll. He will never have peace. He doesn't deserve it.
Thank you. Russ

:lol:

That's kinda funny..
 
Hi Mr. H.
If you want to know, I'll tell you.
I am a registered Democrat and feel embarrassed that democrats dropped the ball on Hr 235, The Social Security Fairness Act of 2009. A republican, H. McKeon of California, re-introduced it as HR 1332, The Social Security Fairness Act of 2011 and it already has 82 co-sponsors. Not only republicans but democrats are now realizing the damage done to hard working Americans by Ronald Reagan and his cronies. If you didn't know, "Ronnie" took away 60% of our social security because we were federal workers. Remember, no one told us we would be deprived of our social security when we were paying into it. I fully realize that Reagan took it away but neither Clinton nor Obama returned it to us.
I woud like to urge all members of congress to vote for this bill, and especially for democrats to cross the aisle on this one. I need my social security and believe that I am more deserving of it than illegal aliens or foreign nations.
And, by the way, from what I understand, God has already punished Reagan for this crime. He was buried on the San Andreas Fault line, every time California has a quake or tremor, his bones rattle, rock and roll. He will never have peace. He doesn't deserve it.
Thank you. Russ

Thanks for the explaination. As to the zip code filter, you may do well to forget about using email and write a personal letter.

Another alternative would be to find a group or organization with similar concerns and sign a physical or digital petition.

As to your disdain for Reagan, I think it's pathetic that you would speak as such regarding a deceased President.
 
Neither Church nor State deified Ronald Reagan upon his death. What political parties do, is another story. Remember Shakespeare "The evil that men do, lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
 
Last edited:
Hi All.
Have you tried contacting a member of congress on the internet? I have two questions to ask.
First, they tell you any response from them is "As a congressional courtesy..." This condescending tone is to put you in a position of of supplication before your lord and master or lady and mistress. Is it a courtesy for a member of congress to do his or her job, or is it a duty to the nation, as well as to their constituents?
Second. Members of congress have "Step One - Zip Authentication" which disallows anyone who is not a constituent from contacting them via E-Mail. This leads me to believe that members of congress only care about constituents (votes and money/donations) and the rest of the city, county, state and nation do not matter. Do others feel the way I do?
Thanks, Russ

As each congressional district has almost 700,000 constituents I think its a little amibitous to expect that every time one of them sends a letter or email the representative will return a personal response. With all they have on their plate, and all the imortant legislation going on, do you really want your representative to be spending their time answering emails anyway? I think they have their hands full trying to fix the budget crisis and other matters.

But, congresspeople do keep tabs on their what their constituents are saying about specific issues, and Im sure for many of them when legislation comes to the floor, feedback from voters does influence how they cast their vote. So keep sending emails to let them know where you stand and what you support, if enough people feel like you do and make their preferences known, it can make a difference.
 
Hi All.
Have you tried contacting a member of congress on the internet? I have two questions to ask.
First, they tell you any response from them is "As a congressional courtesy..." This condescending tone is to put you in a position of of supplication before your lord and master or lady and mistress. Is it a courtesy for a member of congress to do his or her job, or is it a duty to the nation, as well as to their constituents?
Second. Members of congress have "Step One - Zip Authentication" which disallows anyone who is not a constituent from contacting them via E-Mail. This leads me to believe that members of congress only care about constituents (votes and money/donations) and the rest of the city, county, state and nation do not matter. Do others feel the way I do?
Thanks, Russ

They only represent their constituents. They're not supposed to care what you have to say if they don't. It's not just about money and donations. But really, why should a member of congress from new york care about what someone in utah thinks of them... and the other way around. And what you may think of as a "duty to your nation" may not jibe with what his/her constituents want/need.

for example, i'd love to have a little tete a tete with eric cantor. but i'm pretty sure he wouldn't care less about what someone not his constitent thinks. all of them, however, would be happy to take your money from whereever you send it.
 
Russell's beef seems to be with President Reagan, but I will remind him that Reagan could not have signed any legislation into law unless the Democratically controlled congress had not written, debated, and passed it and sent it to the President for signature. Too often we forget that the President cannot make law. He can only accept or reject what the Congress does.

Re Social Security and federal employees though, there is a pretty good explanation of the reasoning and policy here:

Social Security history Frequently Asked Questions

and here:

Government Pension Offset

I imagine this isn't an issue on the minds of our fearless leaders or their staffs at this particular time and it would take some effort to get it onto their political radar screens.
 
Most of them are very courteous about it. However, they get tons of really insane letters daily. Plus the phone calls. The rise of the internet has only made it worse.

As a rule, they have about five or six staffers who deal with the mail load. The concresscritter will be shown a representative sample to reply to.

PJ O Roark did a great story on what the average US congresscritter's mailbag contains. The thousands of complains, the petitions, the arguments, the requests for favors.

And the complete and total lack of thank you letters.

Which leads me to conclude that the best way of getting your letter to the congresscritter's eyes is to find a piece of legislation that he voted the way you aprove of and write him a fulsome and enthusiastic letter of thanks for this vote. And at the end of it write a request of 25 words or less extremely civil request that he see your point of view on this other issue. Thank you notes are so rare that they don't even happen on a weekly basis. This really is not a good way to motivate your employee.
 
Hi All,
Everyone has made a good point. I still feel that if I were in an accident in front of the congressional office building and was begging for help, members of congress would look down at me and say "You're not my constituent." and keep right on walking. but if the shoe were on the other foot and I said "You're not my congressman, and I really don't have time to look for one of your constituents." I would be arrested for reckless endangerment, or worse.
 
I email Obama every week.... as instructed by the Messiah, when he 'demanded' that Americans abroad participate in our democracy.

I hope he regrets saying that.... but I told him I'd email him every week and I have not missed one week since he took office. LMAO
 
I email Obama every week.... as instructed by the Messiah, when he 'demanded' that Americans abroad participate in our democracy.

I hope he regrets saying that.... but I told him I'd email him every week and I have not missed one week since he took office. LMAO
 

Forum List

Back
Top