Congress is blocking your voice Posted by mitcka at 07/24/06 12:05 PM

Recently, we have been working on an issue near and dear to our hearts at Consumers Union-- making sure your voice is heard by lawmakers across the country. Some Congressional offices launched a tool last month to block emails sent through campaign websites. You can go to your Representative's site and send a message, but you can't join with others through an organization and send your message with other like-minded people.

In the last year, people like you sent more than 3.1 million letters to federal, state and local lawmakers through Consumers Union campaigns. Those messages helped garner huge victories for your health, your wallet and your privacy.

When Congressional offices began to adopt the new blocking tool, many advocacy groups across the country were outraged and sent this letter to Congress (PDF)! If you are outraged, you can do something about it. We've set up an action you can take that will deliver your letter by fax if your Representative is blocking our email system. Visit www.DontBlockMyVoice.org.

We also recently met with staffers on the Hill and listened to their concerns about the volume of email they get. Congressional offices do get a lot of email. Working with Congress, we can help make those messages easier to sort and read so that their offices can respond to you more effectively. We also learned that some people in Congressional offices aren't sure you are real. They need to know more about you and your online activity.

Do you like taking action online? It would help us a lot if you would tell us about your experience using online action systems--either ours or someone else's.

comments (4)

1 Posted by uscitizen at 07/28/06 01:36 AM

I am a long time subscriber to CU magazine and also support a couple of reasonable and thoughtful advocacy groups representing my views, one of them being CU. However, I do not always agree with what they are advocating, especially in this case. When I don't agree, I change the wording in the email (if possible) indicating my disagreement.

Just like many telephone polls, advocacy group emails can distort what the American citizens are really thinking, and worse, create a false indication to our elected officials. For example, I do not want illegal aliens writing our Congress and President with mass emails that are sent through those groups representing them.

Since they are not citizens, that is not a fair representation of this country's views, and could create legislation that American citizens do not want. Remember, our government is supposed to represent it's citizens, not foreigners who wish to benefit from special legislation.

I actually believe that in order to give an opinion on an issue to our elected officials, one should be able to prove that they are an American citizen and a voter. Laws and legislation should be created only for the benefit of American citizens and no one else. This is clearly stated in the U. S. constitution.

I take the time to personally write, email or fax my political representatives of my government. I believe personal communication is the fairest representation of the American citizens' views and not those of some far left or right advocacy group with a political agenda from people who do not have to think, but just click on a "send" button.

It is also very easy for people to enter a false address and name, as there is no verification of the person's identity or citizenship on the receiving end of the email.

In summary, I do believe that much of the email sent to our elected representatives by these advocacy groups is "Spam", because it does not always represent personal thoughtful consideration from valid American citizens.

I support our elected officials in their effort to weed out this "Spam" email. I think they should also include proof of citizenship or voter registration before they accept the email. Our government should be run by and for the American citizens.

I hope Consumers Union withdraws this email request immediately.

UScitizen, an American citizen and voter

2 Posted by Barry at 08/21/06 04:09 AM

Congress isn't blocking anyone's voice. If people have something original to say, they could go to their representative's website and say it. Provide links if you want to make it easier. Maybe you should set up an online vote so people who agree with your form letter could vote and you can report the results to whoever you're complaining about. I bet you wouldn't want to do that when the majority are against you, so maybe just have a check box for "agree" and don't allow people to disagree. It would be the same as individual form letters, but not as inconvenient to the recipient.

3 Posted by Amanda at 08/31/06 02:46 PM

I often get emails from different organizations about issues that concern me. Sometimes these are just a reminder to me and other times I learn about issues that weren't even on my radar screen. When I take action with a form letter, I always personalize my letter and put thought and energy into it. I am loathe to find out that certain government officials might be throwing my letters in the trash! Why would my voice be any different than your voice because you wrote a form letter through .gov rather than .org? I don't think your argument about convenience is sound, because in every sector of life technology has advanced our ability to communicate with each other quickly and without much hassle. According to your reasoning, if one form of communication is better than another, we should all revert to pony express, it's the only way to convice our government that we seriously wish to be heard. Yes, sometimes it is simply about convenience. So what?! Because I choose to email my senator through an organization fails to see the point. It's about keeping an open channel. About having one ear to the ground and listening to the thumping of one voice, of a thousand voices, and going into the House or the senate to represent what is entirely The People.

4 Posted by Zena at 06/28/07 03:27 PM

Although e-mail is very convenient and cheap, it can be easily abused just like electronic voting machines.
There is something to be said about a hand-written letter. I feel that they are of more value, as the time needed to create such a document gives that person needed time to reflect, and organize his thoughts on a subject. And if you're willing to shell out Forty-one cents for a stamp to mail it, it sends a clear message that you really care about what you're writing about.
Plus, it's not easy to get rid of all that paper-work, without leaving a trail. If it gets thrown out, somebody is gonna tell.
So, yes, I have to agree with the others that e-mail is not always a good thing. Flood their offices with hard-copy, and I believe there will be more and better results.
And, if you feel your Rep. may be ignoring your missives, sending it cerified mail can insure honesty.
I call it bringing out the big guns.
Have a great day. Zena