...and leaves behind the slime of a new bureaucracy.There's been some back-and-forth on the Progressive Exchange listserve this morning about whether the revolution in citizen advocacy online has made any difference whatsoever to the bureaucracy on Capitol Hill. List member Mark Rovner cited a couple of quotes from the CMF:
Many congressional staff doubt the legitimacy of identical form communications, and want to know whether communications are sent with constituents’ knowledge and consent. Half of congressional staff surveyed believe identical form communications are not sent with constituents’ knowledge or consent. Another 25% are unsure about the legitimacy of these communications. Additionally, 89% would like the ability to differentiate list-generated campaigns from those sent through direct constituent action.and:
Personalized or individualized messages to Congress have more influence on Members’ decision-making process than do identical form messages. Only 3% of staff surveyed say identical form postal mail would have “a lot” of influence on their Member of Congress if he/she had not reached a decision. In contrast, 44% report individualized postal letters would have “a lot” of influence.So if boiler plate emails are astroturf, or if they only work on a very limited basis, what's the alternative?
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* The quote is from Kafka. Okay, it might be a little melodramatic, but I thought it would get people's attention.
2 comments:
the alternative is we flip a funnel! seriously, we need to choose really wisely which online actions we promote. we have a long way to go.
I agree with that, less is more and it’s definitely about quality and not quantity.
In addition to limiting the number of actions, we can also encourage people to personalize their messages by:
- Requiring activists to modify sample letters for all actions, or
- Stop providing sample letters on some instances and just suggest talking points.
According to a report published by the Congressional Management Foundation, Congress not only has problems responding to emails, but to other types of correspondence like written letters, faxes and postcards, due to lack of staff and increased constituents’ involvement. But personalized messages have an impact:
"Personalized or individualized messages to Congress have more influence on Members’ decision-making process than do identical form messages. Only 3% of staff surveyed say identical form postal mail would have "a lot" of influence on their Member of Congress if he/she had not reached a decision. In contrast, 44% report individualized postal letters would have "a lot" of influence."
I think there is still value in encouraging people to communicate with their elected officials in the sense that it has proven to be a tactic that sparks political and civic participation. There are a lot more politically active people because of email.
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