Because of the outcome of the recent election, some Republicans may be weakening on the issue of raising taxes on the wealthy. For example, Republican Tom Cole recently indicated that Congress should pass the middle class tax cut now.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=0506E2FA-12F5-4343-B5CE-3B7DE2796802
So if you are represented by a Republican, it is worth trying to pressure your Representative to vote for the middle class tax cut extension without it being tied to an extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy. One way to do this is to pressure your Representative by writing a letter to the editor to your local paper.
So if you live in one of these districts, I would encourage you to write a letter to the editor. But if you are not sure how to start, here is some advice/things to consider
1) Which paper should you send your letter to?
I would suggest that you pick a local paper since newspapers are interested in the views of members of the community. If you have a choice of several papers, pick the smaller more local paper, While larger papers get more readership, they also get more letters. While it may be tempting to send a letter to The New York Times or The Washington Post , they get so many letters that yours is not likely to be published.
Now that you have the newspaper selected, you need to know
2) what requirements does the paper have for letters to the editor?
You can normally find this information in the website or in the paper itself. If you can't, you may want to call to ask. You should make sure that you know the following information: 1) what is the paper's deadline for receipt of the letter ; 2) are there any limits on the size of the letters or other formatting information; 3) what information must you include with your letter (i.e. name, phone number etc. . . ); 4) whether there is a period of time you must wait before another letter written by you is published since the paper will not print a letter from you if you already had a letter published by them during this period; 5) whether the paper accepts letters by snail mail, fax or e-mail (and if e-mail the format); and 6) what manner (if any) will the paper use to verify the letter prior to publication
Now that you have this information, you are ready to write your letter.
3) What should I include in the letter?
I would recommend that you keep your letter fairly short, since they may not print a long letter and if they do, they might shorten it. There are many good talking points on the fiscal cliff issue on this website that you can use. I also recommend personalizing the letter to your situation or to those in your community. Remember many offices do monitor public opinion by looking at the media in the district so if your representative believes that the community is against him or her, it may cause him or her to reconsider his or her position (after all your representative will probably run for re-election in two years).
Another goal is to convince the members of the community that Congressman Republican R's actions are adverse to the interests of those is the district. So even if you don't think that your Republican Representative will ever vote the right way, your letter may cause others in your community to view your Republican Representative more negatively. If your Republican Representative has made comments that are likely to be viewed negatively by others in the community, make sure that you quote them in your letter (just make sure that you have quoted them accurately).
If you are responding to another letter to the editor in this week's paper, make sure you indicate in your letter that you are responding to the letter written by x published on y date.
Now that you are done with the letter,
4) What do you need to do to submit the letter?
Make sure that you have included your name and that you have included any other information required by the paper such as a phone number or e-mail. You should then mail, e-mail or fax the letter (however they will accept it). If by mail, you should allow enough time for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver the letter. If the paper verifies letter, you should make sure to check your messages and/or e-mail frequently in case the paper tries to verify the letter. Remember, they will not wait a long time for you to respond and will probably just move on to the next letter if they don't hear back from you fairly quickly (remember they have a deadline)
Even if you think that your Republican Congressman is beyond hope, it still couldn't hurt to write the letter. Other people in your community will read it. And you want these people in your community to have a negative opinion of your Republican Representative so that they are open to voting to the Democratic nominee next time.