Today’s actions focus on ensuring that we’ve all followed through with the first action for the Women’s March, which was to send a postcard. In general, mail is not nearly as effective as it has been, because of the security screenings that are in place. But I’ll describe below in the Context why this is an exception to that rule.
Here are the actions for Friday, January 27 - 8 days after Trump’s Inauguration:
- Make some Women’s March postcards. You can make your own postcards from 110lb cardstock or go to a place like FedEx Office, which will print and cut a supply of them so that you can share them. I suggest using the “professionally printed” template instead of the “print at home” version, and you may want to just print the image side so that you can customize the message more.
- Address a Women’s March postcard to each of the following with a simple message: “We are not going away. We are organized in our opposition to Trump’s agenda, and we will exercise our rights as citizens to inform ourselves, call you to remind you of our positions and increase voter participation among our friends and neighbors.”
- The local offices for your Congressional representatives
- The offices of your state legislators.
- Congressional offices in Washington*
- Your congressional representatives’ local offices
- Make a picture of your card stack and post it on social media then drop it in the mail.
*NOTE: physical mail to Congress undergoes special screening that makes it better for general themes than specific legislation. But snailmail has its uses, as I’ll describe below.
Key Messages Today:
- State and local governments need to mitigate the harm to their citizens from Trump’s infringements on civil rights.
- The state of Oregon has the most advanced voter registration and vote security system in the world - if other states are serious about secure voting, this is the way to go - and it increases turnout, too.
- Democrats at every level need to play both offense and defense: block Trump’s agenda and put out policy proposals, Supreme Court nominee lists and draft legislation of their own.
What I Did Yesterday:
Yesterday was a busy day and I didn’t get as much done as I wanted. But I did have a conversation with a friend who is active locally on poverty issues, but not as engaged as I am on the national level.
The state legislature is our meeting point in the middle. State laws directly impact the people she works with, and the local issues that are important to her. I’ve invited her to an Indivisible meeting, and sent her a copy of the guide, but she’s so busy doing other important work that she probably won’t join.
But she will keep my group informed about state government activities that are important for her, and also to us: protecting immigrants, improving health care access, affordable housing, and eradicating homelessness.
Context for Today’s Actions: When a Phone Call Is Not Enough
Most people here on DailyKos already know that sending a physical letter to a member of Congress has been made obsolete by domestic terrorists. These deplorables have sent ricin and anthrax spores through the mail, placing the interns and staffers at risk.
Today all Congressional mail goes to a screening facility where it gets irradiated, opened and perhaps even vacuumed. The best available information I could find is that these procedures delay mail by up to two weeks. This sounds like a long time, but it’s much faster than it was when the screening procedures were first implemented. The procedures have the potential to damage the mail, mainly by weakening the paper to the point that it could fall apart.
I also found some comments on Reddit from a congressional staffer who provided some insight into how calls and letters got logged and when letters worked better than calls. They get lumped together and aggregated into For / Against, sometimes but not always with a note about the reason. So a phone call is faster and easier than a letter, and counts the same if all you want to do is advocate for a yes/no on a specific vote.
Why Would Anyone Send Snailmail?
I got curious about this because the Women’s March team asked everyone who attended a march to send postcards to Congress. I wondered how effective this was.
After learning more about how mail is processed, I realized that this request was a corner case where a mail-in campaign could be effective. If staffers notice an immediate jump in the volume of mail, they’ll probably notice that this increase to postcards is from the marchers whom the staffers could not have ignored. They will talk about it, which is the goal.
But that will work best if we all do it, and if we don’t just send it to Congress, but also to our state government officials who will be charged with implementing Trump’s agenda.
When a Phone Call Is Not Enough
There are a few other times when it pays to write a letter and put it in the mail:
- You have a compelling story to tell, that is in support of the legislators’ positions or on an issue where the legislator is still figuring out his or her position. If it’s against the legislator’s position, it will probably get recorded along with the general pile and screened out by the intern/staffer.
- You have a picture or infographic that could capture the intern/staffer’s attention, again probably in support of the legislators’ position.
- You can get a large number of people to send in the same thing on the same day, probably as a postcard. A handful isn’t going to make a dent - the numbers need to be large enough to make a difference. But some Indivisible Teams are getting large enough now (100+) that they could do this and it would be noticed.
In all of these cases, sending something to the local office is more likely to make a difference than sending it to DC, and postcards are better than letters for short messages because they don’t have to be opened. Finally, teams do need to account for delays, which is why sending postcards about the ACA is still relevant, but sending a postcard about Jeff Sessions is probably too late.
A Postcard A Week
I travel to a lot of interesting places where I can buy unusual or compelling postcards. So this is an opportunity I have. I’ve decided to start laying in a supply of interesting postcards and mailing out seven a week to my two Senators, Congresswoman, Governor and three state representatives.
This week, I’ll send the Womens March postcard, but next week, I’ll send postcards I purchased at the African American museum in Washington, with pictures and quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. Then I’ll send postcards from my next foreign adventure (but always with my own address at the bottom) that will probably have a theme related to protecting our alliances.
If nothing else, it will help remind me to build up my personal postcard collection! And I think it will do some good especially if the staff at local and state offices enjoy them.
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If you’re new to this, it’s the last in a series of diaries with action items specific to resisting Trump’s takeover of America. You can see the entire series at the Kos Group “Sons and Daughters of Liberty.”
- Bonus #2: If you are dedicated to this fight, please consider following the Kos Group “Sons and Daughters of Liberty.” I’ll post these Action Lists there, as well as other diaries that offer concrete opportunities to take action. That way, you’ll be able to read them even if they don’t make the Rec List. If you’d like to play a more active role, send me a Kosmail and I’ll add you to the group.
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- Bonus #4: Share your plans for Inauguration Day and the day after. If you’re going to the protest in DC and want to meet up with other Kossacks, post something in the comments thread. I’m going to DC and I’m bringing two people with me. Parallel marches are happening on other major cities.
Remember - history has its eyes on us this time.