ORIGINAL: YellowAircraft
Guys,
Come on. These people get thousands of letters/emails per month. Do you really expect them to sit down and hand-write a custom reply to each of them?
Holding them accountable and letting them know what you think is one thing. I think it's a good point that nasty, acrimonious tones don't help. If anything, it gives people an opportunity to minimize what you have to say and 'categorize' you. Some of the guys on RCU have taught me that lesson. Once we got past the labels, they turned out to be good people with more in common than I allowed when they were just 'the other guys.'
Maybe one day we'll all get to a point where people aren't evil or whatever just because they disagree with us on political or social issues. That was one of my New Year's resolutions, because I've been as guilty of it as anyone...
Shawn,
That is true they do get thousands of letters etc. But once you start getting hundreds of letters addressing the same topic, its not too hard for them to write a form letter or give your staff direction on how you stand on an issue and send that out in mass. IE, just like my senators did. This is their job. It's not too much to ask them to perform it. The government is for the people not the other way around. Its high time some of these "professional" polititians realize that.
But that being said, I agree any time we send letters to our elected officials, they should always be courteous and respectful. And I believe this is what all of us have done.