There is an excellent column in the 2013 August issue of "American
Rifleman" (NRA) on grassroots pressure. The author, Chris Cox, cites an
article on Forbes.com by Amy Showalter and discusses the points she
raised. Showalter's article (and thus Cox's) discuss five points that
made the NRA grassroots campaign effective in the recent Senate debates
on gun control. The two authors assert that is not the size of the NRA
PAC "war chest" that made it effective (it's actually one of the smaller
PACs) but five attributes of the campaign that carried the day.
First, to repeat Cox's quote, "nobody ever tripped over a bag of email".
Email is the lowest level of communication in level of commitment and
the recipients know that. There is no assurance that the purported
authors actually write those and send them. Snail mail is much more
effective. It's cost, effort, and return addresses directly indicate
seriously minded electorate members.
Face-to-face is even better, so visiting Senators and Representatives in
their DC offices, in Town Hall Meetings, etc. can be a vital step. The
more effort it took to get you there, the greater your apparent
commitment. Follow up on your visits with a phone call or letter.
I have tried all three methods (email, snail mail, and visits) and I
concur. I've never had anything beyond a "send reply #117" in response
to emails. Personal, hand-written (I usually typed and signed mine)
always generated a similar snail mail response. Not once was I ignored
nor did I feel that the boilerplate had at least been personally
tweaked. And those responses were always signed by my Senator or
Representative. And face-to-face visits ensure that you are
communicating to the elected member and not to a staff member!
Other factors are passion and intensity. Those are reflected in the
correspondent's knowledge base. When you make a pitch, make sure that
you are accurate! Personal anecdotes go a long way to establish
credibility. Use those to illustrate your points.
Copyrights prohibit me from providing a copy of that AR article. If
you're an NRA member or can access the magazine you can read it
yourself. Or perhaps you can find Showalter's article on Forbes.com.
Jim Frysinger
- [USMA:53119] Grassroots pressure James Frysinger
-
