I just got this email from my senator. Talk about Generic-Off. How pathetic. Could the Senator's office at least go to the effort of having *different templates on different issues*?
Or even some actual information content in the email?
Like "Ms. Henry, we have noted your concern on the Iraq War, and would like to let you know that X percent of Californias agree with you. Here is Boxer's position on the issue, and here is how she plans to vote."
What earthly use is this to me? I'll be damned if I can remember what I wrote a letter about, or what petition I signed, in this case. Behold!!!
Dear Ms. Henry:
Thank you for contacting my office to express your views. I believe that all citizens should become involved in the legislative process by letting their voices be heard, and I appreciate the time and effort that you took to share your thoughts with me.
One of the most important aspects of my job is keeping informed about the views of my constituents, and I welcome your comments so that I may continue to represent California to the best of my ability. Should I have the opportunity to consider legislation on this or similar issues, I will keep your views in mind.
For additional information about my activities in the U.S. Senate, please visit my website, http://boxer.senate.gov. From this site, you can access statements and press releases that I have issued about current events and pending legislation, request copies of legislation and government reports, and receive detailed information about the many services that I am privileged to provide for my constituents. You may also wish to visit http://thomas.loc.gov to track current and past legislation.
Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me. I appreciate hearing from you.
Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
How hard could it be to hire someone to write you some decent "issue tracking" and letter writing software to keep your constituents informed without sounding like a mealy-mouthed robot talking to another, much stupider robot?
Meanwhile you might like to be aware that watchdog.net is useful, maybe more like what I'm looking for as a constituent than a flail -n- trawl through the entire Library of Congress.
Obviously I still end up voting for Boxer no matter what, but isn't the idea to make me *really, really, really* support the politicians in office? Maybe even donate to them, because they're awesome?
1 comment:
It will take a while for politicians to realize that going generic is probably a bad idea. Luckily, there's a new breed of younger politicians (this sounds age-ist, but it's true...) that use the Internet wisely and actually write their own letters to the constituents (what a concept!). Hopefully, Barack Obama's success with the Internet and SMS-messaging will open people's eyes. If the past is any indication, it probably won't happen any time soon, but we can still hope...
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I live in a bad neighborhood. I will use the HP package to jeep kids off the street, playing video games and surfing the web instead. :)
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