Alonzo Fyfe

People here have mentioned letters to the editor and letters to (federal) representatives and senators.

I am wondering if anybody has sent letters to their their state representatives or members of the state board of education?

Such letters are likely to have a signficantly greater effect.

A letter sent to representatives in DC is likely opened, scanned to determine a general sentiment (pro or con), a tally mark is put on a piece of paper, a form letter is printed and sent back, and the senator is shown the tally. The senator sees, "87% pro, 13% against; well, you can't win an election with 13% of the vote," and that is about all you get for your effort.

With state representatives and senators, the sitaution is different. First, this is an election year. Second, each individual vote is more significant. Third, the individual gets far fewer readers and can afford a far smaller staff to deal with them.

Significantly, it is the state legislature that will determine if the commandments get posted or the pledge is recited in school.

These letters (as well as letters to members of the state school board) are likely to be far more effective.

And, while you are at it, fire off a letter to the princpal of the local school. They must obey the law, but they have the liberty to determine how they obey the law. There is always some flexibility. Plus, they have a more direct contact with the school board and the legislators.

And whatever influence you are able to exercise at the local level is far more likely to eventually have an influence at the national level -- it will count a lot more than a tally mark on a piece of paper.

Splat

Excellent advice.

Also, don't forget to keep your eyes open for opportunities to write letters of thanks/support when people do things right.

CaptainDave

Alonzo, you are a fountain of reason and logic. You don't have pointed ears, do you?

That said, I'd like to put in a pitch for one of my favorite organizations: Americans United for Separation of Church and State. <a href="http://www.au.org" target="_blank">Homepage</a>

You can get yourself put on an email list where they'll keep you informed of critical issues. They provide a link for you to send an email to your appropriate representative(s) on the particular issue. All you do is type in your zip code. The web page will even generate a form letter. You also need to provide your identity and contact information. The web page will remember it so you don't have to retype it every time you send an email.

I agree with Alonzo that it is more effective to write to your local representatives but AU makes it ridiculously easy to write your reps in D.C. too.

[ August 08, 2002: Message edited by: CaptainDave ]</p>

Alonzo Fyfe

Thank you. I consider such a statement to be one of the highest compliments possible.

(Except, one of my complaints about Star Trek is that these logical Vulcans seem to know nothing of 'modus ponens,' 'disjunctive syllogism' or 'D'Morgan's Rule.')


Pitch away. I am a member of this organization. It is a very fine organization indeed and provides an extremely useful set of "wizards" that make it easy not only to write letters to your federal representatives and senators, but your state representatives and senators as well. And for any newspapers in your local area.

Just type in your address, and it will let you know who they are and help you to compose and letter on a relevant issue.

Once you have a letter composed, then there is little additional cost to sending that letter to a wider audience. If it is relevant to schools, sending that same letter to the local school board or even the principle of the local school.

The point is to end up doing more good with your letter than simply ending up as a single tick mark on a piece of paper.

4th Generation Atheist

I agree with you, 'Lonzo, and will add that if you can get a letter printed in the paper, that would be a good idea too; it might encourage another freethinker to become active. Best to write both: your paper and the state. But it is true that the nat'l gov't tends to think in terms of "counting it up", b/c they get so much mail. Also, be aware that since the anthrax flap of last Oct/Nov Capitol Hill mail gets extra processing steps and takes a little longer to get to its destination. (If you must write Cap Hill, use nice paper; the radiation makes paper yellow and brittle in proportion to how much lignin and acid is in it to begin with. In most cases, that is inversely proportional to the quality of the paper. Better to write your state office! )