Why write a real letter?

This time of the year many state legislatures are cranking out proposals for solving all manner of problems; some real and some imagined. More often than not these proposals are not based on sound experience or reasoned consultation and they will do more harm than good if passed into law.

Believe it or not, constituent opinions do matter, true some constituents matter more than others, but that doesn't diminish the importance of making your opinion known.

You can send an e-mail, an aid will scan it and probably arrange for a canned reply. However, they will tally your opinion as for or against the legislation being considered. You can make a phone call, again likely to be taken by an aid, and you will have their attention for at least the space of time you have them on the phone. They may or may not record the fact you called and the issue you called about. You could also make a personal visit and if the legislator is in his office he will try to take a little time to talk to you, more so if he knows you. You may make an impression on him and if you bring along supporting materials they are likely to be placed in the file with other materials related to the legislation you are interested in. Unfortunately, a personal visit takes a lot of time, involves some stress and expense, and there's a fair chance the person you want to talk to may not be available.

Or, you can write a short personal letter, include information that supports your position, and mail it with an old fashioned stamp and envelope. When it arrives in the legislator's office it can't just be deleted by a 19 year old staffer that isn't interested in what you have said. It could happen, but sending back a form letter in response to a personal letter is bad form and suggests the legislator is "too busy" or disinterested in what concerns his/her constituent, especially if the constituent has asked a reasonable question. At worst the letter will be answered with an acknowledgment that it was received and it will be placed in the file that will be reviewed when the legislator is preparing to vote on this specific issue. Or, it may end up on the legislators desk for his or her review and response, before being placed in the file.

A personal letter implies effort and thought were invested in its preparation. Its physical presence makes it difficult to easily disregard or ignore its content. It has staying power. Sure, it could be just scanned and tossed away, but that would be the exception. And, when the bill comes up for a vote, there it is, sitting in the file, reminding your state representative or state senator of how one of his/her constituents feels about this issue.

How many times have you read an article in the newspaper, or on a blog, or in a magazine and it made you hopping mad, or it was full of errors that needed correcting and you wanted to respond---but didn't because you didn't know where to start. Here's a few tips that might get you over the hump and expressing your opinion.

The typical editor likes short and to the point editorial submissions. They won't take the time to edit down your comments, they'll just toss them and use somebody else's letter. Lest you think letters to the editor are a waste of time, they are often the most frequently read section in newspapers and magazines. Given the lack of quality control that may not be the case for blogs.

So, don't write a book, keep it down to a couple hundred words, and focus on your main point. Here's the contradiction, you most likely can't do this in one pass. Often, you will need to wax eloquent for several hundred words, just to get your thoughts on paper.Then you can whittle your writing down to where you clearly lay out your points in a few concise sentences. The biggest mistake budding editorialists make is trying to compose perfect prose from the start, word by word, sentence by sentence. The result is they lose their train of thought and the broader concepts they hope to articulate, and they quit, frustrated, in about the third sentence.

If you have multiple topics or arguments, pick the one you like best and save the others for another day or another format. You can burn up 200 words very easily.

Your objective should not be to blow off steam, although that's no crime, it's to persuade others who have not yet made up their minds on the subject matter. Usually, you will not accomplish this task if you are insulting, condescending, harshly critical, or otherwise obnoxious. You want others to read your words with an open mind, don't start out alienating two thirds of the human race.

It's perfectly OK to just have an opinion, no facts and figures required. You don't want stop signs, speed humps, or flower pots in the middle of your street, fair enough. Just saying that may encourage others who agree with you to speak up. It is the squeaky wheels that get the grease, and always has been.