RichardHarlos.com

Government in the United States is supposed to be representative; that means government is supposed to work for, and answers to, us (the people). When people don’t contact their elected representatives, there is no voice for the representatives to pay attention to and, consequently, they decide for themselves how to vote.

It’s far less effective to bitch and moan after the vote as occurred; far more effective to communicate our thoughts before the vote takes place.

While I often mention how important this simple idea is, it occurs to me that many of you may not know who your representatives are and, therefore, how to contact them. In this post, then, I want to make it as easy as possible for you to find out who your representatives are and show how easy it can be to contact them. I urge you to bookmark this post and refer to it as often as necessary; in other words, whenever you hear about something going on in government that you don’t like: contact your representative.

Here’s how:

1. Have ready your zip+4 code (if you don’t know it, you can look it up on the United States Postal Service’s Zip Code Lookup page).
2. Identify your elected representatives by visiting the following web sites of the House of Representatives and the Senate; contact the Governor of your state and learn about what’s going on in your state’s Legislature.
3. Contact the representatives that you find, telling them how you feel and what you think about any issue that matters to you!

Please don’t think that it won’t do any good… please don’t think that you’re only one person and you can’t make a difference… please… decide today that YOU are going to tell your representatives how you feel, and what you think, about any issue that seems important to you!

I realize that not everyone will do what I’m asking. I realize that some will do it once, or a few times, and then give up. My hope is that a few will begin to contact their representatives, and that they’ll tell their friends and family how easy it is… and that their friends and family may begin to do this, too, and tell their friends… and then they’ll tell their friends, and so on.

I can’t make anyone do anything. I can’t change the world by myself. But I’m not by myself… there’s also you, dear reader, and your family and friends, and their family and friends.

Together we can make a difference: one contact at a time. Oh, and if YOU have a helpful link that you’d like to share with the rest of us, please leave a comment and tell us about it… THANKS!