Guide to Independent Grassroots Activism
Your Opportunity to Influence Policy & Politics

One person can't do everything, but we dare not do nothing.
- Minnesota Family Council Activist Randy Miller, Owatonna

Some people are self-starters when it comes to independent grassroots political activism. They become involved in the political process in an ad hoc sort of way,

• writing letters to the editor,
• attending political speeches,
• wearing political buttons,
• displaying lawn signs for political candidates,
• calling their legislators,

and so on--all without being asked. These people are rare. I don't think they are rare because of a lack of will, but because of a general lack of knowledge of

• how to be effective and, more importantly,
• how to get started.

Once they get started, most people find the experience to be quite rewarding, but they need that initial confidence to get started.

I frequently hear from people who are interested in becoming involved in politics, but not in a serious way. In other words, they are interested in just dabbling in politics. In general, they need guidance as to how to proceed.

I have found several books dedicated to grassroots political activism, but those books seem to be written by serious political operatives who assume that anyone who gets involved in politics wants to evolve into their likeness. Such books also seem frequently to be geared toward people who are interested in organizing their own grassroots political organizations. I recognize this is not the case with everyone.

Therefore, this guide is dedicated to the people who wish to become involved in politics but who want politics to remain only a hobby — a fun pastime. For years, this is exactly what politics was for me — and nothing more — and I loved it. This guide is, moreover, geared toward those who are interested in independent activity, outside formal political organizations, which in many ways is more effective anyway.

The first part of this guide discusses what I call "kitchen table activism." This part is dedicated especially to the housewives, retirees, and students who regularly call me to ask what they can do with a small amount of time and without having to leave their homes.

The second part of this guide is called "public activism" and discusses informal activities that take place outside the home. This brief part is dedicated to the political social animals. In this part, I have specifically tried to focus on political activities that could be viewed as fun social events, largely outside of formal political structures.

• making telephone calls and
• writing letters.

TELEPHONE ACTIVISM

There are three main kinds of telephone calls independent activists can make to be effective:

• calls to legislators,
• calls to friends, and
• calls to radio call-in talk shows.

Calls to legislators

When calling legislators, it is likely that one will not reach the actual legislators, but rather their staffs. It is important to state clearly about what issue one is calling. It is best to know an exact bill number or at least a name of a particular piece of legislation. It is important also to state exactly what action one wants the legislator to take. There are lots of legislative maneuvers that technically do what constituents want, but which can negate the spirit of a piece of legislation. So, a call to a legislator (at least to one not inclined to agree with a constituent) must be well planned and prepared.

Legislative staffs do (or at least should) keep a tally of calls from each side of every specific issue. Ultimately, the legislator will be advised by the staff, including information about constituent calls.

Finally, it is important to follow up with thank-you calls or calls to express disappointment, as the case may be, based on a legislator's response to a call (in other words, based on how the legislator votes on the specific issue).

Calls to friends

Independent activists might call friends for a couple of reasons.

One is to generate additional calls to legislators on a particular issue. Volume of calls does matter. In the case of the Minnesota Legislature, there is one secretary for every two or three legislators. A few calls to each legislator can become like a crisis for a legislative office as it adds up to many calls for one staff member.

Other calls one might wish to generate to friends involve getting them to engage in other types of grassroots activism (other activities that will be mentioned here later, that is).

Of course, one of the most important calls an independent activist can make to friends is a get-out-the-vote type call right before an election. Independent activists should be grooming their friends to vote their way for a long time prior to an election, but ultimately the most important thing is indeed to get one's friends to the polls on Election Day to vote the right way.

Calls to radio call-in talk shows

Calls to radio call-in talk shows are good if an activist has some piece of knowledge that is not being discussed on a show.

Also, radio call-in talk shows sometimes present an opportunity to speak directly with politicians. When a friendly politician is on the air, it is good to call with "softball" questions that the politician can answer easily. When the opposition is on the air, it is good to call with pointed questions that press the politician for defense of a position or justification of a vote.

In any case, calls or statements made to radio talk shows should be well planned. It is good to write questions on a piece of paper before ever dialing the telephone. Questions for guests (like politicians) should be short, and they should not include long editorials or extended personal opinions—just simple questions. Informative statements can be longer, but should still be concise.

 

LETTER WRITING ACTIVISM

There are two main letters activists can write:

• letters to legislators and
• letters to the editor for newspapers.

Letters to legislators

Letters to legislators are more private than letters to the editor. These are fairly simple to write, and they do influence legislators.

Legislators themselves often do not see the actual letters. Sometimes they see only a stack of letters on a particular issue, if their staff members decide to use the letters as a prop for visual effect. Usually, members of the legislators' staffs are the ones who read and respond to constituent letters. Legislative staffs are usually small, and therefore any number of letters, especially on the same topic, will have an influence.

There are some ground rules to follow in conceiving letters to legislators:

• Effective letters deal with only one issue or one piece of legislation at a time.
• Effective letters to legislators are very simple.
• Effective letters get directly to the point.
  It is superfluous to write long explanations or to try to impart knowledge to the letter reader. The only thing that the reader will care to discern is the constituent's issue and stand on that issue.
• Effective letters avoid long personal stories.
• Effective letters avoid poor grammar and spelling and are typewritten.
  Credibility is important. It is not enough just to be a voting constituent; to be taken seriously, one must also appear refined.
• Effective letters call the legislator to some action on the issue and ask for a response, preferably with a commitment to take the writer's stand.

A letter to a legislator might take the following format:

• Paragraph A (no more than three lines): "To introduce myself: I am a housewife (or a student, or a 50-year resident, or whatever).
• Paragraph B (one or two lines): "I am writing regarding the _____ issue" (or, list a bill number, if known).
• Paragraph C (no more than 5 lines—and this paragraph is not even necessary): explanation of the letter writer's stand and perhaps why.
• Paragraph D (one line): "I hope you will vote ____ on this issue," or "take such and such an action on this issue," or "I hope you will lead the effort in passing the ____ bill."

Constituent name, address, and phone number at the end.

Here is a brief sample letter to a legislator, using the formula:

Dear Congressman _____: I am writing to you as a mother of five children and grandmother of seven and as a 38-year resident of Willmar, Minnesota. I am writing regarding the issue of partial-birth abortion. I understand that the US Congress will soon vote on whether to ban this procedure. I am very much opposed to this gruesome procedure. One could hardly bear to see this procedure performed on a cat, let alone on a human. My husband and I have two children who were diagnosed with deformities before birth, and the doctors recommended that I undergo the partial-birth abortion procedure to "resolve" the situation. I refused, and I am very thankful that I did. Our children have brought more joy to our lives than we ever could have imagined. I hope you will vote to ban partial-birth abortion. Thank you very much, Name Address Phone Number

 

NOTE: Another letter to legislators that is important is the "thank you" letter to a legislator who has voted the right way. Legislators need to know that they have support for taking bold stands on issues. For faster impact and faster response, activists should consider sending letters to legislators via e-mail. Most legislators and their staffs are on-line.

Letters to the editor

Letters to the editor are more public than letters to legislators, obviously.

Letters to the editor can be effective tools for grassroots activism. There are many people who read newspapers, and if they read that people like them believe a certain way on an issue or that people like them are voting for a certain candidate, then they are likely to follow suit. Many people don't have the political savvy to make decisions for themselves and need to have someone else's ideas to grasp. Others who have opinions one way or another need validation of their beliefs in the form of knowing there are others like them.

There are some times to write letters to the editor, and other times to refrain from doing so.

It is good to write during campaign seasons, when issues arise that highlight the differences between politicians, and to praise the work of politicians who agree with one's issues.

It is important to be proactive and not reactive. One should not respond directly to the opposition's letters. It is better to write a proactive letter supporting one's own position; otherwise, the opposition gets a second bit of attention by being mentioned in the reaction letter.

It is also important never to defend oneself vis-à-vis an attack by the opposition. Even if the opposition writes a letter criticizing an earlier letter, even with personal attacks, one should not respond back. Attacks by the opposition will make the opposition look worse than the attack will make the original letter writer. A response to an attack will only make the original letter writer look defensive and unsure of the position taken.

There are some ground rules to follow in conceiving letters to the editor.

• Effective letters praise individual legislators or praise one legislator and criticize another. It is ineffective to write a letter which simply criticizes the opposition.
• Effective letters tackle one major issue at a time, and they contain a few factual tidbits to back up the activist's stand. Ineffective letters are open-ended or issue-oriented (these are more like editorials and are inappropriate as letters to the editor).
• Effective letters use simple, homespun, patriotic language.
• Effective letters are very concise.
• Effective letters highlight (one might say, exaggerate) the virtues of one candidate or position and highlight the villainy of the opposition.
• Effective letters avoid intellectual language.
• Effective letters avoid sarcasm. A surprisingly large number of people try to employ sarcasm in their letters to the editor, and I have yet to see it used effectively; most of the time, it is simply difficult to follow or sounds extremely whiny—or pompous.
• Effective letters avoid poor grammar and spelling errors and disjoint thoughts. It is always good to have someone other than the writer give a letter a look for readability. Newspapers are notorious for making errors in printing, anyway—if there are errors at the outset, letter to the editor writers can come off looking really dumb.
• Effective letters include a call to action (vote for ____, call to ask so-and-so to vote this way or that on the _____ legislation, for example).
• Effective letters are less than 250 words in length (some newspapers have set limits for length).

I have developed a simple formula for writing letters to the editor (the ABC's):

• Paragraph A (two or three lines): Announce and outline the issue.
• Paragraph B (three to five lines): Bash the Opposition (optional paragraph).
• Paragraph C (three to five lines): Commend the friendly legislator.
• Paragraph D (one or two lines): Direct constituents to action.

Sign with name, full address, and phone number.

NOTE: For faster appearance in print, activists should fax letters rather than just mailing them. Writers should write only once in a while (a maximum of once per month). Activists who feel compelled to write more than once a month should write the letters and find someone else who is willing to sign and submit them.

Here is a sample letter to the editor my brother once wrote. I use the same formula every time I write a letter to the editor:

To the Editor: The northern Minnesota traditions I enjoy most are hunting and fishing-they provide an aesthetic experience like no other, as I am sure many readers would agree. Unfortunately, there are people who would like to prohibit hunting and fishing: US Senate candidate ___ is one of them. In the state legislature, she consistently voted against hunters and fishermen. For example: she voted to raise over 100 hunting and fishing license fees and to spend the revenues on porkbarrel projects (not on the environment as is usually done); she voted to make it illegal to transport a firearm, even if disassembled in its case and locked in the trunk of a car, while driving through a town of 12,000 or more people on the way to hunting grounds; she voted to make it a crime to carry a strung bow on a snowmobile. The list of her unreasonable votes goes on and on! Being from Texas, ___ obviously does not respect Minnesota values and traditions. Her opponent, Congressman ___, on the other hand, grew up in rural Minnesota and understands what is important to us. ___ is a member of Ducks Unlimited and has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association. He has consistently voted to protect our hunting and fishing rights and to protect the land that we outdoorsmen use. ___ understands that we hunters, fishermen, and outdoors enthusiasts are the best protectors of the land we cherish. Therefore, I would encourage everyone who enjoys the outdoors as I do to vote for ___ on November 8. Name Address Phone Number

There are basically two types of public activism:

• independent activism and
• organized activism.

Independent activism could be described as doing things completely outside structured campaigns or political movements. This includes activities as simple as

• displaying bumper stickers,
• lawn signs, and
• lapel buttons.

It includes

• going door-to-door to distribute literature, or
• distributing literature in public places like ball games.

Independent activism can also involve speaking publicly

• at church,
• at community meetings, or
• in the media (it is always good to jump in front of cameras or to monopolize reporters' time, if there is no one else from your point of view available).

Independent activism can also involve visiting lawmakers (lobbying). This is probably the single most effective method of grassroots activism. This is a much easier and much more accessible activity than many people believe. Lawmakers are not unapproachable. One must only make an appointment to see them (sometimes even this is not necessary). When making a visit to a lawmaker, an activist must remember to get right to the point (no small talk), and one must remember to get a commitment of stance from the lawmaker and, if possible, a promise to be a leader on the legislation.

Organized activism involves being a part of events organized by political groups, special interest groups, lawmakers, or candidates for office. These are perhaps some of the most enjoyable activities. They include volunteering for work at campaign offices, participating in parades and rallies, and attending campaign victory parties. Activists should be in contact with campaign offices, political party headquarters, or special interest group representatives to learn about the possibility of participating in these activities.