Comment by CjHuber
2 days ago
I know in the US it's very common to write emails or letters to their governor, but still I see it somewhat cynical. Like a popular tweet mattering much more than letters that probably won't be opened at all, and if it is opened I cannot imagine a MP reading all of them, more likely a clerk saying "You've got x citizens sending you letters about y", which would then again be somewhat valuable but I also can't imagine they have clerks opening every letter.
Sometimes making a politician aware that "if you vote for this, it may annoy people" can be enough. Your average politician votes on a _lot_ of things, many of which they know little or nothing about. They will take only a small number of them seriously, and a big factor in what gets taken seriously is what people are moaning about.
The first step really is just getting the politician to think about what they're voting on.
They also don't actually necessarily get _that_ many letters.
> common to write emails or letters to their governor, but still I see it somewhat cynical.
Yes, writing letters to these people is unlikely to help. The only language they speak is in votes. They have to be convinced that they will lose reelection over the issue. A conditional prediction market for their reelection given they vote a certain way would be the most effective tool.