Mail man
My brother opens mail – all day long.
He’s an intern for a congressman and when he isn’t giving tours, answering the phone or getting lost in all those tunnels under the Capitol complex, he’s opening letters from constituents. Lots of them.
Some are from crackpots, such as the fellow who sends a letter every week asking for a $500,000 grant (plus $50,000 weekly) because he got into a car accident and can’t work. Some are from the pathetic, like the sad little trekie who beseeched the congressman to save Star Trek: Voyager when it was recently cancelled.
And then there are the normal people. Believe it or not, they send most of the mail.
Which leads me to the staggering amounts of mail congressmen receive. Hundreds of letters combine with thousands of e-mails to create a massive amount of correspondence, Dennis Johnson was so thoughtful to point out in "Congress Online: Bridging the Gap Between Citizens and Their Representatives."
With suffocating volume like that, letters to congress are not getting the TLC they deserve. In my brother’s office, provided the letter is not from a whacko, the main theme from every letter is added into a topic column. Each letter is like a little vote to see how constituents feel: a no to poverty, a yes to gay rights or a no to illegal immigration. Interns then send a form letter on that topic back to the constituent.
But with volume like that, does a letter really matter? Is my little brother reading your letter going to make an impact on the congressman (who my brother is so star struck by that he has get to gather the courage to say hello)?
Probably not.
He’s an intern for a congressman and when he isn’t giving tours, answering the phone or getting lost in all those tunnels under the Capitol complex, he’s opening letters from constituents. Lots of them.
Some are from crackpots, such as the fellow who sends a letter every week asking for a $500,000 grant (plus $50,000 weekly) because he got into a car accident and can’t work. Some are from the pathetic, like the sad little trekie who beseeched the congressman to save Star Trek: Voyager when it was recently cancelled.
And then there are the normal people. Believe it or not, they send most of the mail.
Which leads me to the staggering amounts of mail congressmen receive. Hundreds of letters combine with thousands of e-mails to create a massive amount of correspondence, Dennis Johnson was so thoughtful to point out in "Congress Online: Bridging the Gap Between Citizens and Their Representatives."
With suffocating volume like that, letters to congress are not getting the TLC they deserve. In my brother’s office, provided the letter is not from a whacko, the main theme from every letter is added into a topic column. Each letter is like a little vote to see how constituents feel: a no to poverty, a yes to gay rights or a no to illegal immigration. Interns then send a form letter on that topic back to the constituent.
But with volume like that, does a letter really matter? Is my little brother reading your letter going to make an impact on the congressman (who my brother is so star struck by that he has get to gather the courage to say hello)?
Probably not.
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