Write Letters to Elected Officials

Shalom and welcome to Tikkun Tips!

Tzedek tzedek tirdof! Justice, justice, shall thou pursue! (Deuteronomy 16:20)

This statement, taken directly from the Torah, can be found among laws pertaining to setting up a judicial system. It says that we should judge fairly and pursue justice. Even though we often subject it to harsh criticism, America's political system does give civilians a voice, and not using this voice is foregoing some share of our role in this democracy.

***Write letters to your elected officials***

I do not blindly believe that simply writing letters to your elected officials will solve all of our problems, environmental or political. However, it does have an effect. With respect to environmental concerns, oftentimes politicians do not fully understand a given situation. Maybe they received a briefing on it, or the matter seems too insignificant to give it second thought. Individual laws are regularly packaged with others to create larger bills, and the ‘less important’ laws, known as ‘writers’ to the bill, sneak through the system without much scrutiny. However, it is oftentimes these laws that have a larger impact.

This is where we as constituents come in. By writing to our elected officials we can raise awareness about issues that may otherwise be overlooked. We can provide more accurate information to the politicians, and hopefully have some impact on their decisions. Our voice holds the most power when dealing with local representatives. Their voter base is smaller, and they generally respond more directly to the opinions of those electing them.

Contacting your elected officials is easier than ever. Through government websites, you can contact essentially any politician. Check out these pages:

http://www.house.gov
http://www.senate.gov
http://www.whitehouse.gov

Here are the email addresses of the President and Vice President:
president@whitehouse.gov
vice.president@whitehouse.gov

One more site that may interest you is:
www.truemajority.com

This site makes it extremely easy to contact your elected officials about a wide range of topics. Simply enter your address (the information is kept confidential) and you can then take action by sending messages to various politicians. Very easy and effective.

The convenience of sending emails means that more people are contacting their officials. Our voices are being heard more than ever before. In fact, many social action organizations have taken to mass emails as their primary form of contacting politicians. It works. Remember, "All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing."

Let your voice be heard!

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