Effectiveness of different strategies
Many times guys will ask me: "Well, ya know, how can I be certain that my letter will make a difference? won't it just get thrown away, or read by an aide?"

Those are good questions, and valid. There are times when it may seem not as productive to write letters, IMO if you want the attention of politicians here are the ways to do it, from the most effective to the least:

1. Granting, or withholding, campaign contributions.

2. Lobbyist contact attempts and meetings by lobbyists who represent a specific constituent group.

3. Personal protests and demonstrations. Nothing is more visually impressive than an organized protest. Politicians know they bring news coverage, and don't want any negative press connected with their names.

4. Q&A sessions where a politician is exposed to public questions. Politicians are very responsive to any public meeting they attend where they see a good number of citizens (ie potential voters) are galvanized for or against a particular issue.

5. Letter writing campaigns. Politicians know they have to pay attention if the volume is high. There are several categories within this:
a) Hand written letters - hand written letters are usually more effective, because almost no one does this anymore. If legible, carefully worded, and not too long, (that leaves me out!! ) these have the best chance of getting read by the actual politician. Only the best of the best letters have a chance of reaching this point.
b) Form letters or postcards - effective, but usually only to calculate the sheer number of voters that are pissed off about an issue.


6. E-mail campaigns and online petitions. Although it's easier for our generation to do this, the truth is most politicians don't read their e-mails. How can you expect them to if they get thousands of them? I would say if anyone wants to do this, if you don't have time to participate in any of the ways above, by all means you should send one. It can't hurt.

But also realize it's one of the least effective strategically. There's no consistent way to prove if a politician ever got or had the chance to read your e-mail, no matter how passionate it may sound.




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If you don't have the time, resources, or energy to get physically involved, that's OK. You can't expect everyone to feel the same way you do on any given issue. That's one of the reasons you'll notice here while this year I'll be trying to promote C&R more, I don't ever think it's fair to shove those views down someone's throat.

I like to eat fish I catch at times, and don't want anyone else to preach to me that I shouldn't. I'm sure many of you feel the same way.

So C&R, just like joining an organization and supporting them, should be a personal, voluntary choice. On the other hand, if someone does nothing to stand up for their fishing rights in any way, then they would not have any grounds to complain when those rights are arbitrarily taken away.

Also, if you really don't have the time to get involved, you can help to make a difference by contributing to the organization whose vision most fits yours.

Please realize I'm not nesessarily pitching here for you so send money to the JCAA, RFA, SSFFF or whatever organization we're talking about at the moment.

These are all personal choices, whether we give something or not. I merely wanted to offer those who were concerned, an optional choice.