When it comes to grassroots lobbying, there is power in numbers. And numbers can come from a quality grassroots organization that encourages supporters to directly contact their elected officials.
The thing that makes phone calls and letters so effective is that they are short and quick means of relaying your message. Changing the mind of your officials may not be accomplished with one phone call or one letter, but a thousand phone calls or letters voicing similar opinions will have a major impact on how most elected officials will vote on any given issue.
The most important aspect of basic grassroots lobbying is multiplication. Once you have taken the time to make contact with an elected official on an issue, find at least ten others to call or write their elected officials too.
Even on the hottest issues, most federal representatives rarely receive more than a few hundred calls, and they represent well over half a million constituents – and state and local officials represent a fraction of that. If there are one hundred people in your group and each one identifies at least ten others to contact their elected officials, you would generate over one thousand contacts – enough to scare the daylights out of most any politician.
In politics, that’s power!
Remember, no matter how stupid you may think politicians are, they all know how to count. They know that “numbers” on any given issue can possibly mean “numbers” on Election Day. And that gets their attention.
In the end, it’s all about the math. Use it to your advantage!
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