I’m thinking if there are some non-traditional ways an elected politician could create a lot of utility.
What exactly are the “super powers” of the elected politician? What can they do better than before? The ability to have 1 vote in 400 is the obvious answer, but there is certainly more, both formal and informal. Maybe you actually have a very little formal power, but I’d guess that many people will overestimate it. If many people suddenly start taking you much more seriously than before, how can you use that? (I am thinking about speaking with those people personally, because if you publish something in the media, your opponents will say the opposite thing, and the public discussion will go somewhere different than you originally wanted.)
Maybe I am naive here, but I think that calling someone and saying “I am a state representative, and I believe you have the power to improve this country, can I have a talk with you?” will instantly get attention of most people. But how to use it properly? (Also, those people will probably expect you to have unlimited power and money, and their further thinking may get totally focused on that idea.) One power you have is to make people feel important, if you e.g. promise to mention them on your blog. Or, if people are willing to talk with you, you could use this to connect people you believe should cooperate, by inviting them to the same debate.
Okay, maybe these are not the brightest ideas, but the general idea is to think about opportunities other than voting.
Maybe I am naive here, but I think that calling someone and saying “I am a state representative, and I believe you have the power to improve this country, can I have a talk with you?” will instantly get attention of most people.
Are you familiar with the expression “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” and its connotations?
The job of a person elected to a parliament is to produce new laws and public policy. It’s not to simply vote on laws proposed by other people.
The general idea when contacting people should be: “I’m a member of parliament X and I’m writing a law on subject Y. I want to hear from experts on Y to have an informed idea of the subject. I think you are on of the important experts on Y, can I talk to you for you to explain to me your perspective on Y and your ideas of how Y should be legislated?”
When voting on subjects on which you don’t have expertise you want to vote with other people in return to them voting for laws you sponsor.
Maybe one could influence malfunctioning government-run services to behave better. If some DMV office or post office is notoriously slow or broken, one could send a letter with official letterhead saying that your constituents are complaining and you’d like to speak to the manager to find out what the problem is. Then actually find out what the problem is, have them work out a plan to solve it, and report back to you on their progress. If necessary, mention that there’s currently a big push in the Senate to cut back for poorly-performing services.
I’m thinking if there are some non-traditional ways an elected politician could create a lot of utility.
What exactly are the “super powers” of the elected politician? What can they do better than before? The ability to have 1 vote in 400 is the obvious answer, but there is certainly more, both formal and informal. Maybe you actually have a very little formal power, but I’d guess that many people will overestimate it. If many people suddenly start taking you much more seriously than before, how can you use that? (I am thinking about speaking with those people personally, because if you publish something in the media, your opponents will say the opposite thing, and the public discussion will go somewhere different than you originally wanted.)
Maybe I am naive here, but I think that calling someone and saying “I am a state representative, and I believe you have the power to improve this country, can I have a talk with you?” will instantly get attention of most people. But how to use it properly? (Also, those people will probably expect you to have unlimited power and money, and their further thinking may get totally focused on that idea.) One power you have is to make people feel important, if you e.g. promise to mention them on your blog. Or, if people are willing to talk with you, you could use this to connect people you believe should cooperate, by inviting them to the same debate.
Okay, maybe these are not the brightest ideas, but the general idea is to think about opportunities other than voting.
Are you familiar with the expression “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” and its connotations?
The job of a person elected to a parliament is to produce new laws and public policy. It’s not to simply vote on laws proposed by other people.
The general idea when contacting people should be: “I’m a member of parliament X and I’m writing a law on subject Y. I want to hear from experts on Y to have an informed idea of the subject. I think you are on of the important experts on Y, can I talk to you for you to explain to me your perspective on Y and your ideas of how Y should be legislated?”
When voting on subjects on which you don’t have expertise you want to vote with other people in return to them voting for laws you sponsor.
Maybe one could influence malfunctioning government-run services to behave better. If some DMV office or post office is notoriously slow or broken, one could send a letter with official letterhead saying that your constituents are complaining and you’d like to speak to the manager to find out what the problem is. Then actually find out what the problem is, have them work out a plan to solve it, and report back to you on their progress. If necessary, mention that there’s currently a big push in the Senate to cut back for poorly-performing services.