Email Heresy
Recently we blank”>posted on the thorny subject of whether email lobbying campaigns were actually getting their messages through to Congress. The focus of the posting was on the technical side of whether (or to what extent) such “generated” messages were filtered out in various ways by legislators' defensive systems.
In addition, however, The Agitator expressed some misgivings about whether these citizen campaigns have much efficacy anyway. Is the “dirty little secret” that they're largely ignored? Are they more often fundraising ploys?
Well, we're going to step into this doo-doo again. This time by yielding the floor to Gavin Clabaugh, a blogger (Gavin's Digital Diner), foundation exec, and tech-savvy denizen of the nonprofit world.
As you'll see, Gavin fervently believes in the right of citizens to petition their government. However, the message of his two posts — Email Heresy and Email Heresy – The Sequel — is that e-advocacy doesn't cut it. Congress doesn't pay attention to this noise. And so the perpetrators of these campaigns are fooling their naive e-warriors … indeed, helping citizens assuage their outrage with impotent action).
From his perspective, when the e-campaign vendors argue over who has the best mousetrap, it's “a little like debating whether or not to use Little Mermaid or Mickey Mouse-themed Band-Aids on a patient with broken bones and severed limbs.” In Gavin's view, the real issue is that “the public's voice” is broken, and we don't know how to restore its efficacy.
A provocative view. What do you think?
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