writing penIf you have never approached one of your elected officials through the mail before, it's very easy! Just follow the basic letter form like I have laid out below. To find your specific State and Federal elected representatives, access the THOMAS site from the Library of Congress – from the link on Salem's Big, Bad, Scary U.S. Government web page – and follow the easy directions to find your Rep's mailing address, or if they have one, their email address. Then have at it! And if you don't feel you have the ability to do this, ask someone you know who does to "sponser" your letter by crafting it for you.

Print: Your Elected Official's Name.
Their: Mailing Address Including Office Number Or "Suite."
Their: City And State, Then The Zip Code.                                                        ~The Date.

RE: ~ The reason you are writing. Keep it to the point.

Mr. or Mrs. or Ms: ~ (Don't worry about any pretentious sounding titles like "honorable Sir or Madam." Gag! Most of them are anything but that. Talk to them like you would anybody else. Most of them think they are above the law so for God's sake don't make it worse by catering to their big egos!) They're just ordinary people.

          Now in very plain english let them know how you feel! Don't worry about any "lawyerly" talk or pompous sounding dialogue. They get that all the time from the big, greedy corporate slob executives that are always trying to buy them off! Cut through all the trash and get to the heart of the matter.

          For example, you're tired of being sucked financially dry for their weird social programs, you're tired of them sending our military chasing all over the world "putting out political fires" in obscure little places that don't even want us there and then having to pay for it. (How much do you think the gas bill to float a carrier fleet on a world tour totals out to? Yeah. And we're paying for it, let alone our military people being put in harms way for trivial reasons.) You get the idea.

          And then end it on a halfway polite level, ask for a response, and then thank them for their time. It's as easy as that. You should get a response in the mail in short time.

           Refrain from threats or name calling. They work against your intentions of being understood by making you seem foolish. Write your letter in printing if you cannot type it to make it legible. Leave it double spaced. This makes it possible for the reader, probably one of the politician's staff, to make notes between the lines. For every letter a politician receives on a subject, they assume that there are 99 other individuals who feel the same and have not written. Your one voice IS powerful.

Sign: Your Name ~ (Yeah, the whole thing.)
Your: Full Address ~ (Don't worry, they know were you live already.)
Your: Town and State ~ (Yeah, they know that, too. They know what kind of underwear you have on.)

Your: Phone Number If You Want ~ (They could get it anyway but this makes it easier for them to put you on the "polls" calling sheets so they can ask you black and white, "yes and no" answers to incredibly complex and deep foreign policy issues or ask you loaded questions they can then twist to fit their own agendas. Yeah, those are a lot of fun.)

And If You Have It, Your: Email Address.

And there you have it! Put it in the mail and see what happens. Now you have to make it a regular routine after this because when politicians get elected, most of them get a serious case of the "stupids."  They promise us everything under the sun and then get into office and either we never hear from them–that's not good–or they end up doing the opposite of what we elected them to do in the first place. The "stupids." And if you are half-way level headed and eloquent, they just crave for someone like you to tell them the right thing to do, because most have forgotten how to stand on principle so have become completely poll driven in their legislative decisions.  That's why it is important to keep in regular contact with them. So make it a point! It's a small price to pay for your freedom!

And remember this....

The Soldiers Training Manual, issued November 30, 1928 gives the following definitions:

"TM 2000-25: 118-120, Democracy - A government of the masses. Authority is derived through mass meeting or any other form of direct expression. Results in mobocracy. Attitude toward property is communistic, negating property rights. Attitude toward law is that the will of the people shall regulate, whether it be based upon deliberation, or governed by passion, prejudice, and impulse, without restraint or regard to consequences. Results in demagogism, license, agitation, discontent, and anarchy."

"TM2000-25: 120-121, Republic - Authority is derived through election by the people of public officials best fitted to represent them. Attitude toward property is respect for laws and individual rights, and a sensible economic procedure. Attitude toward law is the administration of justice in accord with fixed principles, and established evidence, with a strict regard to consequences. A greater number of citizens and extent of territory may be brought within its compass. Avoids the dangerous extreme of either tyranny or mobocracy. Results in statesmanship, liberty, reason, justice, contentment, and progress."

1 Corinthians 7:23 says: "You were bought at a price; be not ye the slaves of men."

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