catsittingstill: (Default)
catsittingstill ([personal profile] catsittingstill) wrote2017-01-18 07:31 pm
Entry tags:

Citizen Stuff (for Tuesday and Wednesday)

Accountability Post, Trump Year 0 Jan 17 and 18

Yesterday I called both Senators about having a strong replacement in place before repealing Obamacare and also about not confirming Betsy DeVos, because I think vouchers are a scam to cripple public schools by draining their funding into the pockets of private companies and individuals who can and often do discriminate on the basis of race, wealth, LGBT status and religion.

I also called my Representative about yanking the House Oversight Committee off the Office of Government Ethics and pointing them back at Trump's financial conflicts of interest, which is what they ought to be investigating.

The staffer let something slip that perhaps he didn't intend. Or perhaps he meant it to discourage me. But he said that they'd been hearing a lot from a few people like me, but most of Congressman Duncan's constituents didn't seem to care much.

At first I *was* discouraged. Then I looked up Congressman Duncan's district and realized it encompassed most of Jefferson City and pretty much all of Knoxville. So today I walked on to campus and buttonholed a few of the teachers I happen to know are worried about Trump. I persuaded three more people to call Congressman Duncan. So that's progress.

One of those teachers said I should post on a Facebook group we're both part of, so I did that, and I think I got at least one more new caller out of that.
kjn: (Default)

[personal profile] kjn 2017-01-19 09:16 am (UTC)(link)
You also need to consider that what you and other callers are trying to do is working against the ingrained habits and prejudices of many representatives. The staffer's comment likely means that they have taken notice, and are trying to work out how to best disregard the activism of you and other people.

So bringing in some more people is exactly the right reaction.
quadriviummuse: (Default)

[personal profile] quadriviummuse 2017-01-22 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
Cat, that's AWESOME! Good on you!