Time to write your representatives

By Frank Moraes
With a new filibuster fight before us, I knew that it was time to contact my problem Senator Dianne Feinstein. She is one of the old Democrats who always stands in the way of filibuster reform. If Harry Reid is having a hard time finding the votes to counter the Republicans, you can count on Feinstein being missing from his caucus.

For the umpteenth time, writing to your Senator or Representative is really easy. Just go to Who Is My Representative. You enter your zip code (depending upon where you live, you may need your extended 9-digit code), and it will tell you who represents you in Congress. But more than that, it will give you links that take you right to where you can contact your representative. If you care enough to vote, you should definitely care enough to write your representative, because doing so gives you extra influence because most people don't write.

What's more, you don't have to say much. I try to dash off a couple of breezy paragraphs. But a sentence or two is all you really need to do. This is what I wrote to Feinstein today:

Dear Senator Feinstein:

I know you are not keen on filibuster reform. But look: the little things that have been tried, have not worked. If anything is going to happen, you must at least support Harry Reid in his showdown with the Republicans. The current situation with the DC Court nominees is totally unacceptable.

You are cautious. I get that. But what I want is the end to the filibuster altogether (which I think we will get as soon as the Republicans are back in control, anyway). But moving forward on nomination filibusters mustbe done. Please support real filibuster reform and not more of the weak tea that hasn't done anything to help the situation.

Thank you!

-Frank Moraes

But like I said, you don't even need to do that much. Just say, "You need to support Harry Reid in his fight against the Republican misuse of the filibuster!" It's not going to mean any less than what I write. And remember that you have two Senators in this case. I will go and send a nice note to Barbara Boxer now. (My letters to her are always nice because she mostly does what I want.)

(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)