Letter writing is a dying art. It's true that people compose nowadays for e-mail, but that is often dashed off with very little thought by either the author or the recipient. An actual letter, handwritten if you have excellent penmanship, or typed (OK, use your word processor), is becoming a much more rare and impressive thing. E-mails are often treated like phone calls or post cards. Someone checks off a little "for" or "against" on an issue sheet. Your opinion may be counted but no one will really pay attention to it. 

When writing to a representative, the first thing is to make sure you have the proper address. Check it twice or more. Your deathless prose will not be worth much if the letter is returned to you. In this day and age, also make sure that you put your own return address, including your name, clearly on the envelope. This will avoid having it thrown in the anthrax sniff pile and will show people that you are an actual constituent of the representative.

Be courteous. A letter starting, "Dear Idiot," seldom is read beyond that salutation. Avoid being too clever. Basically, there is an issue. You either agree or disagree with your representative, or he or she may not have formed an opinion yet. In high school or college English, somebody once taught you how to write to persuade. Try to remember those lessons. State clearly what the issue is that you are discussing. State your position and the reasons for it as well as you can. 

OK, correct address, return address on outside of envelope, courteous and short. How does one do this? That old standby the outline is very handy. In this case it is correct to state your conclusion right off: "I don't believe the position of Lamplighter should be abolished in Silver Spring." That is your position and major statement.

Now we need some arguments: "A Lamplighter, making his rounds, is another set of eyes which can report oddness or suspicions of crime and therefore increases the security of the neighborhood. The position of Lamplighter is honored in our traditions and our local culture. He might even be considered a tourist attraction." Think of two or three more reasons we need lamplighters and then, in conclusion, "There are many good reasons to keep the position of Lamplighter, and I hope you will agree and oppose this move for senseless change."

Now it's likely time to start cutting. There are a great many people who believe that if you can't state your position clearly on one page, you can't state it on fifty. Short letters are much more likely to be read fully. Most government legislators have other people who read their mail and just pass on the most interesting and succinct views. Those of us who read our own mail often throw long opinions to the bottom of the pile, where we will deal with them "later." 

A nice clear signature with your name, exactly as it is on the voters' (membership) rolls, is then a good idea.

This is really not difficult. You are just out of the habit of putting pen to paper. As I mentioned before, letters are taken seriously. It is usually estimated that if someone bothers to write a letter, there are about ten people out there with the same opinion who don't bother to write. Your strength will be the strength of ten, not because your heart is pure, but because you bothered to write.

—Jim Lange
    jameslange@jameslange.com