Is E-mailing Your Congressman Worth the Time?

CongressI recently wrote (a little angrily) about a writer on Gawker who complained about the uselessness of using social media for Internet campaigns. A few days later, I got a status report regarding Burma and legislation in particular that would ensure that the US government would have a more watchful eye towards Burma.

I dutifully followed the link in the status report to “Write my congressman”- all I had to do was type in my address, sign my name, and specify the type of legislation I was writing about and voila, the message was sent. Today, I got a message back from my congressman, telling me that my message was received (happily) and that if I wanted to follow a specific piece of legislation, I could check out this web site for the bill number.

I know for a fact that the letters coming from congressional offices are form letters, already pre-written, but I had no idea that so little attention was given to the subject of the letter or the specific bill. Nada. Granted, I only spent roughly 2 minutes on responding, but I wanted him to know that the issue was important to me (and hopefully other constituents).

This is not the first time that I have forwarded an e-mail regarding specific legislation, nor will it be the last but I seriously have to wonder whether or not it’s worth my time and energy at all. What (besides getting ridiculously angry at town-hall meetings?) is the best way to send a representative a message about what the public really wants?