Why is digital advocacy important to advance issues in Congress and the executive branch? Do my lawmakers really even care what I think?
Our lawmakers—both in Congress and in federal agencies—want to hear from constituents. That’s why they maintain websites to make it easy for people to share their views, hold town hall meetings, and take meetings with constituents, both in Washington and back home. This feedback helps them create better policies that address the needs of Americans.
Organizations considering a digital grassroots advocacy campaign sometimes question whether getting the public involved will help or hurt the overall goal. Some think that not engaging the public would make it easier for lawmakers, who would then decide in their favor based on the “high-value” views they receive (from the chief executives, lead researchers, or experts, for example). In reality, lawmakers, and regulators in particular, want to hear from the public—and they have created mechanisms to engage the public.
Even if public officials are expert, diverse and well motivated, they may not know nearly enough,” explains Cass Sunstein, the former administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). “An air pollution regulation might have major effects on companies and on state and local governments all over the United States. The consequences of that regulation for Los Angeles, or for companies in Ohio and Utah and Michigan, might not be visible to regulators. The government may have terrific scientists (actually, it does), but there are a lot of scientists in the nation, and they often have information that government lacks.” (Source: Cass Sunstein and Reid Hastie, Wiser: Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter, page 195).
Digital advocacy makes it easier for individuals to be a part of this dialogue and add their views to the policymaking process. In addition, a digital advocacy campaign can also leverage social media and amplify participants’ voices. For example, with POPVOX, we encourage constituents to not only write to their lawmakers, but then share it with their friends and networks through Facebook, Twitter or simply via email.
This is part of a weekly Q&A series with our advocacy expert Rachna Choudhry. Send your questions to outreach@popvox.com and see the answers in future editions!
