What if we formed a grassroots mass mailing campaign to educate the voters in a red leaning Congressional district about what is really going on in Congress and how it directly affects them?
The mass mailing would be a monthly mailing on issues of the day and how our Congressman voted on them. It would be a double-sided 8.5" X 11" or large postcard size piece of cardboard. Since people are too busy to pay attention to the news, maybe this type of brief but informative mailing would catch their attention. It shouldn't be demogoguery since that would turn people off. We don't need to demogoge them to win. We just need to illustrate how issues directly affect the voters with stark examples and framed in the correct manner.
The group could be called something nonpartisan but meaningful like Concerned Citizens for NJ.
I know that mass mail marketing does not have a good success rate, but this is more geared toward regular education then selling a product. After all, since the media will not cover the important news in a straight forward manner then we should. Just look at the lack of coverage of the Istook amendment in the mainstream media's newscasts for evidence. We need to find a way to soften the voters up for when it comes time to actually decide who to vote for Congress.
I am hoping this would not be too expensive of a way to reach people. If it gets to be too expensive then we could reduce who receives the mailing to those who are not registered as Dems and Repugs since we know who they most likely will vote for.
Now, I have a few questions:
- How can we fund something like this and how much would it cost?
- Do people think this would be an effective way of educating people? Our Representives send us regular propaganda on the taxpayers dime in the guise of an educational newsletter. Why can't we counteract that?
When it comes time for a Dem to run for that district then hopefully people would be more willing to listen to an alternative.
I came to this idea because I live in a red county of a blue state, but my congressional district used to be competitive. After gerrymandering by Dems it is more red. Last night I met with some moveon members and we talked about gaining seats in Congress. We are tired of feeling left out. We want to be able to turn some NJ Congressional districts blue, especially mine, NJ-7.
I have no idea why NJ Dems turned my district more red instead of blue. The claim is to make Rush Holt's district more secure. His was a truly competitive district. Dems were in power, why didn't they redistrict the way Texas did in 2002? Texas Repugs were able to get their redistricting plan approved by the courts why couldn't NJ Dems? If it was due to fair play why should they play fair when Repugs don't?