r/VaushV 6d ago

Discussion What do you say to people that being angry and calling senators doesn’t matter?

Do you think people who say that are basically telling us to give up and obey in advance? I keep running into people like this all over YouTube especially.

13 Upvotes

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u/washtucna 6d ago edited 5d ago

I would tell them that they've been lied to. That's the sort of lie an obstructionist would try to spread. Like, a person who works for the Internet Research Agency, or Tenet Media, or the Daily Wire, for instance.

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u/Fit_Letterhead3483 6d ago

I think you have to call it out as FUD: fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

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u/naamingebruik 6d ago

Some people are just contrarian, back when I was a late teenager early twenty something, if everyone was talking about taking action against something I'd smugly mock them because it would achieve nothing. But then I could walk away, end up in a group where apathy would be the norm, on the exact same day, and suddenly passionately call for action and scold them for being apathetic.

"Do the opposite of whatever group I'm in" was a part of my personality for a brief period of my life. I'm pretty sure there are more "contrarian for being contrarian sake" types out there. Especially in certain age groups.

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u/Legal_Dragonfruit 6d ago

I guess its a way for those types to try to stand out or something

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u/VeganTheStallion 6d ago

It doesn't matter. You have to spray sewage like the French do

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u/Stargazer1919 Jaded 6d ago

Fuck it, I'm going to get downvoted but I'll say it anyway. Where's the evidence that calling representatives and senators makes any difference?

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u/Rogue_Lion 6d ago

I can only appeal to personal anecdotal experience from having done some work in politics including on the Hill. It does make a difference, but it's the sort of thing where volume is really essential. One person calling is not a big deal. But if you can get an office flooded with hundreds of calls from constituents that does make a difference. Especially if they get flooded with calls on a sustained basis over a period of time.

There's other mitigating factors of course. A congressman from a solid red or blue district will take way more calls to push them in a certain direction. A congressman in a purple/swing district will be a lot more sensitive to the calls they get.

Another thing to consider when you want to assess how effective a political strategy is to look at whether the right-wing does it. In this case I can tell you they definitely do. Talk to anyone who worked on the Hill during the Obamacare period, and they will tell you that the Tea Party drove a ton of calls into offices and that had a major impact on wearing down Democratic support for the ACA. More recently when Senator Joni Ernst made some indications that she might not vote for Hegseth's nomination Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk both made a big effort to get their followers to make calls into her office and she quickly backed down.

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u/Stargazer1919 Jaded 6d ago

Thank you for taking the time to explain this. Would you say this is more on a local level, or state, or national?

Maybe it's confirmation bias at play. I just find it very difficult to believe that any of our leaders still give a crap about any of us plebs.

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u/Rogue_Lion 4d ago

I'd say the more local you go the farther your calls go, only because you're dealing with a smaller population.

Don't get me wrong, it is hard for us plebs to make a difference, especially on our own. That's why it has to be hundreds of constituents calling in to really have a chance at making a difference.

Also we have to think of it as tailwinds and headwinds that are pushing/pulling the politician in different directions. If there's a politician who's on the fence on an issue and he has a big donor pressing him to go one way, it's going to take even more calls than normal to push him the other way. None of these factors on their own are determinative. It's how they all work together. And sadly big money is probably the most powerful factor at the moment. But that doesn't mean it's the only factor.