Citizens—and the associations, nonprofits, and corporations they belong to—often wish to enhance their voices by contacting the Senators and Representatives they like best, the ones they're most angry at, the ones they see on TV, the ones who sit on the committees most relevant to them, or possibly all of them, for good measure. Unless the legislators also happen to represent them, however, the messages almost never get through. Why is this?

1. We are a representative democracy. Modern technology may be able to facilitate direct communication between any citizen and any Senator or Representative, but our democracy isn't structured that way. Our Constitution describes a system where Senators and Representatives are elected by—and represent—a portion of the nation's population. Senators represent everyone in their states, and members of the House represent clearly-delimited districts within their states (usually about 700,000 people). This helps ensure the interests of the people in a specific location are represented by specific people in each chamber. There are three people in Congress who are accountable to you. It may be the case that their ideologies don't align with yours, that you don't agree with their actions, or that they don't sit on the committee or in the leadership position that matters to you. That doesn't mean that other Senators and Representatives are beholden to you. It means that it's all the more important for you to engage with those who DO represent you to ensure your voice is heard, that the people elected to represent you do so, and that your Senators and Representative are in office long enough to attain leadership positions.
2. If you send it, it will be forwarded on or filtered out. Since the dawn of time when postal mail was the only way to communicate with them, it has been customary for Senators and Representatives to NOT communicate with people they do not represent. It is not considered courteous or appropriate for legislators to build relationships with their colleagues' constituents. When volumes were smaller, many forwarded non-constituent messages on to their colleagues. These days, the volumes are so high that the messages are generally filtered out either automatically or by the staffers who process the mail. Whether it's a perfectly-crafted and compelling letter or 5,000 emails, they will not be read or responded to.
3. It's BAD for democracy. With the average Representative representing 700,000 people and Senators representing anywhere between 600,000 (Wyoming) and 39 million people (California) they barely have the resources to manage their communications and relationships with the people to whom they are directly beholden. They cannot be responsive to all 323 million people in the nation. Even the act of filtering constituents from non-constituents takes considerable staff time that is NOT being spent legislating, hearing the concerns of constituents, and understanding the highly complex and very important issues before Congress and the nation. If you want democracy to work effectively and you want Congress to listen to you, you must communicate and develop relationships with those who represent you, whether or not you like them or their politics.

If you want democracy to work effectively and you want Congress to listen to you, you must communicate and develop relationships with those who represent you, whether or not you like them or their politics. Your Senators and Representatives ARE listening to YOU. In CMF's "Life in Congress: The Member Perspective" study, 95% of Members rated "staying in touch with constituents" as being the job aspect most critical to their effectiveness. But they're having to filter through non-constituent voices to get to you. Our country runs on the belief that everyone deserves a voice, but sometimes if you're shouting too loud, no one is being heard through the cacophony of noise. So instead of shouting, communicate. And communicate to the right people so others can also have their voices heard by the Members trying to represent THEM.

And if you aren't sure the best way to communicate with your own Congressperson, check out our report about effective advocacy - Citizen-Centric Advocacy: The Untapped Power of Constituent Engagement.