This is supposed to be the information age and all of us are
supposed to be Internet savvy.
This is supposed to be the information age and all of us are supposed to be Internet savvy. Grandchildren sharing digital photos with their grandparents, housewives sharing music files, commuters checking the latest stock prices as they drive to work, dedicated game players addicted to the excitement are all common images. At least this is one version of contemporary life that is often conveyed in mass media.
You would think that politicians, especially those with a Silicon Valley constituency, would also be adept as utilizing the Internet as one way of communicating with their constituency. After all, it is free, fast and reaches millions of households.
The truth is that we are not all so adept at instant communication and quite a few of us do not speak computerese. Not everyone uses email, and even among those who do, a lot of email goes unanswered, as there is just too much of it to respond to all of it every day.
It is also true that many of our politicians, or their staffs, just do not get it. Their view of the Internet is not that of a useful communications medium, but rather a mass distribution process for advertisements. The Internet has a term for this type of use. It is called SPAM and it is as distasteful as some find the product whose name it shares, unless of course you are from Guam and cook it with pineapple.
I have sent email to almost every one of the politicians who represents us in Morgan Hill and a few others as well. Some were taken seriously. Others were not.
U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer asks for your opinion, but does not answer. It appears that her staff uses the input only to gather email addresses to be used for sending out notes that tell us all what a great job she is doing.
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren was the only elected official that responded in a manner which led me to believe that a real live person had read and thought about what I had written. My first feedback was a response that my message had been received and would be reviewed. I waited for quite a while to get any more. When it did come, it was not an email but a letter delivered by the USPS. I had not expected Representative Lofgren to agree with what I had written, and she did not. But the letter stated that disagreement and gave me the reasons why.
Our current Congressional representative, Richard Pombo, stands in sharp contrast to Lofgren in many things, not the least of which is in the manner in which he uses the Internet. Pombo’s congressional site, http://www.house.gov/pombo/pombo.htm, makes it easy to send him a message. All you need to do is access the site and click on “contact me” in the top menu. This shows you a fill in the blanks form that allows you to send your comments to your representative.
When I have used the Internet to communicate in this way, I do get a response from Rep. Pombo’s system. It is an email from which I quote: “You will receive a response pertaining to your comments and concerns shortly.” Since I have only once received a response from his office, and that after a year of waiting, I can only assume that our honored representative is not interested in anything that I have to say. He is probably too busy getting himself re-elected, but the vote will not come from me.
There are other politicians who do use the Internet effectively. Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean has been raising a significant amount of money and enlisting a grass roots organization through the Internet. His site, is focused on getting people to join. Besides the usual list of candidate positions, there is advice to followers on how to organize local support groups.
People believe in causes. It is the ability of Dean’s process to make people believe that they are useful in helping their causes that makes Dean’s web site work so well for him. So far, more than 400,000 people have registered, and that is a large local organization.
This is an era of mass communications. Success is often defined in the way that people use the media to communicate. Those who understand that the best communications happens during a conversation will be the most successful. Dean understands that people need to be involved and uses that need to build his organization. Lofgren understood this and respected input from her constituency enough to answer back. Pombo is giving the appearance of saying the right thing, but does not follow through on what he promises. It makes me wonder about anything that he promises.
Wes Rolley is an artist and concerned citizen. The Board of Contributors is comprised of local writers whose views appear on Tuesdays and Fridays.
