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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   2986 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 5, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I would like to write a letter or an email to Mike Pence. I can't find any contact information for his offices online. Does anyone have any ideas how I might go about contacting his office? If there is no way to contact his office I will just message one of his social media accounts.

I suspect you're correct.

I've had a number of friends who have interned with congressmen and the like, and a common report of the experience is returning constituent mail, with the common theme being the general thanklessness of it, and how it was basically useless work pawned off on interns.

Earlier this year I read Path to Power, the first book in Robert Caro's series about LBJ.

I guess LBJ became a congressional staffer pretty shortly after college.

Apparently he attacked constituent mail with particularly uncommon zeal.

If you were writing your congressman about veteran's benefits, or something, and your letter happened to show up on LBJ's desk, you were in luck, he made a point to figure out who the best person to talk to cut through the government bureaucracy help you out.

The book is modestly handwavy about the exact mechanics of it, but I guess in the fanaticism he showed handling constituent mail, he was able to build a reputation as a helpful person in Washington to take your problems to, and various business people are always on the look out for people to take their problems to.

And those people wound up being the key supporters LBJ needed for his rise...

Anyway, I guess that's one of the big themes of Caro's book, that LBJ had something of a gift for see the potential for power, where other people didn't.

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