Thank you, Chris. Shared, shared, and shared! I am fortified by every single word you wrote here. Your cataloguing of all the ways to contact our Electeds was an epiphany. Thank you for being our North Star 🌟
I really encourage and support The Existentialist Republic launching a print publication. Even in this digital world, there is something important--more human, about being able to hold the effort of printed words in our hands. Does MAGA have a print publication?
I feel I received significant support in trying to better understand the best methods for persuasive communication in your first two paragraphs and especially the phrases emphasized with bold print. Our representatives in Congress are only concerned with re-electing themselves and others in their party. And we don't have to like that description to accept that it is at least largely true about most reps and therefore use it to really benefit our entire society.
I love print publications, since I have difficulty reading on a screen and I doubt I am alone in this regard. I’m looking forward to your book. Best regards. Always thanks…
I guess I'm fortunate that I do receive responses from both of my U.S. Senators and my Congressman, often addressing the specific issues I raise. The one elected official who has never responded to me is Chuck Schumer. So I suppose 3 out of 4 isn't bad.
That said, a lack of response will not stop me from writing to him or to any other elected official when the situation warrants it. Democracy requires participation, and I will continue to contact all of my representatives to make my voice heard on the issues that matter to me and my community.
Thanks for this… Very helpful and encouraging. I’ve seen your request for feedback about mailing a print newsletter and I wonder how effective that can be over and above what you do now.
First, there’s the fact that many of us rarely receive the mail we’re supposed to from the USPS. It’s just a failed system now. Add to that the time and money it would take to accomplish on a regular basis… I just don’t know. I understand you’re trying to reach people who are not online so maybe it’s worth it. Starting out with a trial to see what kind of feedback you get might be a good idea.
On this end of things, however, it feels like you are now being very effective in your messaging and exhortations to action. Thanks for your persistence!
The most basic thing that people forget is that if you don't vote, politicians do not care what you think. There is a record of whether or not you cast a vote. It doesn't record who you voted for; it records whether or not you cast a ballot. If you're the type of person who only votes every 4 years in a Presidential election, you will likely not get any responses from your Congressional or state representatives. Why should you? You aren't even doing the most basic act of democracy. You also aren't going to be helping any of them get elected.
If there politicians are smart, they will get constant calls & letters from those of us who were previously not political, and they will then recognize that this previously apolitical person is watching and is now very much a person who votes at the local level. Maybe we should always say "I am a constituent and voter" in our communications. Use the word voter perhaps.
I'm planning on it. But if your comment is more aimed at the general populace of the still-willfully ignorant, then I certainly understand the frustration and irritation.
Another excellent article. I will add: create your own local civic group based around Christopher Armitage's methods. Then work toward employing all the methods outlined in this article. I am in the beginning stages of this myself. If you are not socially connected, it's going to take some time. And that's okay. You may have to work on socializing first. This is a marathon, not a race. Join your local chapter of Indivisible and practice socializing in person with those people for a while first. Some of them may join your small group or you can make an Armitage Coalition inside Indivisible. I have mentioned this before in comments, and I am not going to stop beating this drum. I will not shut up about this. This single only way for this work to be sustainable over time is if you band together with otheR Armitage followers and take action together as a group of anywhere from 6 people to 12 to 24 and hopefully more. Otherwise we may burn out in the months and years to come. There is one model of what these groups could look like on my publication. And it's open source, meaning modify my idea of structure, make it your own. Come up with your own pillars. The post is called "the revolution will not be discorded". I am not promoting my publication for any personal end. I am not and probably never will be a professional writer or someone who wants followers for any selfish ends. Half of my work is in service to Christopher's ideas and the other half is public service in general. How to secure your devices as an activist, etc. It's for the people and its almost a minor league companion publication to existentialist republic at this point. Anyway - there's 56, 000 plus of you people all over the place. Local civic groups based on these ideas is the next logical step. And I have taken the time to think about and frame one potential model for this idea, and it's completely open source.
Christopher I love your writing, advocacy, and have been pleased to purchase your book and support your work on Substack. May I make a suggestion that I think will make your writings even more accessible and actionable? Run your writings through an AI like ChatGPT and ask it to edit the organization and presentation for readability, visual appeal, and actionability. I think you’ll love the feedback. Many times your writings have the appearance of a solid hunk of text. This makes them challenging to digest and I find myself delaying reading until I can get through the whole thing. You can easily take your writing to a whole new level by making them more visually accessible — and using AI makes it quite easy these days.
Thank you, Chris. Shared, shared, and shared! I am fortified by every single word you wrote here. Your cataloguing of all the ways to contact our Electeds was an epiphany. Thank you for being our North Star 🌟
I really encourage and support The Existentialist Republic launching a print publication. Even in this digital world, there is something important--more human, about being able to hold the effort of printed words in our hands. Does MAGA have a print publication?
I feel I received significant support in trying to better understand the best methods for persuasive communication in your first two paragraphs and especially the phrases emphasized with bold print. Our representatives in Congress are only concerned with re-electing themselves and others in their party. And we don't have to like that description to accept that it is at least largely true about most reps and therefore use it to really benefit our entire society.
I would love a printed edition! But also don’t want to add to your volume of work, I don’t think you sleep already.
"Here at the Existentialist Republic, we are considering launching our own print publication" -- f*ck yeah sign me up
Amen!
A print publication. Definitely.
I love print publications, since I have difficulty reading on a screen and I doubt I am alone in this regard. I’m looking forward to your book. Best regards. Always thanks…
I guess I'm fortunate that I do receive responses from both of my U.S. Senators and my Congressman, often addressing the specific issues I raise. The one elected official who has never responded to me is Chuck Schumer. So I suppose 3 out of 4 isn't bad.
That said, a lack of response will not stop me from writing to him or to any other elected official when the situation warrants it. Democracy requires participation, and I will continue to contact all of my representatives to make my voice heard on the issues that matter to me and my community.
In California here…I received a wonderful letter from Adam Schiff. That was it!
Thanks for this… Very helpful and encouraging. I’ve seen your request for feedback about mailing a print newsletter and I wonder how effective that can be over and above what you do now.
First, there’s the fact that many of us rarely receive the mail we’re supposed to from the USPS. It’s just a failed system now. Add to that the time and money it would take to accomplish on a regular basis… I just don’t know. I understand you’re trying to reach people who are not online so maybe it’s worth it. Starting out with a trial to see what kind of feedback you get might be a good idea.
On this end of things, however, it feels like you are now being very effective in your messaging and exhortations to action. Thanks for your persistence!
Eloquent, detailed and doable. All very useful actions. Thanks, Christopher. Keep organizing! You are good at it!
Absolute must read to my friends, best article ever to confront our current problems with activism
The most basic thing that people forget is that if you don't vote, politicians do not care what you think. There is a record of whether or not you cast a vote. It doesn't record who you voted for; it records whether or not you cast a ballot. If you're the type of person who only votes every 4 years in a Presidential election, you will likely not get any responses from your Congressional or state representatives. Why should you? You aren't even doing the most basic act of democracy. You also aren't going to be helping any of them get elected.
If there politicians are smart, they will get constant calls & letters from those of us who were previously not political, and they will then recognize that this previously apolitical person is watching and is now very much a person who votes at the local level. Maybe we should always say "I am a constituent and voter" in our communications. Use the word voter perhaps.
Well, to accurately describe yourself as a voter, you have to vote.
I'm planning on it. But if your comment is more aimed at the general populace of the still-willfully ignorant, then I certainly understand the frustration and irritation.
In other words, insanity is repeatedly failing by using the same methods, and wondering why.
Another excellent article. I will add: create your own local civic group based around Christopher Armitage's methods. Then work toward employing all the methods outlined in this article. I am in the beginning stages of this myself. If you are not socially connected, it's going to take some time. And that's okay. You may have to work on socializing first. This is a marathon, not a race. Join your local chapter of Indivisible and practice socializing in person with those people for a while first. Some of them may join your small group or you can make an Armitage Coalition inside Indivisible. I have mentioned this before in comments, and I am not going to stop beating this drum. I will not shut up about this. This single only way for this work to be sustainable over time is if you band together with otheR Armitage followers and take action together as a group of anywhere from 6 people to 12 to 24 and hopefully more. Otherwise we may burn out in the months and years to come. There is one model of what these groups could look like on my publication. And it's open source, meaning modify my idea of structure, make it your own. Come up with your own pillars. The post is called "the revolution will not be discorded". I am not promoting my publication for any personal end. I am not and probably never will be a professional writer or someone who wants followers for any selfish ends. Half of my work is in service to Christopher's ideas and the other half is public service in general. How to secure your devices as an activist, etc. It's for the people and its almost a minor league companion publication to existentialist republic at this point. Anyway - there's 56, 000 plus of you people all over the place. Local civic groups based on these ideas is the next logical step. And I have taken the time to think about and frame one potential model for this idea, and it's completely open source.
Christopher I love your writing, advocacy, and have been pleased to purchase your book and support your work on Substack. May I make a suggestion that I think will make your writings even more accessible and actionable? Run your writings through an AI like ChatGPT and ask it to edit the organization and presentation for readability, visual appeal, and actionability. I think you’ll love the feedback. Many times your writings have the appearance of a solid hunk of text. This makes them challenging to digest and I find myself delaying reading until I can get through the whole thing. You can easily take your writing to a whole new level by making them more visually accessible — and using AI makes it quite easy these days.
One of my favorite artifacts!
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26184/pg26184-images.html