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Lessons from Congressional Visits
November 29th 12:16:23 PM
One of the things that we've been trying to encourage S4 members to do is visit their members of Congress- to let them know that there are young people out there, constituents in their districts in fact, that care about Social Security and want it reformed! So right before Thanksiving, Will Fields decided to put that request into action. and i tagged along for the learning experience. Will is from North Carolina, so we visited two Congressmen from his districts-one from his home town and one from his College town. One was in favor of reforming social security through personal accounts and the other, well...wasn't. I learned many valuable things from these visits:
Congressional offices give away snacks! i got three bags of peanuts and a bag of prunes!! woo hoo.
ok- but honestly, i did gain some other insights as well. Mainly, that we're not going to change their minds on one visit, but we can demonstrate to them that there is a group of college students,(S4), that is concerned about this issue and wants personal accounts. That is a big deal, especially since we represent young voters from their district. They said to us, "We only get letters and meetings with people who don't want personal accounts"
translated: "AARP members are bombarding our offices with form letters, e-mails, faxes and angry phone calls."
In the grand scheme of thousands of pieces of mail, our one little meeting with the congressman does not have that much overall affect. BUT- it did show them that there is another side. And it made me realize that it's not THAT hard to go meet with members of Congress and tell them, "Social Security is not going to be giving me the benefits I deserve by the time I collect $ - give me the choice for personal accounts!!"
S4 needs to get out there and make their voices heard! True, we're competing against HUGE anti-personal accounts organizations, like AARP, but the fact that we're young and in favor of this issue makes us stand out more when we actually DO make an effort to call our Congressmen or send them a letter or visit them personally.
The Congressmen Will and I visited from North Carolina are not necessarily going to be the congressional members bringing the actual legislation to the floor. They are not the top members that we would want to "target" or focus in on changing their mind...but they are members of Congress, and they have a vote. It is our job to make them aware that young people everywhere want personal accounts! Senior citizens will not be affected by reform, so listen to US, the ones truly affected!
Posted by Evan Dent
Comments
Yo
Posted by G on November 30th 04:16:28 AM
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