I listened in on a conference call this evening. The callers were citizens concerned about the Senate vote; They are concerned because three 'Republican' Senators are prepared to vote for the bill.
Those Senators are: Arlen Specter-PA, Susan Collins-ME, Olympia Snow-ME.
The callers generated ideas on how to persuade these Senators to vote "no" on the bill. Most of these ideas fell into the basic ideas of protests, letter writing, appealing to the
conscious of the Senators, blogging, twitter -- basic grassroots strategies.
What I learned from the call is that these Senators have their own pet projects
buried in the bill. In other words, there is something in it for themselves and the people of their state. It was also my impression that it was going to be very hard to get these Senators to change their minds. There were thoughts expressed that letters written from
constituents outside of the state would lack impact to these Senators because we don't vote for them and they are currently secure with their constituents.
I think focusing on the Senators is a mistake. They all are enjoying a very high approval rating and for various reasons will not be standing for election anytime soon.
I think we need to focus on the states themselves, and turn the rest of the nation against those two states. It is easy for the citizens of those states to feel good about the bill when their Senators promise to bring more spending and prosperity to them. Who will they believe more? One or two
narcissistic Senators, or millions of Americans.
I believe we need to show those states the
possibility of a greater economic loss than they have to gain by the stimulus bill. How many of the top-producing companies have been contacted by their Senator? When those companies begin getting thousands of emails from Americans, they will realize who has the power. Talk radio should suddenly encourage every American to avoid purchasing products from these states. We should discourage tourism to these states. We should make the people that live in these states feel as
un-American as their Senators.
If the state is slated to receive $50 billion in stimulus spending, we should pledge to boycott that state until we have cost them twice what they have to gain. We should try to kick them out of the union saying, "America will not pay for your pork."
An email to a CEO in Maine might look like this: America is not going to pay for your pork projects sponsored by Senator Collins and
Snowe. We are pledging to boycott the purchase of your products, until your company is bankrupt.
I think we should strive to make the people of the Senator's states feel
un-American because of the actions of their Senators.
