Paul Henri, who lives in Louisiana, is a serious telephone lobbiest for immigration control. Here Mr. Henri gives some tips on how to approach the job:
Coming to the Aid of Your Country
One highly effective and bloodless way of doing this is by relentlessly calling congressmen—not just your own senators and your representative, but all of them. Contrary to popular belief, they do not get many calls on an average day. So when you call, you are noticed. I have been doing this for years, and I have helped to beat back every major amnesty bill, even those that the pundits and the pols called “done deals.”
To find congressmen’s phone numbers, here is the contact page for senators and here is the page for representatives. You can then choose as many legislators as you want.
When calls to arms go out by activist websites, I take my cell phone to work, get an updated list of senators or congressmen, plug in my headphone, and start calling every one of them. I say, “Hello, thank you very much for taking my call. I just wanted to urge the senator/congressman to vote against this immigration bill.” The office usually merely says, “Thank you for calling, and I will give your message to the senator.” Then say, “Thank you again for taking my call.” If they ask for your name or zip code, give it to them cheerfully. I might have to call two Thursdays in a row when beaten bills come up again. All in a days work for a soldier.
It is counterproductive to get into a conversation with a low-level staffer, and it is also usually unproductive to converse with a high-level staffer. They are true believers in their candidate/boss’s ideas. They are followers, not leaders. Now if you want to take a staffer to lunch, ask him. It is ethical for him to accept; I know because I am a final ethics official. Spread YOUR ideas around to MANY people. But don’t waste time on staffers as a general rule.
Become familiar with the enforcement websites so you can get lists from them, lists of fence-sitters that you can attack with your phone calls. The enforcement websites are not always easy to understand; persevere.
Develop your own common sense strategies for your particular state. For example, because I was facing a 5:00 p.m. EST deadline on Thursday, I had to limit my senatorial targets. I limited myself to Southern senators, of which there are many. I further limited my calls to Southern senators who had voted nay on an immigration-enforcement amendment offered by Senator Vitter. Then I went after non-Southern senators who had voted nay. By 4:47 p.m. I finished and learned we had killed the bill for now.
I cannot stress too strongly how much your help is needed in a fight like this. Our forefathers, led by God, graced us with this fine system of government, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. But the people must ACT instead of being apathetic and not voting and not making calls because they think others will carry the weight. Leaders can lead, but they cannot carry all the weight. Sure it seems pointless to make the calls when all seems lost, but that is exactly the time when you should fight the most. Your effort will pay off. If you start feeling sorry for yourself, just remember what it will be like to be in a civil war when you are being hit with real bullets or what it was like at Valley Forge. If the South had just bided its time, stuck together, and used constant peaceful pressure, there is a fair chance they could have achieved independence without firing a shot.
I know people are busy with work. So call only a few legislators. Sometimes the activist websites will list the legislators who are sitting on the fence. Call only them. Come in on Saturday to make up for lost work. Think of how awful things will be unless you help and how guilty you will feel later.
Be a force multiplier (like a ground-support aircraft) by providing phone numbers to your friends and relatives. This way, I multiplied some of my calls by a factor of five in fighting the amnesty. Realize the enormous power it generates when large numbers of people become force multipliers.
Celebrate heartily now (perhaps with a little Jack Daniels or a cold beer and pizza), because we probably still have a long row to hoe in a few weeks.
Rachael S. writes: