To your point below about strength in numbers; there is strength in numbers. If five people from back home call/email on the same topic, the CofS will look at it. If five more call or email on the same topic, the CofS is going to find out for him/herself. In smaller states, such as Montana, you're likely to get a meeting with the CofS. Gather enough people to weigh in on your issue and you will get a meeting with the Senator or Congressman.
Maybe in bigger states, it is a function of scale and the numbers are bigger to get on the radar screen. In western states I'm familiar with, the numbers needed to hit Congressional radar is pretty small.
Your comment implies a defeated acceptance of a fate that is unchangeable. I disagree with that.
How do you know that hasn't happened?
I can assure you that the afternoon this came out I was on a call with groups in DC that are very effective. They were looking to bring pressure from the Democratic side of the aisle, as the tenor in DC is such that on these Cabinet-level issues that the greatest benefit comes from the opposition party of whoever holds the Whitehouse.
Calls were made. Within a day, a letter was crafted to DofE by a Senator asking for reversal of this policy. Pressure is continuing to be applied. Many groups are meeting and directing pressure in a strategic and coordinated manner, they just aren't doing it on IG or FB. These aren't just the critter groups, but industry groups and their lobbyists. The critter groups have the membership that, if activated, can bring pressure to raise the priority of a topic. The groups like NSSF and CSF have even more lobbyists who can leverage their contacts. To make change, we need both.
Again, you don't know if that has/hasn't happened. It doesn't happen on IG or FB. It doesn't happen with Letters to the Editor. It happens by building relationships over time. It happens when groups and orgs hear enough from members and participants that this should be one of their higher priorities.
Anyone who thinks that this stuff gets changed by ranting and raving on social media is uninformed. It happens when we do what a lot of the orgs ask of us - contact those elected officials. With a lot of pressure via contacts from members, these groups can then get their lobbyists the important time with that elected official.
It is interesting how many people I talk to and ask if they contacted their elected official, only to be told something of the tone, "Aw, it doesn't make any difference." That's how you lose the issues that are important to you as a community or group.
I know people get tired of it. I know there is fatigue about "contact your elected official." But, in the world of policy, which shares the same root word as politics, that is how change happens. The other sides aren’t giving up, rather they are tooling up for the next issue. We are at a crossroads, maybe past the crossroads, where apathy and defeatist attitudes in our community have become more pervasive.
Change doesn't happen overnight. We seem to have a society that if we call an elected official and change doesn't happen by the next morning, we give up and that becomes our excuse for disengaging. The other sides aren't giving up that easy. They are doubling down, knowing our side is more likely to give up.
I get it that some people feel it isn't worth the time, effort, and the friction that comes with advocating for our causes. If that is the tone that carries the day, we can expect more losses and bigger losses.
I'm the eternal optimist who feels that hunters and shooters have always risen to the task. I feel that same way today.
Arguing on a social media platform like Hunt Talk is not nearly as helpful as contacting your elected officials. Links here:
