| At a recent Boston Blockchain Association event, our members signed and mailed over 100 letters to our Senators supporting the crypto bill, using this template. Here’s how it works. Step 1: Be Clear on Your Goal A good percentage of people who write their Senators are crackpots. They’re from people with too much time on their hands, or nutty causes. That means a well-written letter stands out like a nugget of bright gold. Another thing I’ve learned in my writing career is that most people don’t like to read. People get bored after the first couple of paragraphs. (You, of course, are the brilliant, shining exception.) Get to the point, quickly. Boldface your request in the first sentence. If you want them to support the new crypto bill, say it up front, and reference the actual bill number or name (it's the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, S.4356). That makes it easier for junior staffers to put it on their brief for the Senator. A well-written letter is like a shot of caffeine to clarifying a Senator's thinking. Step 2: Be Concise People are busy, especially government staffers. They have to deal with lots of long, rambling diatribes from people who are passionate about their causes (it's politics, after all). Again, your Senator is probably not going to read it directly. Your letter will likely end up a checkbox on a column for a cause. But that checkbox matters, especially if many people line up behind a cause. Here in Massachusetts, Senator Elizabeth Warren has been famously skeptical of crypto. I don’t expect that a huge stack of letters is going to make her pro-crypto overnight. But it will have an impact. Even if you think your Senator is a lost cause, it’s still worth writing. In this letter, we ask for support of the bill – and even if they don’t support the bill, we ask them to keep crypto bipartisan. That’s important, because we need to work together. Step 3: Sign Your Name and Address Again: sign your real address. When writing your elected official, showing them you are a real, registered voter is your superpower. Anyone that takes the time to write a letter is definitely going to take the time to vote. And one thing I can guarantee you: Senators want votes. This is why writing a Senator in another state is probably not worth your time. This makes your job easier: you don’t need to sway the entire Senate, just two of them.
Two letters. That’s all it takes. | 