A letter I just sent to my state senator...

[Metric]

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Having teachers packing heat in classrooms would be, for the lack of a better word, "tacky." These incidents are rare enough that we don't need to resort to such measures IMO.

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What do you mean WE? What if I teach in the classroom from hell? Why does your personal choice involve me?

[Dan.]

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coffee,

Where do you live? If you state senator does not already agree with you this letter will be trashed. I have spoken with people who have done internships with political figures and I am sure some people on this forum have done this as well. One thing I have learned is that these people don't care about anything we say. Unless you are some really important person they just ignore you. It makes me feel really bad when people try so hard to phone their reps for poker legislation when they are just gonna be ignored and will have no effect on the way the official will vote.

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Exactly. I wish people would realize this, and stop saying "but there IS something you can do! Write your congressman!"

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I guess I'm just spoiled, because the only person I've written is Russ Feingold, and I've gotten back handwritten letters.

[pvn]

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coffee,

Where do you live? If you state senator does not already agree with you this letter will be trashed. I have spoken with people who have done internships with political figures and I am sure some people on this forum have done this as well. One thing I have learned is that these people don't care about anything we say. Unless you are some really important person they just ignore you. It makes me feel really bad when people try so hard to phone their reps for poker legislation when they are just gonna be ignored and will have no effect on the way the official will vote.

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Exactly. I wish people would realize this, and stop saying "but there IS something you can do! Write your congressman!"

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I guess I'm just spoiled, because the only person I've written is Russ Feingold, and I've gotten back handwritten letters.

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And I'm sure his interns hate you for writing yet another letter they have to respond to in longhand.

[goodsamaritan]

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Having teachers packing heat in classrooms would be, for the lack of a better word, "tacky." These incidents are rare enough that we don't need to resort to such measures IMO.

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What do you mean WE? What if I teach in the classroom from hell? Why does your personal choice involve me?

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Easy there partner. Saying "we don't need to resort to such measures" does not in any way mean that I would forcibly prevent you or any other teachers from carrying guns. I would not want to attend or send my children to schools where the teachers carry guns, but I would not advocate coercion that prevents teachers in other schools from carrying guns.

Instead of rushing to accuse me of imposing my my beliefs on you, you could have considered the possibility that I was merely saying that it would be unnecessary and bad policy for all teachers to carry guns. That is not the same thing as saying that I would forcibly prevent teachers from carrying guns. Similarly, if someone asked me whether smoking cigarettes is a good thing, I would say no, but that does not automatically mean that I would forcibly prevent them from smoking. It just means that I think the other person would be better off if they didn't smoke. Such statements are *advice.* There is a big difference between advice and imposition of beliefs.

"We don't need to resort to such measures IMO" = advice
"I think we should pass a law banning guns in schools" = imposition of beliefs

You should be more careful about the assumptions you make when reading other people's posts.

[Metric]

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You should be more careful about the assumptions you make when reading other people's posts.

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I asked three short questions regarding your use of "we" (which you then clarified) -- I don't think I was making any particularly outrageous assumptions, there. But thanks for the tip, anyway.

[TIEdup14]

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coffee,

Where do you live? If you state senator does not already agree with you this letter will be trashed. I have spoken with people who have done internships with political figures and I am sure some people on this forum have done this as well. One thing I have learned is that these people don't care about anything we say. Unless you are some really important person they just ignore you. It makes me feel really bad when people try so hard to phone their reps for poker legislation when they are just gonna be ignored and will have no effect on the way the official will vote.

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But your vote *matters*, right?

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My vote matters a lot more than a call to a some random congressman.

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Because you might get some other bozo who doesn't give a [censored] about what you think.

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I'm confused, what exactly are you advocating?

[Nielsio]

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coffee,

Where do you live? If you state senator does not already agree with you this letter will be trashed. I have spoken with people who have done internships with political figures and I am sure some people on this forum have done this as well. One thing I have learned is that these people don't care about anything we say. Unless you are some really important person they just ignore you. It makes me feel really bad when people try so hard to phone their reps for poker legislation when they are just gonna be ignored and will have no effect on the way the official will vote.

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But your vote *matters*, right?

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My vote matters a lot more than a call to a some random congressman.

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Because you might get some other bozo who doesn't give a [censored] about what you think.

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[AlexM]

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coffee,

Where do you live? If you state senator does not already agree with you this letter will be trashed. I have spoken with people who have done internships with political figures and I am sure some people on this forum have done this as well. One thing I have learned is that these people don't care about anything we say. Unless you are some really important person they just ignore you. It makes me feel really bad when people try so hard to phone their reps for poker legislation when they are just gonna be ignored and will have no effect on the way the official will vote.

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Exactly. I wish people would realize this, and stop saying "but there IS something you can do! Write your congressman!"

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I guess I'm just spoiled, because the only person I've written is Russ Feingold, and I've gotten back handwritten letters.

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You think that means anything beyond the fact that it looks good?

[mosdef]

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I really get the feeling that there is a greater divide today between our elected representatives and their constituencies, than at any time I can remember. It seems that there are many issues where elected representatives flat-out ignore the wishes of their constituencies. Yes, they have the right to vote as they wish, but why is the gap so wide now, between their wishes and the wishes of their constituents?

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Centralization of power has gradually increased while homogeneity of the poplulation has decreased.

The federal government has gradually grown in power and influence (relative to the states and municipalities) even though the increasing diversity of culture across the country has meant that more localized decisions are needed to address more localized problems/concerns.

I think this means that serious democratic reform is a necessary next step to improving the functionality of the democracy. Others on the forum think that the government should just be trashed and the local decisions should be localized all the way down to individuals. Others think that we should give even more power to the central authority to socially engineer our way out of the problem. I think we all agree that in the U.S. there is a very serious problem with the representative government system as it works right now.

[pvn]

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coffee,

Where do you live? If you state senator does not already agree with you this letter will be trashed. I have spoken with people who have done internships with political figures and I am sure some people on this forum have done this as well. One thing I have learned is that these people don't care about anything we say. Unless you are some really important person they just ignore you. It makes me feel really bad when people try so hard to phone their reps for poker legislation when they are just gonna be ignored and will have no effect on the way the official will vote.

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But your vote *matters*, right?

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My vote matters a lot more than a call to a some random congressman.

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Because you might get some other bozo who doesn't give a [censored] about what you think.

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I'm confused, what exactly are you advocating?

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As far as I can tell, I haven't advocated anything (in this thread).