A VOICE FOR GOD For 37 FaithfulYears CHARLES E. FULLER
The Christian Sentinel
by Nelson S. Dilworth California State Senator. Retired bells, saying a pleasant word in my behalf and leaving a handbill or cir cular. If my precinct and district cam paign workers were of one mind on some controversial issue, I worried about letters from people that I had never heard of before. So, if you are concerned over legis lation or national matters, hunt up the candidates, meet them BEFORE election. Pick the one that you feel will render the best service to our state and country and work for his election AND LET HIM KNOW IT. Attend meetings in his behalf, discuss his strong points pleasantly and casu ally with your acquaintances. Visit his campaign headquarters and help with the labor there. Then don’t be surprised if a letter from you after election is treated almost as a com mand. Of course, some candidates are backed by large organizations and feel that they need not bother them selves with attention to the letters from “ little people.” When you find such an official, you will often find good reason to support some one else next time. I should not neglect to point out that the United States Senators from California, representing sixteen mil lion people, find it humanly impossi ble to give close personal attention to individuals on any large scale. So we must not expect too much per sonal attention from-them. By all means, write to your rep resentative but, better still, try to help send good men of courage and integ rity to our legislative halls in the first place. Make their acquaintance at home before they go off hundreds of miles to the Capital and get desper ately busy with the controversies of a legislative or congressional session. Our free popular form of govern ment will not work by itself. It is but an opportunity for Us to achieve good government. The immortal Ed mund Burke of the English Parlia ment said centuries ago, “ All that is necessary for evil men to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”
V ery m a n y tim e s during my twen ty-four years in the Legislature citizens have asked me whether letters to their representatives in the Legis lature or Congress were effective. Did the officials addressed pay attention to the letters? I will try to answer in generalities that are approximately correct for the average citizen dealing with the average legislator at the State Capitol or in Congress at Washington. To be realistic, I must state at the outset that officials vary widely ■in their methods of attending to their mail. Letters on controversial subjects are effective with the majority of officials, especially so, if there is a decisive majority of sentiment. The representatives who disregard or neglect their letters from constituents are usually not the men who remain in office for a long period. A large number of letters written on the same typewriter and the same let ter paper are always subject to evalu ation. This trick used to be employed by some professional lobbyists but they have learned better. Sometimes innocent citizens unfamiliar with political life are led to make the same mistake. The official usually can tell quickly if letters are the spontaneous and personal expression of citizen constitutents. By all means, if you are deeply con cerned about any measure being con sidered, write to your representative. However, I have something better to suggest. I can speak from long experi ence, too. I paid the closest attention to the letters and of those people who had worked for my election in my campaigns, eight primaries and eight general elections. These people had attended meetings and spoken in my behalf. They had distributed informa tion about my candidacy to large numbers of families by pushing door
ON THE EARTH-SPANNING OLD FASHIONED REVIVAL HOUR SUNDAYS ABC RADIO NETWORK AND HUNDREDS OF OTHER LEADING STATIONS
IN JUNE BE SURE TO HEAR DR. FULLER'S TIMELY, INSTRUCTIVE SERIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MARK AND BEGINNING IN JULY A SERIES ON DANIEL AND HIS PROPHECIES FOR THE LATTER DAYS
WRITE FOR FREE RADIO LOG AND MONTHLY PUBLICATION TO:
C H A R L E S E. FULLER
P.O. BOX 123, LOS ANGELES, CALIF.
TH E KING'S BUSINESS
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