Please critique my letter to my Congressman regarding impeachment:

[Poiuyt]

Dear Congressman__ –

I am writing to you to express what I feel is the most important issue facing our country, the impeachments of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. That they have committed impeachable offenses can no longer be in doubt. I won’t go into them here as there are many others who can make the case more eloquently than I. I would, however, like to tell you why I feel impeachment is so important.

The obvious answer, of course, is that removing Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney from office would stop the bleeding of our country. They would no longer be able to do damage to the United States, drag us into another war, or further harm the prestige of the U.S. around the world. I feel a more important reason, however, would be to look at how impeaching Bush and Cheney would affect the future.

Impeaching President Bush and Vice President Cheney would send a message to future presidents that unconstitutional behavior would be dealt with harshly, that we, the people, have never accepted, and will never accept our leaders overstepping their bounds, indeed, that they are to be held to a higher standard. It would show other countries that the United States really does practice what it preaches, and that we are a great country to be looked upon as an example for the rest of the world to follow. And future historians would be able to say, “The Bush Administration committed multiple impeachable offenses, but Congress reined them back in with the tools given to them by the Founding Fathers.” Sounds better than, “Congress closed its eyes and ignored the impeachable offenses,” doesn’t it?

Failure to remove Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney from office is tantamount to us approving of the Bush Administration breaking the laws of the U.S. Constitution and the various treaties we have signed throughout our history. They have set a precedent for strengthening the Office of the President to such an extent that they are above that of the Legislative and the Judicial branches of government. In essence, the president and the vice president can do whatever they please without having to answer to the other branches or to the American people. We have let them ride roughshod over the Constitution and they do so with impunity. Is this the precedent that we want to have set for the years to come?

I hope that you and the rest of Congress take the matter of impeachment more seriously than you have to date. I truly fear that our country will never be the same if you don’t. The actions of this administration must not become the benchmark for the future. Please send the message that flagrant disregard for our Constitution will be punished.

Thank you.

[John Q. Citizen]

1. I would ask your congresscritter to take one specific action, such as;

Dear Congresscritter X;

I am writing to ask you to please cosponcer HR333, the bill to bring articles of impeachment against VP Chaney.



(Then I would give him/her a few personal reason why you would like them to co-spocer the bill. Leave out terms such as "remove from office" because that is the Senate's job, not your congresscritter.)

Something like: I believe the VP must be held to account for subverting our constitution. You took an oath to defend our constitution and as such, ignoring the probably criminal offenses of the VP is not an option but your sworn duty.

(I like this part below but could use some work/shortening)

Bring articles of impeachment against Vice President Cheney would send a message to future presidents that unconstitutional behavior would be dealt with (seriously,) that we, the people, have never accepted, and will never accept our leaders overstepping their bounds, indeed, that they are to be held to a higher standard. It would show other countries that the United States really does practice... (the rule of law)

Thank you
signed x

Short and simple beats long and complicated when writing your rep.

Hope that helps

[canetoad]

2. Like your version JQC

Prefer letters that are succinct, well aimed and containing not one word more than is needed to get a firm message across.

[Poiuyt]

4. I'll work on shortening it up a bit

I didn't mean to write an essay, but maybe it turned out that way.

I do, however, support the impeachment of both Bush AND Cheney, not just Cheney.

[liberaldemocrat7]

9. The letter needs the following sentence added to it.

"Until George W Bush and Dick Cheney resigns and ends this war, I and many others will not buy any General Electric products.General Electric contributes money to the GOP"

[Senator]

3. I think it is very good

Not to take too much issue with the posts above, but their advice is what I'd expect to give/get in a business/activist communication situation.

You don't say if you're just sending this via email, faxing something typed, or writing it longhand and faxing and/or sending it "snailmail." You should consider matching your form and content to whatever "mode of conveyance" you intend to use. Though I don't think there's anything really wrong with the content, regardless of how you intend to send it.

I would say your letter, as posted, is excellent for a hand-written or typed (hand-signed) personal letter that one would put in an envelope and send to one's representative (for staff to read). These types of messages are often far more powerful than emails, faxes, or other "easier" methods.

To be even more effective, you might consider hand delivering it. And perhaps even requesting a meeting to discuss your concern -- preferably with the Rep themselves or, more likely, with "senior staff." It really is quite easy to do. That's what they're there for.

However, if you're sending electronically or faxing something you might want to adjust it a bit to be "scanned," not read-in-full. An easy thing would be to separate the first and last sentences as paragraphs of their own. Then if the staffer reads nothing else, they still get your bottom line.

--

[Poiuyt]

5. Here's a shorter version. What do you think of this:

I am writing to you to express what I feel is the most important issue facing our country, the impeachments of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Impeaching Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney would send a message to future presidents that unconstitutional behavior would be dealt with harshly, that we, the people, have never accepted, and will never accept our leaders overstepping their bounds, indeed, that they are to be held to a higher standard. And it would show other countries that the United States really does practice what it preaches, and that we are a great country to be looked upon as an example for the rest of the world to follow.

Failure to remove Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney from office is tantamount to us approving of their flagrant disregard for our Constitution. I hope that you and the rest of Congress take the matter of impeachment more seriously than you have to date. Please do not let the actions of this administration become the precedent for the future.

[demgurl]

6. Very nice, Poiuyt.

You and I do think alike. I wish more people could see this. People need to see the importance of impeachment and how it is not a Democratic issue but rather an American issue. Kudos to you, my friend.

[Poiuyt]

7. Thanks!

It is an issue for our Constitution

[demgurl]

8. You are absolutely right.

And constitutional issues are not ones where we have the room to decide if we should persue a matter or not. If it is not supported in the constitution then they must be impeached.