I think it might be going a bit far to say that nobody starts out writing letters (because I did) but I do appreciate that a petition is a good first step at getting active.

And please interpret my comments in the spirit in which they are intended: to educate people about the way things get done in DC. I equate petition signing with quackery when confronting a dread disease. It's harmful precisely because it deceives the patient about its efficacy.

I lived in the DC area for more than a decade. I have two friends who work in the actual White House, another former colleague who is a serving delegate (VA) and countless others who work on the hill as staffers. I worked as an IT volunteer for the OBA campaign in 2008.

I've asked this question before: "What's the difference between the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement? The Tea Party got their candidates ELECTED and changed the political discourse of the country."

As long as our generation keeps showing up to political gunfights armed with snowballs, we're going to keep getting the water hose.