How to Automate a Job Out of Existence
15th January 2019
‘Constituent Services’ is the branch of Congressional administration designed to give the appearance that your Congresscritter cares what you think without actually bothering him/her/it with your actual opinions (unless, of course, that opinion is accompanied by a large check, the larger the better).
To cut it down to its essence:
- The unpaid intern opens the letter; determines if it’s someone mildly important or unimportant, and just enough to know what they’re talking about.
- Based on those two data points he routes it to the appropriate LC or LA
- The LC or LA reads the letter just enough to know if the writer is ‘for’ or ‘against’
- The LC or LA sends a form letter.
This piece examines how that process can be automated to make sure that no public employee is ever bothered by the opinions of unimportant (i.e. non-donor) citizens.