"I already asked and I didn't get an answer. They know what I want. I don't want to ask again."

This one really irritates me. The whole purpose of an ask is to eventually get an answer, right? Sure it's frustrating when our elected officials don't respond to our "asks" as quickly as we'd like. Why does that happen? Usually it's for one of three reasons. Either:

* the elected official simply forgot about the request -- with dozens of requests a day, this happens often. * the elected official hasn't had time to form an opinion on your question * the elected official is waiting to see how much you really want what you're asking for

All of these problems can be solved by asking again. I recognize that it might take months or even years to get a straight answer out of a member of Congress, state legislator or even city council member. But you sure won't get one at all if you don't ask again. Giving up after the first or second try just makes it way too easy on them.

When it comes down to the bottom line, elected officials and their staff expect you to eventually present them with an issue and a specific solution to that issue. Otherwise, why are you communicating with them? I can't think how many times as a legislative staff person I had meetings I just thought were a complete waste of time because no one asked me for anything.

So how are the critics partially right? Well, I guess if you're communicating with your elected officials frequently then you can afford to spend some of those communications on the niceties. And since everyone SHOULD be communicating frequently with their elected officials, then we all should be spending time on the niceties. But in the real world, where we might reach out a couple times per year, making the ask is an essential component of getting what we want from our government. And isn't that what it's all about?

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