Step-by-Step Organizer Toolkit for the People's Campaign for the Constitution
Arriving at Your Demands
Candidates have an interest in being viewed positively in public. Making demands raises people’s expectations of what candidates should say and do. When people make demands effectively, representatives have to work harder in order to receive positive recognition from the public. A coalition can always ask for something specific from your representative, and when enough people choose to work together, the demands can start transforming the political debate going on in a community.
The best demands are specific actions that the public official who receives the demand can choose to do. Rhetoric like “defend the Constitution” or “the representative needs to show greater leadership” is best saved for public events like press conferences. Such speech is great for forming a public message, but without specific demands to flesh it out, politicians can more easily spin public sentiment to suggest that nothing is required of them. Concrete demands include asking for incumbents and other candidates, if elected, to support specific bills and asking them to write letters calling on colleagues to take specific actions.
Even if your representative already agrees with much of what your coalition calls for, you can still ask your representative to strengthen their position on accountability for illegal government actions. Without a push and a plan, you may be able to achieve the strategic goal of getting your representative to talk with you but not necessarily advance your substantive goals for change.
Once you have researched your representative’s past voting record (if she is running for re-election), you’ll know what legislation she already supports.
Making demands is as much about how you focus political pressure on candidates for public office as it is about focusing your own group’s internal cohesiveness. The strength of your local coalition depends in large part on how energized its members are to fight for common demands. Your local coalition has to frame its own demands based on what members want to prioritize and what changes you want to see your representative make once (re-)elected. The reality is that we are a diverse movement, and we don’t all prioritize different issues in the same way. The key is to find unity in making demands to restore the Constitution and turn away from the policies of the so-called “War on Terror,” which are making us both less safe and less free.
You can use this sample list of demands to help your group guide its demands.
