Should it be more convenient to thank your representatives?
By David_R 🔸 @ 2024-03-15T11:32 (+3)
TL;DR
I think politicians would have to be superhuman to do a thankless job well while resisting bribes. Recent tech can make it quick & easy for their constituents show some more gratitude but I need some help with the finishing touches.
Introduction
I think America's factory farming shows flaws in its democracy, but maybe also an opportunity:
"America has about five times more vegetarians than farmers — and many more omnivores who care about farm animals. Yet the farmers wield much more political power...
How do they do it? Money helps... Individuals, companies, and groups associated with the meat industry made about $45M in political contributions in the 2020 election cycle — about $45M more than animal advocates...
Farmers are also well-organized in powerful lobby groups... Whenever a bill threatens them, they show up in force." - Lewis Bollard[1]
I hate industrial animal agriculture and I don't have $45 mil to spare but maybe I can help do more than complain or keep quiet like I have been doing so far.
As an American I have a lot to be grateful for like roads I didn't pave, a pretty safe place to live, opportunities to afford having enough leisure to explore EA, etc. But I haven't thanked anyone for these undeserved gifts.
If the government should get some credit for that than how come I haven't thanked them for it? Especially if showing gratitude is a free way to encourage people to be kind?
Background
It turns out it's not that hard for an American like me to thank my representatives thanks to the amazing work of tech innovators, but it could be even easier.
https://democracy.io/#!/ gets me in touch with three of my local representatives with just a few clicks and https://resist.bot/ seems to be a similar system + a little AI to draft complaints about specific issues.
Luckily there's a lot of AI that can do more than just complain. In fact I'm pretty sure it's possible to customize ChatGPT to specialize in giving politicians positive reinforcement (aka thank them :).
And democracy.io is supposedly open-source and their site says that "people can create new versions with different features and continue to improve on our original idea."
My vision
Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems quite possible and possibly inexpensive to combine these programs and make an AI that drafts personalized and kind messages to American legislators.
I envision a program that can generate a general thank-you message for contributing to the unearned privileges most constituents enjoy. But also is capable of thanking them for specific things that you are particularly grateful for. For example:
I'm grateful for NYC's mayor for being relatively progressive when it comes to alternative proteins[2] . I also love a lot of the parks in NYC and appreciate him doing his part to keep them free and clean.
Instead of starting my message with an intimidating blank page I would love to just input some keywords "parks" "advancing alternative proteins" "general gratitude" and have this program generate something more legible which I can approve and send in just a few clicks. I might even include a request at the end but have the focus be on gratitude and not demands.
My request
The main issues I see with this idea is that it probably won't reach enough people to be a factor in legislative decision making. And I'm nearly a complete novice when it comes to ChatGPT, open software, etc. and don't have much free time or ability to change that.
But anyone else want to give this moonshot a fair shot together? It might even be fun and
"It’s a good time to do so: it’s election year in the EU, US, India, and a host of other countries, and politicians tend to listen best when they want your vote"[1]
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I got the image for this post from https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/do-your-politics-make-you-happy which I probably shouldn't have done but this is a quick draft and I gtg.