Practical Law – Chapter 3 Citizen Advocacy

Practical Law – Chapter 3 Part One: The Art of Advocacy Advocacy is defined as the art of persuading others. Advocacy can be used to influence the lawmaking process. The first thing you must do to effectively advocate is to know which level of government is responsible for addressing the problem. Why is that the first and arguably most important thing to do?

Practical Law – Chapter 3 Part One: The Art of Advocacy Your book advises potential advocates to follow the following steps: Identify Your Issue Set a Goal Become an expert on the issue Recruit Allies & Identify Roadblocks Identify Strategies Work the Media Create a Resource Pool Plan for Success

Practical Law – Chapter 3 Part One: The Art of Advocacy In addition to the steps on the last slide, your book identifies three golden rules for advocacy: Clarity: Create a single message and stick to it. Quantity: Create as large a network as possible to support your cause Frequency: Get your message out to as many people as possible as frequently as possible.

Practical Law – Chapter 3 Part Two: Lobbying Lobbying is a way to influence the lawmaking process by convincing lawmakers to vote the way you want them to. Anyone can be a lobbyist, including you the single citizen by contacting a lawmaker as an individual or a group. Professional Lobbyists also use political campaign contributions and advertisements to influence lawmakers’ decisions.

Practical Law – Chapter 3 Part Two: Lobbying Professional Lobbyists represent special interests, and usually have advantages that the average citizen does not. Professional Lobbyists often have more money to spend. Professional Lobbyists are often very familiar with the political process and are often ex-lawmakers themselves. What is a potential problem of this system?

Practical Law – Chapter 3 Part Three: Voting Voting is the most obvious way that a citizen can become an advocate. America is a republic, not a democracy, because we elect representatives to vote on laws instead of voting on them directly. However, there are exceptions: An Initiative is a procedure that enables a specified number of voters to propose a law by petition.

Practical Law – Chapter 3 Part Three: Voting That initiative may be put before a legislature or directly before the voters. In addition, if the legislature does not want to decide a controversial issue, they can put that issue before voters in a referendum.

Practical Law – Chapter 3 Part Three: Voting In addition, most states allow for recall elections, which allow voters to remove elected officials from office. Arguments for these processes include the idea that this makes the American system more democratic by engaging the citizens directly. Arguments against these processes point out that these routes can allow the majority to take away rights from the minority.