Everybody lobbies

Why should you lobby?

Because everyone does. Mayors do. Governors do. Presidents do. The Secretary-General of the United Nations does. They lobby government officials because that's the only way to make the government change.

Everybody in politics or government is constantly asking other people in politics and government for something. A vote. A budget line item. A waiver. An appearance. Something.

So you should do what the President does and ask for things from the people who represent you. All the time. They are used to it. They expect it. It's weird when you don't ask.

When I first started lobbying, I was a little caught off guard when legislators would ask me what I was working on and when I didn't have anything in particular for them, they were a bit put off. Like I didn't think they were important enough to ask them for something. The message was “why are you here?” The whole point of getting elected and helping people get elected is to do something to improve society. If we're not asking for something specific to improve society, then what are we doing?

The President calls on Congress to pass a bill. And then the President goes and lobbies Members of Congress to pass it. He asks the United Nations to authorize something. And then he goes and lobbies other presidents or prime ministers personally to do it. A United States Senator introduces a bill to do something good – and then she talks to the other 99 US Senators, usually one at a time, to ask each of them to support the bill. Mayors and school board members and state legislators and governors go to Washington to ask for more federal money. The biggest and best private companies in the world – Apple, Google, FeEx – they all hire people to lobby, asking for changes in laws or regulations or budgets to make their companies better off. Everybody in politics lobbies.

And you're in politics too! You're a citizen. You've at the base of the whole global pyramid. (About half the word's people don't have the right of citizenship you do, by the way. You're already in the top half of the world's power rankings). So you get to lobby your governments that are set up and designed to listen to what you have to say. So tell them! They expect to hear from you. When you lobby the government, believe me, you are not alone. Everybody does it.

If a group makes it easy for you by setting up a one-click email system, use it! If someone asks you to sign a petition that you agree with, sign it! They are making it easy for you. If you send an email or make a call every week of the year, great! There's no limit. And if you end up annoying some staffers or a few politicians, they will definitely remember you and you will impact their thinking. Better they know who you are and what you want then keep them guessing. It's better to err on the side of nagging than on invisibility.