ABSTRACT
My mail recently brought densely argued appeals from the three groups soliciting contributions for campaigns (1) to prevent the repeal of a handgun control act, (2) to permit contraceptive advertisements on TV, and (3) to make English the official United States language. Each association used classic appeals to potential constituents. Hair-curling alarms were raised (“The gun lobby has held a political pistol to the head of the Congress”; “Over one million teenagers will become pregnant this year—3000 this week.”). Normative appeals were framed (“English has long been the main unifying force of the American people”). And dramatic policy breakthroughs were promised (“We must be able to reach the general public with our message and mobilize their support in a broad-based, grassroots citizen movement to change the policies of the three major TV networks”). In form, if not in substance, these appeals for contributions differed little from countless recruitment efforts by liberal, conservative, apolitical, and plain loony American collective action organizations. Their appearance in my mailbox attests to a persistent optimistic streak in our civic culture that individual support can make a difference in changing entrenched public policies.
