We live in a bumper sticker society- complaining and campaigning on our Facebook profiles, to our friends and on our cars. But few of us talk to the representatives who can actually do something with our opinions and information.
Enter PurpleLetter.org, a new nonpartisan Web site that allows users to send real-life First-Class paper letters to any US governmental official, social awareness leader or media contact for as little as .99 cents, taking care of the troublesome tasks of stationery, stamps, searching for the correct addresses and dropping the letter at the post office. Users can also post letters to the Web site’s Letter Gallery, creating a flurry of discussions and adding another element of transparency. The purple letters (cleverly a blend of political red and blue) put pressure on those who can make changes and implement ideas- wouldn’t you take action if you saw CNN, FOX (Glenn Beck) and MSNBC (Chris Matthews) copied on a letter to you?
We had the opportunity to interview Paige Wheeler, founder of PurpleLetter, about her brilliant idea, how the project works and why letter writing is important.
How did the Idea for Purple Letter come to you?
Many months ago I found myself disappointed with a piece of legislation that our government had recently passed. For weeks I wrestled with the disappointment about the legislation that had passed, and how disconnected I felt from the process. Then one evening, while watching the news with my children, I was explaining the impact the new bill would have on America’s children, when my son asked me what I could do about it. As parents normally do, I laid out the story of how one should contact their elected representatives with a written letter expressing discontent. My son’s next question is what the catalyst became for PurpleLetter.org:
“Did you write a letter?” he asked.
In all reality, I hadn’t written to anyone. I was embarrassed. How were the people who represented me supposed to know how I felt about the issue if I had not made it known? And it was at that moment PurpleLetter.org was born. I quickly went to my friends and family and asked them for their take on various topics regarding our country. Here is what struck me: Every person had a passion to talk about at least one given topic, but less than 5% of my friends had actually taken any steps to make their voices heard in the offices of an elected official. I was not even in that 5%.
It was these conversations with my children, family, and friends that led me to start PurpleLetter.org. There are two guarantees in our system:
Those who sit on the sidelines will not be heard, and Those who engage a representative democracy will have a voice.
