Best Offense Is A Good Defense

[keenan]

Just an idea here to kick up the fires. I have this nagging fear, that if we dont prepare ourselves now for what may be ahead, our right to Vape will be snatched away from us. It MAY happen anyway, but I dont wanna go down without a fight ( Thats the Irish in me ). We won a victory with SB400 for those of you in California. For what its worth, I think we won that one with a roll of the dice. It couldve gone either way. Ahnold was on our side more because he dislikes the opposition than he agrees with us. I fear if we wait until the last minute, if we wait until they bring the battle to us, we are doomed to fail. Its a David and Goliath issue, and I think you know who we are. Now, I dont know WHAT the answer here is for preparing, thats why Im turning to you guys. Petitions ? Letters ? Sponsorships ? I dont know. Lets all put our heads together and be prepared and come up with a strategy. I will devote ALL of my available time to this, as I know some of you will as well. When SB400 rolled around, we were ALL sweating bullets, and scrambling at the last minute to do whatever we could to try to prevent what we thought was going to be sure defeat. Over the last few months, VaporTalk has grown, and we now seem to have a pretty large family of smart, friendly, creative people. My thoughts are, WHY wait till they bring the battle to us, lets get prepared now, because we KNOW they are going to. I just feel like we may have gotten a little complacent on this matter, and we really cant afford to. Our rights are still in jeopardy, theres just a lull in the storm right now. If you guys think Im a nut job, just tell me to bugger off. If not, what are your ideas.

Edited November 23, 2009 by keenan

[NeRo9k]

Bugger off : ) I agree, but I also think that the fight and storm from our side has already begun. Every day someone posts an article about another 'big' company or health organization that send letters to the FDA, posts valid reasons why our rights are/would be violated, and statistics about why E-Cigs truly are the healthier alternative. If we could think of something that we could do on a grass roots level that would be great.

[keenan]

Bugger off : ) I agree, but I also think that the fight and storm from our side has already begun. Every day someone posts an article about another 'big' company or health organization that send letters to the FDA, posts valid reasons why our rights are/would be violated, and statistics about why E-Cigs truly are the healthier alternative. If we could think of something that we could do on a grass roots level that would be great.

I agree there are companies and orgs. responding to the FDA, but the FDA could give a rats ******** if Mother Theresa sat in thier lobby and told them Jesus likes Vaping. I think the big "unknown" about vaping is - just how MANY of us there are. I think the reason our representatives dont give e cigs a second thought when it comes to health care issues, is they dont realize how many of the people that vote, vape. It seems like the ONLY time you hear about the positive aspects of vaping, is from some group or org that DOESNT vape. I think thats the message, that SOMEHOW, needs to get out. Strength in numbers.

[ddavelarsen]

I don't want to throw a bucket of cold water on this, but I don't think there are really very many vapers out there - as a percent of the population, I mean. I suspect we're really a quite small demographic.

That being said, why don't we just start writing our congress critters? Perhaps we could jointly create a compelling, succinct statement in support of vaping that everyone could start sending to their state reps? I've saved all of the letters I've seen that people sent to the NJ senators, and some of that stuff is exceptionally good. I have written my state reps on many occasions - often enough that they generally send actual replies to my letters, and sign them with an actual pen. Truth.

Here's what I've learned about contacting congress: The most visible, or highest priority contact is said to be by telephone. They pay the most attention to phone calls. The second most influential contact is a snail mail letter. Those get attention too. The least useful contact, though it's increasingly being realized that people mean it, is email. Generally, for those everyday contacts with my congress critters, I send email. Occasionally I get a personal reply but usually it's just canned.

When I send snail mail I always get a personal reply. I know then, that my Senator or Representative has actually heard what I said.

When I phone their offices, I talk to an office functionary. They listen, sometimes ask questions, and presumably tabulate info for their boss. I'm not sure how effective this really is, I've only been told it's the most effective. Since I hate talking on the phone I only do that when it's a dire emergency.

My suggestion is that once we have a prepared statement, we each start mailing them to our congress folk. I think if there's any strength in our numbers, a boatload of letters hitting their offices over an issue they've never heard of is bound to make an impression. And I agree keenan, being proactive in this case is crucial and smart. Let's go for it!