Tactics

This citizen effort will be initiated via Twitter.

Ultimately, the effort on Twitter needs scores or hundreds of volunteer tweeters who are willing to send thousands of individually directed tweets to followers shown on follower lists of other Twitter users and to tweeters who use particular hashtags. Anyone volunteering to do such tweeting should read this letter To Twitter: @Support.


Step 1: Tweeting to Congressional candidates

The first step is to tweet to Congressional candidates, asking the candidate to make the requested declaration.

A suggested tweet for sending to candidates in a Congressional district is:

Will you declare for forcing Congress to act on corruption by Nov. 8, 2016? http://2016candidatesdeclarations.blogspot.com/2015/11/2016-congressional-candidate-declaration.html  #__politics.

The #__politics hashtag should be completed by inserting the two letter state abbreviation of the state where the Congressional district is located (e.g., #alpolitics for Congressional districts in Alabama).

I have started the hashtag #DeclareForDemocracy and an alternative tweet you could send to a Congressional candidate is

Will you DeclareForDemocracy?  http://2016candidatesdeclarations.blogspot.com/2015/11/2016-congressional-candidate-declaration.html  #__politics

Step 2: Recruiting other volunteer tweeters

To recruit other volunteers to do tweeting, go to hashtags such as #getmoneyout, #FixDemocracyFirst, #DemocracySpring, #movetoamend, and #representus, and send individual directed tweets to tweeters who have used the hashtag. A suggestion for your tweet is

We need volunteer tweeters to get Congressional candidates to #DeclareForDemocracy. http://2016candidatesdeclarations.blogspot.com/2015/11/initial-tactics.html  

Step 3: Stimulating constituent pressure

A critical component of the effort is to stimulate constituent pressure to get Congressional candidates to make the declaration. A suggested way to do this is to send tweets to Twitter followers of candidates, such as

[name of candidate] needs to declare for forcing Congress to act on corruption by Nov. 8, 2016? http://2016candidatesdeclarations.blogspot.com/2015/11/2016-congressional-candidate-declaration.html

A note about sending individually directed tweets 

Using follower lists or hashtag listings to send individually directed tweets involves repetitively sending the same tweet message. This can be done very efficiently. Get the tweet message on your mouse clipboard, go to the follower list or hashtag listing you are using for your tweeting, start with the first person on the list you want to tweet to, and do this:

1. Right click on person's Twitter name.
2. Choose "open in new tab"
3. Go to the new tab.
4. Click on the "Tweet to" button.
5. Paste the tweet message in the box.
6. Hit the "Tweet" button.
7. Close the tab, which takes you back to the list
8. Go on to next person, and repeat above steps.

You should be able to send 30 to 40 tweets in a half hour. Send as many tweets as you are willing to. Don't worry about any duplication that you think may arise.

If you are using a hashtag listing, be careful NOT to send your tweet using the "reply" button. Instead, send a clean, new tweet by right clicking on the person's Twitter name as specified in instruction 1 above.