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The Politics of a Mars Colony
Space Exploration Alliance's Space Budget Blitz
February 2007 Space Budget Blitz
Tomme tomme Danmark Chapter
Space policy debate video
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MARS IS UNDER ATTACK! IT IS TIME FOR THE MARS SOCIETY TO MOBILIZE TO SAVE HUMAN MISSIONS TO MARS!
Last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, and Science recommended an increase of over $280 million above the requested level for NASA. However, within this budget markup, there is language that would prevent work on programs devoted to humans to Mars. According to a House Appropriations Committee press release, the markup language states that NASA cannot pursue “development or demonstration activity related exclusively to Human Exploration of Mars. NASA has too much on its plate already, and the President is welcome to include adequate funding for the Human Mars Initiative in a budget amendment or subsequent year funding requests." THIS ANTI-MARS LANGUAGE MUST BE REMOVED! Otherwise, the program may turn into MOON ONLY program. We can't let that happen.
We need your help to tell Congress to remove the anti-Mars language from the budget. Tell your elected officials that Mars is a VITAL part of NASA’s new direction. How can you do that? The Mars Society is running two programs to help you get your message to Congress.
1. SAVE MARS PHONE/FAX BLITZ
Call you members of Congress. Send a letter. Send a fax. Tell them to use their influence to remove the anti-Mars language from the budget. In addition, Mars Society members should also call and/or fax the offices of Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Appropriations Committee Chairman, Rep. David Obey. They need to be reminded that the American people support a human mission to Mars.
To make the process easier for you, The Mars Society is now offering a program in which you can write a fax online and it will automatically be sent your members of Congress (this program also allows you to fax presidential candidates). How can you access fax program?
- Go to – http://fax.marssociety.org
- Enter the username of "tms" (no quotes) and then enter the password of "fax" (no quotes)
- Fill in your name and address and then write your letter. The fax generator will automatically send faxes to the candidates or your United States Senators and Representative. It will also provide the proper heading to the fax. You do not need to add a heading.
- If you have any problems getting the fax generator to work, contact Alex Kirk at alex@schnarff.com
NOTE: When speaking to campaign or congressional staffers, be polite—even if they hold a different view from your own. At the end of your conversation, thank them for taking the time to speak with you. If you are writing a letter or sending a fax, keep the note short and to the point. If you don't know who your United States Senators and Representative is, you can find that information at http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov. If you have any problems with process, feel free to contact Chris Carberry at marspolitics@yahoo.com.
2. HOME DISTRICT BLITZ
We would like members and chapters of the Mars Society to set up meetings with members of Congress in their home district offices during the August Congressional recess. Constituent meetings can have a large impact on the decision making of Members of Congress. They do pay attention to what constituents say. They work for you. You vote them into and out of office.
Don't be nervous! These types of meeting are easy to set up and they can be quite rewarding - and even fun.
Below are instructions on how to set up a meeting. At the bottom of this email is a sample letter that you can use to help arrange a meeting.
Please let us know if you intend to set up a meeting and we will send you additional materials. If you have any questions, please contact our new Congressional Outreach Coordinator, Jeff Brooks at anaxagoras@sbcglobal.net.
Although we don’t want to confine this type of Congressional outreach to the month of August, we will report on the Congressional meetings that occurred in August at the Mars Society Convention at UCLA from August 30-September 2, 2007 (http://www.marssociety.org/portal/c/Conventions/2007)
Good luck and let us know how you do.
ARRANGING A MEETING WITH A CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OFFICE
- Send a letter (preferably by fax) requesting a meeting to the congressional office.
- Follow-up with a phone call to verify that they received it. Be ready to answer details about your organization and what will be discussed at the meeting.
- If they do not respond within a few days, call them back to check the status of your meeting request. After this, call back weekly until a meeting date and time have been arranged. Be patient. It can sometimes take a few weeks to get a meeting date confirmed.
- Confirmation Call: Call the congressional office a day or two in advance of the meeting to confirm the appointment.
- Do your homework: Make sure you know your subject and bring appropriate handouts, displays, or PowerPoint presentations.
- If possible, don’t go alone: Try to have between 2-5 people in attendance at these meetings. This will not only show the Congresspeople that this isn’t a one person effort, but will provide a much larger pool of knowledge to draw from. However: You must designate a lead person. Otherwise, you risk talking over each-other or worse, talking over the staffers and/or Congressperson.
At the Meeting – Etiquette
- Dress Appropriately: Business attire (suit and tie, etc) should be worn to these meetings. First impressions really do matter.
- Be Prompt: Try to reach the congressional office 10-15 minutes early. These are busy people and don’t have time to wait around for you. If you are unavoidably late, call the congressional office to tell them why you are late (Example: I got stuck in a traffic jam). Arriving early will also give you time to make sure you all know your roles and the overall game plan.
- Be courteous: Try not to cut off the person you are meeting with and don’t be patronizing if they don’t agree with you.
- Be honest: If you don’t know the answer to a question, do not make one up. Tell them that you do not know the answer, but can follow-up with them once you have gotten an answer.
- Be Cognizant of how much time you have left: If you are only allotted 15 minutes, don’t try to get 30 minutes worth of information in that 15 minutes. They don’t want to hear auctioneers.
- Ask how you can be helpful to the legislator.
- Thank them for their time and interest.
After the Visit
- Send a thank you letter, briefly reiterating the topics discussed during the meeting. No letter should exceed one page unless there is there is a good reason to do.
- Follow-up: If you agreed to follow-up regarding a question or if you agreed to provide some additional information, do so promptly. Do not agree to anything that you cannot follow up on.
- Fill out a debriefing form while the meeting is fresh in your mind.
If you have any questions, please e-mail marspolitics@yahoo.com. We will reply promptly.
SAMPLE LETTER - SETTING UP A MEETING
As a constituent and member of an organization called the Mars Society (www.marssociety.org), I would like to arrange a meeting with you to discuss the future of the current NASA plans to return humans to the Moon and then on to Mars. One particular issue we would like to discuss is language that has been placed on the FY08 budget by the House Appropriations Committee that would prevent NASA from spending money on a human mission to Mars. We are opposed to this language and would like to discuss this issue with your office as soon as possible.
A strong human space exploration program is vital to the United States. By expanding our capabilities in areas such as launch technology, propulsion, and life support, the new program is certain to drive innovation and produce many important breakthroughs that will benefit America and humanity. Perhaps most importantly, returning humans to the Moon and then on to Mars will inspire younger Americans to pursue education and careers in science and technology. The United States can’t afford to lose its technological and competitive edge in the twenty-first century.
The goal of sending humans back to the Moon and then on to Mars is achievable with adequate funding and support from Congress. However, we feel that this plan can be achieved more quickly and efficiently than is currently planned. As the program develops, NASA needs to develop common hardware that can be used for Moon missions as well as later Mars missions. Common hardware will not help to speed up the programs, but will save money.
I hope that you will help guarantee that the Moon-Mars program will be pursued in as sensible a manner as possible. In doing so, we can help to assure that America will continue its tradition of exploration and discovery. Once again, I hope that you (or one of your staff members) will be willing to meet with me in the near future.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Thank you,
Your name
An in-depth strategy session devoting to planning how to keep humans to Mars on the nation's political agenda will be held at the 10th International Mars Society Convention, UCLA, August 30-Sept 2, 2007.
Registration is now open at http://www.marssociety.org
For further information about the Mars Society, visit our website at http://www.marssociety.org.
