Over the last week, America has been rocked by the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, as well as the deaths of five Dallas police officers. We hear from celebrities and Facebook friends. We should contact our Senators and Representatives. But what happens if we do? Will our politicians actually listen to us and use our words as motivation to make changes?

In my experience, the answer is “No”.

Politicians are not listening

I’ve reached out to several candidates on various issues. I’ve received little assistance. I’ve reached out to the campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump.  No one has returned any of my messages. I’ve sent letters to my representatives. On the bright side, they’ve sent responses. But these responses are often filled with typical political rhetoric that doesn’t answer my questions.

I’ve even attempted to make appointments with my local representatives. They’ve relied on ME to suggest times for a meeting. But each time I suggest times, they’re not available.

The truth about surveys and polls

I can’t speak to politicians directly. Perhaps polls and surveys can at least help reflect my concerns and opinions, right? Wrong. The people questioned in these surveys are largely uninformed and unprepared. Those conducting the surveys don’t ask substantive questions and don’t provide respondents enough time to think about their answers. Additionally, in a 2015 New York Times article, it was revealed that many polling companies still rely on landline phone surveys when a majority of the public primarily uses mobile phones.

Town hall meetings are only slightly better. Politicians are forced to answer questions because they’re face-to-face with their constituency. But they only take questions from a handful of attendees. And those questions are often pre-screened.

Why aren’t politicians listening?

It depends on who you ask. One school of thought suggests that the politicians’ amount of wealth and privilege prevents them from sympathizing with the concerns of the people they serve. In late 2013, Mic posted an article about a study conducted by University of California at Berkeley researcher Paul Piff. Among many other points, the study highlighted that voters continue to elect politicians who don’t identify with their needs. This results in a continued lack of fair representation.

But the more popular school of thought is that they can’t even discover the concerns of the people they serve. Our politicians are immersed in the world of politics. The citizens are competing for their attention with the parties, wealthy donors and lobbyists. More often than not, they’re going to listen to the people who are funneling money into their campaigns and the people who are sitting next to them on Capitol Hill.

There are too many of us

There are simply too many of us and too few of them. They settle for the status quo instead of finding a more effective way to connect with us.  If we really want to get through to them, we can’t simply demand change on individual issues. We have to demand a change in the way our politicians communicate with us. Or we’ll never get through.

This is what we’re building at PeopleCount.org. Join us.