Policy Etiquette

Hi, my name is John Thibault. I'm the founder and CEO of iLobby and the author of the number one international bestseller, how to Change a Law. You know, in part of my research, I looked at a lot of the other books that were around and a lot of, you know, PhD papers and thesis and a lot of different things. And what I discovered when I looked at many of the books was that they tended to be what I'm calling policy etiquette books. And what I mean by that is a lot of the books that you read on how to interact with the government or how to deal with politicians, or how to advocate for a cause or be a good advocate, they really are manuals. Some of it is tactical information, but it's information that deals with the old world. It's information that deals with how to write the proper letter and use the correct salutation, how to contact your congressman and not badger him. You know, these kinds of things. And it's certainly useful to do that. But what it does is it puts the onus on you to actually do all the work yourself, whether it's organizing, painting signs, signing a petition, writing to the congressman, learning how to do all these things. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's good. And there's some people who really enjoy it. And I think, you know, definitely citizens should have the right to continue to do that. But what it doesn't do is it doesn't say, you know, for a really busy person, how are they actually going to be able to take the time to do this? And then ultimately you are a special interest of one. So you're up there competing with the professionals who do this every day, and you don't realize that there's so much you don't know. And by just relying upon a few books that you've read and organizing with your neighborhood or your friends and trying to, you know, be effective, you're probably finding it's a pretty frustrating experience. I mean, I hear that again and again. I hear it from folks who are members of a trade association in their particular industry. It's incredibly difficult to penetrate and have an effect or an influence on your elected leader. And what people haven't really thought about is can they delegate that responsibility? And in reality, you can. Large corporations have been doing this for years. The special interests have been doing it for years. But somehow the media has made you think that the use of government affairs professionals, whether they are ex congressmen, lobbyists, PR consultants, or other folks in the government affairs or government relations field, they make you think that you don't want anything to do with them because they're lobbyists. Well, Ilobby is not a lobby, and we're not a lobbyist. All we are is a matchmaking service because between individuals who feel that they're frustrated by the process of not having an adequate voice and getting something done with their representatives and then really being clear about how to improve your legislative standing by understanding bills that are coming up ahead of time. I believe that if you have enough people looking at lots of different issues, you're going to find that there are things that you believe in that you're willing to share, and you want to share that with other folks. And there's a simpler way to do that. So, as I say, when you look at the manuals and the how to books, they are so focused on the etiquette of approaching the politician almost as though they're royalty. And we know that's one of the things they are not. And, you know, people really need to get past that. But you want to have a little bit more of an advantage. And the way to get that is not by saying, hey, let's forget about politics completely and let's not engage and let's not understand the issues. All of those are not going to get you where you want to go. What you want to do is you want to learn how to do this, but at the same time, be smart about it. Be strategic, do what the professionals are doing, and do the three things that I've talked about in the past. And I can't say this enough because I really think it's the answer to the frustration that most of us are feeling. Be clear on your message. Pull together an ad hoc coalition of people who believe in you and what you're doing, or support somebody else, and then finally have the resources. Put a little money into the game. Put your money where your mouth is. And I'm not talking about making campaign contributions. I'm simply saying that if you want to be able to hire a lobbyist or a government affairs professional, we can match you up. And you can do that on the Ilobby platform. And instead of being frustrated and feeling that the politicians don't listen to you, there's nothing you can get done. You don't want to read all these boring books. I mean, I've already done that for you. Choose a method that is simple, strategic, and will get you to where you want to go. And that's really what the power of lobbying is all about. That's why the big companies do it all the time. They've been doing it for a long time. It is your right under the First Amendment, the right to petition the government for grievances. And if you don't do it, somebody else is. And I've mentioned this before, but lots of other people are doing it all the time. It's their secret tactic for making sure that what they want to get done gets done. Now just bear this in mind. You will not have 100% success. Nobody does. If you get 10, 20, 30, 40% of what you're asking for, you're in great shape. But by doing nothing, you can be guaranteed that you won't get anything at all. What you will get is what somebody else wants for you. And if you think that things are bad now and you don't like how it's going and you don't feel like you have a voice, well, that can only continue if you don't get into the game. And it is a game. So I wanted to share that with you. Policy and political etiquette is nice. It's one thing, but you know, in this day and age, we tend to outsource a lot of the things that we need to get done. Or we form tribes, we work with other people, and we build coalitions so that we can be effective. And we see that in in many different areas. And isn't that really what you want? You want to be effective, you want to be able to communicate? You want to improve your community, influence your country and impact the world? If you have comments, suggestions or thoughts, please feel free to leave them in the comments section below and let us know what you think. If you have an issue, if you have something that you want to get done, if it's something around a policy that you would like to change or a law that you would like to change, just let us know. And I'm sure that there are other people who would comment on it as well. And I think you'll find that there are more people who could support you and who you could support as well, and that can make all the difference in the world. Thanks for listening and please take a look at some of the other videos. You feel free to share this. Feel free to put more comments in, love to hear feedback and any problems or issues that you're facing. We're trying to provide you with information that is not easily attainable, but we want to make it simple and accessible for you. Thanks. Want to know more? Subscribe to our YouTube channel and visit ilobby.mykajabi.com for more information.