In recent weeks, my inbox has seen an influx of form letters, urging President Joe Biden to do things — pass the infrastructure bill, cave to Progressives, end the filibuster — or for certain lawmakers to either fall in step with the rest of the slim Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate — I’m looking at you, Kyrsten Sinema — or side with the “silent majority of Americans” to oppose Democratic measures and “reckless spending” to pass a $3.6 trillion budget reconciliation bill and a $1 trillion infrastructure bill.

These flat and boring letters repeat the same sentences word-for-word in a dull variation on a theme: A chorus of droning elevator music.

Each letter ends with a resident’s name and their ZIP code, but neither their home address nor phone number, both of which are explicitly required by our letters to the editor policy [printed in the grey box beneath this editorial; move your thumb]. Our letters to the editor policy is also printed on our websites.

We require a street address and telephone number to verify every letter to the editor. We check that the address is legit and, if necessary, call authors if we have questions about wording.

If we don’t get these, the letter does not run because we cannot verify the author is a resident of our area.

When I get a series of these letters all at once, 10 to 15 minutes apart, it’s clear that this is not a grassroots effort, but rather astroturfing, i.e., “the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization, e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations, to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants.”

It’s disheartening that some feel compelled to do “some­thing” but do the bare minimum rather than actually write a letter of their own opinion with facts, data, anecdotes and personal opinions. Instead, they simply stick their name at the bottom of someone else’s workshopped and focus-grouped drivel and assume that’s how a political policy gets changed or a letter to the editor gets published. That is not participation in a republic, that is clickbait.

We do not print form letters. We do not print copyrighted material, and mostly these letters have been published in other publications with less strenuous verification processes.

Thanks to Google, it’s also super easy — barely an inconvenience — to tell when something has been copied. Prose is a thumbprint and for those of us who read profes­sionally, we can tell when a letter is natural and organic or when it’s over-processed and mass-produced.

This kind of stupid astroturfing also indicates the lazi­ness with which many of us approach the political process. We don’t actually want to march; we just want to post memes. We don’t actually want to contact legislators, we just want to forward emails. We don’t actually want to read bills, campaign finance statements, court rulings or legisla­tive summaries, or even fact-checks — we want to listen to sound bites from the pretty pundits on the TV who tell us what to think and how to wage a “culture war” rather than discuss governance and policy. We just want to be told what to say and when to say it. We want to climb into the same silos and echo chambers, be told that our copy-and-pasted opinions matter and that by thoughtlessly repeating the same talking points like mantras we are somehow changing the world.

Politicians who build these silos love when we can’t see what they’re doing on the outside. Happy in the echo chambers and told we’re making a difference, we are happy to oblige when they come around asking for campaign dollars.

If anyone is feeling smug and saying to themselves, “typical libtards,” or “of course, GOPidiots,” or thinking “the other party does that, not mine,” don’t fool yourself. Both parties actively placate the masses with nonsense to milk them for money later. Farming voters like this for cash is enthusiastically bipartisan.

This kind of nonsense non-political activity tells our leaders that we really don’t care. Joe Biden is not reading your letters. Nor is Kyrsten Sinema, Donald Trump, Doug Ducey nor lawmakers from out of state. When they get 70 emails from their constituents, all copied and pasted, elected officials know that voters don’t really care and they can do what they want. And they know that we care so little about what’s going on that we really won’t complain when they ignore us.

But your neighbors are reading your letters. In newspa­pers, real letters from real people can make a difference because they drive people to effective local action. They convey regional sensibilities. Local organization and activity is what really drives state and national policy as grassroots groups coalesce, organize and effect change from the bottom up. A government led by the people is really what top-down politicians and pundits on both sides really fear more than each other.

— Christopher Fox Graham

Managing Editor

Letters to the Editor

• Letters must be less than 300 words. Letters in excess of 300 words will be edited at the newspaper’s discretion.
• All letters submitted must include the writer’s signature, printed name, and for verification purposes, street address and telephone number. Letters without a phone number and address can not be verified and will not be printed.
• Attacks against individuals will not be published. Letters that are considered libelous will not be published.
• We reserve the right to edit any letter for space and good taste.
• Send letters via e-mail to editor@larsonnewspapers.com or drop off at 298 Van Deren Road, Uptown Sedona.