If you have a problem with the federal bureaucracy, such as a problem with the IRS, your letter will go to a congressional case worker, who specializes in that sort of problem. The federal bureaucracy does pay attention to a letter from Congress, because Congress decides how much money the federal bureaucracy will get. Therefore a letter of complaint about the bureaucracy to your representative or senator may get good results.

     People who work for representatives and senators often get heartwrenching letters from people who are suffering deeply, especially when times are hard. The really sad part is that there’s rarely anything an individual member of Congress can do about these problems – unless it’s a matter that can be handled by the federal bureaucracy or unless Congress is working on legislation to deal with that particular problem. It’s a heartbreaking situation.

     But, as Sir Winston Churchill famously remarked, “Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”