I’m curious—why is it legal for politicians to send so much political mail? Is there some sort of exemption for political mail, or is it just because they write the laws?
Anyone can send anyone mail.
Pacey said:
Anyone can send anyone mail.
And congress gets to send mail through USPS for free too. Though, I believe there are some restrictions on campaign mail.
Pacey said:
Anyone can send anyone mail.
And congress gets to send mail through USPS for free too. Though, I believe there are some restrictions on campaign mail.
It’s called Franking privilege. They can’t use it for campaign material, but it’s often used around elections to highlight official acts that happen to also be campaign issues.
Because there’s no law making it illegal.
Tallis said:
Because there’s no law making it illegal.
There should be! The Do Not Call registry should cover political calls too. It’s so frustrating that it doesn’t!
Tallis said:
Because there’s no law making it illegal.
There should be! The Do Not Call registry should cover political calls too. It’s so frustrating that it doesn’t!
Well, you just need to convince the people making the laws to make it illegal for them to make campaign calls. Easier said than done.
It’s quite literally what the 1st Amendment was made for. Like most freedoms, it can be very annoying when exercised by other people.
Because clearly the 35th copy of the same mailer was the one that changed your mind 
StellarSpecter said:
Because clearly the 35th copy of the same mailer was the one that changed your mind
Meanwhile, if I ask someone out 35 times, I’d get arrested for harassment.
For the same reason political robocalls are allowed but commercial ones aren’t. Politicians aren’t going to create a law that limits their own campaign options.
Just live in a non-swing state. You’ll get a lot less campaign mail.
Politicians are the ones who pass the laws. Even when they make laws against telemarketing or spam, they tend to exclude their own political versions of it.
The First Amendment. It’s protected political speech.
Politicians won’t do anything about it because it benefits them when they need to fundraise or campaign.