Does ‘Around the Block’ make a difference?

Commentary

One reader thinks so!

In yesterday’s Around the Block, I posted an open letter to my Congresswoman, Lois Frankel. The subject was “The tyranny of the Supreme Court.” I told Congresswoman Frankel that I have, in my posts, “advocated for Congress to take action regarding Court reform.” I lamented the fact that “I am but one citizen opining on the issue; an opinionated citizen reaching a very small audience. Beyond my opinions, I am powerless.  But you and your colleagues are not.” I asked Ms. Frankel how she and her colleagues, “…representatives of the people, [can] sit back and do nothing.” I questioned, why she wasn’t “…like me and many other citizens…your constituents, mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!” I suggested that while writing opinion pieces on the critical issues may “provide me some solace,” those pieces will “not change a thing.”

Finally, in what will most likely be a futile attempt to reach a bigger audience, I submitted my open letter to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel (circ. 163,728 daily, 228,906 Sunday) for consideration as an Op-ed column.

Not long after I posted my open letter, I received a comment from a man who has proven to be my most frequent, and often, my most discerning correspondent. He’s a blogger from Canada who publishes, among other blogs, one called, Ideas From Outside the Boxes, under the nom de plume, “rawgod.” His comment back to me, and his actions, gave me a least a little hope that my efforts might be accomplishing something.

Here is rawgod’s comment:

Hey, Ted. I have very few readers, but that did not stop me from asking them to visit your site, and asking them to re-blog the post, and for Americans to send adjusted letters to their elected Representatives. I hope I can accomplish some little thing towards creating change in the present political situation in the USA. Good luck and keep on working hard to create change. You are being heard. Now we just need to make you heard in the right places by the right people. Thank you.

THE U.S. SUPREME COURT CAN BE STOPPED, LEGALLY

PLEASE RE-BLOG, AND FORWARD THIS LETTER TO YOUR CONGRESSPERSON, AND ENCOURAGE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO DO THE SAME!

This post is mainly for Americans, but every concerned blogger with American readers can help by re-blogging this.

Ted Block is a political commentator who has worked in government off and on for many decades. He knows things the average person might not know.*

(*Full disclosure: While I was in the U.S. Navy for several years, unless my 40+ years in advertising was a front for my real job in the CIA, I’m not sure where that comes from. But it sounds good.)

In this letter to his Congressperson he beseeches Ms. Frankel to help stop the runaway train that is the US Supreme Court. Apparently, the tools to do so are contained right in the US Constitution. His question, and mine, is why are these tools not being used?

So, now, I beseech you, my dear friends and readers, to ask the same question. But please do not just ask it, please do something about it. Please use this letter as it is intended. Get all your American readers to re-address the letter with appropriate changes and forward it on to their elected Representatives. The whole world will thank you if you can make change happen.

Thank you, rawgod, for reading, supporting and acting!

One last comment. I mentioned that rawgod has been, recently at least, “my most frequent, and often, my most discerning correspondent.” That statement was not meant to be critical of, or to demean, my other readers and correspondents. But, after doing a little analysis of both my readership and the volume of comments I receive, I noticed a discouraging trend. Both are down. That leads me to two possible reasons why:

1. My posts are becoming less compelling;
2. Readers who had once “subscribed” to Around the Block and are supposed to receive an email alert every time I post a new story, have mysteriously been deleted from my followers list.

If the reason is the former, I’ll work harder to gain back your readership. If it’s the latter, here’s the fix:

Navigate to https://around-the-block.com

Scroll down to Follow Around the Block and do this:

But wait, there’s more: for a limited time…actually for an UNLIMITED TIME, new, old, in fact, ALL subscriptions to Around the Block are being offered for FREE! Don’t let this one-time, unlimited offer get away. And for you Chicago readers, Subscribe now. Subscribe often.