Even when coupled with a check, mere individual opinions from the public do not matter a great deal because they exist in abundance. What makes you and your opinion or campaign donation special? Public officials hear it all, so what matters is the weight of articulate opinion by the public and effective political action by individuals and organizations.
Even without cash or position, an individual with political savvy and dedication can have a major effect. Here are some examples.
My brother, while a college student, spoke against a major toll road project and then formed a small neighborhood organization that was instrumental in defeating the project in a lengthy struggle. Years later, he spoke against a local option sales tax, came up with the strategy to defeat it, and repeatedly gigged the local county commission chairman in debates against the tax. It was defeated by a wide margin despite massive spending by the advocates.
In a small wealthy Florida community, two dedicated women frustrated with dishonesty in their city government eventually forced the resignations of the mayor and almost all of the council and high level city staff. The two heroic housewives spent more than a year digging out information through attendance at city council meetings and public records requests.
They became deeply suspicious of the city's finances and got the businessman husband of one of them to scrutinize the city's annual financial statements. He found irregularities that nearly forced the city into a bond default, led to the resignations I described, and to the discovery of almost a million dollars that had been salted away in a secret reserve fund. The circumstances suggested that the former manager and city attorney had planned to grab the money for themselves.
These examples are exceptional, of course. More routinely, volunteer work on political campaigns makes a difference. Capable, reliable volunteers are at a premium. To get noticed, do what you can do and do it well: walk precincts; raise money; make phone calls; put out signs; use professional and business skills; and so on.
Over the course of years, these humble tasks have their effect and result in the development of leadership skills and position. In the early 1960's, a Republican woman I knew sold Republican themed jewelry at Republican meetings to raise money for her club. She added conservative paperbacks. One day got a call from a favorite author, Phyllis Schlaffley, asking who she was because she was selling more of her books than anyone else in the country.
By the 1970's and 80's, this staunchly conservative housewife had become a good friend of Schlaffley and a leader of the Florida opposition to the ERA. To the intense annoyance of the Left, she and the other women who defeated the ERA were almost entirely not professional women but middle class mothers and homemakers. They learned how to organize and make their opinions count, handing the Left a severe defeat.
The tea party movement of today has an energy and base of support like prior waves of conservative activism. More so than at any other time since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the field is open for ordinary people to change the course of the country for the better.
I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s not happening around here. Perhaps in bigger cities these things can be accomplished. In smaller towns, it is quite a different story. The powers that be are untouchable.