Chubminnow: Members of Congress do read e-mails and will respond to your letter with a "form" letter. At least you get to know that they are aware of your stance on a particular issue.

If enough of their constituents let them know how they feel, I tend to believe that they want to get re-elected and will vote the wishes of the majority of their voters. I know that's really naive, but at least I can tell them how I feel.