A Tea Party was hosted at noon today outside Representative Heath Shuler’s office in south Asheville. I bothered to take off work and combine the two hour round trip with some errands so I could stand around like a dork and be counted. While there, I was informed that the receptionist inside was taking down information. As it turned out, he only was taking names, topics, and “approve or disapprove.” I said that didn’t advance the dialogue, and asked where I might send my arguments so they could have an audience. The receptionist suggested mailing a letter to Washington, DC. I replied that Shuler said since 911 it takes about 90 days for Congressmen to get snail mail. (I was wrong. He said 30 or 40 days.) As we went back and forth, he must have pushed the panic button, as a lady came out in the hall to de-escalate me, even though I didn’t think I was being aggressive at all. She said the best way to contact Shuler would be to send him an email from his web site, and she assured me he reads all his email. The web page is cool. It has a national debt clock ticking at about $20,000/sec.