There's no "I" in OAW

If you're reading this, then you are probably either an overseas American yourself or are a friend of overseas Americans. And we need your help. This is a group effort. There are over twenty of us here in Washington participating in OAW, but there are thousands of you out there who can lend a hand from right there in your living room. You don't even have to get up from your computer.

Everyone in Washington is competing for a limited amount of attention from Congress on thousands of issues, so we need your help to make our voice as strong as it can be. Here are some things you can do to assist OAW and, more generally, to help AARO:

- Tell friends and colleagues about OAW and AARO. Email your friends or post links to www.overseasamericansweek.com, www.aaro.org or www.aaro-oaw.org on Twitter, Facebook or wherever else you're active online.

- Join the AARO groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, Meetup and InterNations.

- Join AARO at www.aaro.org (join now for only 20 euros as part of our spring membership drive).

- Write a letter. Use our model letter to ask your Representative to join the Americans Abroad Caucus.

- Give us the names and email addresses of any media contacts that you may have -- political columnists, bloggers, journalists at papers read either on Capitol Hill or by the American community abroad, etc.

Thanks!

Robots, zombies and vampires

I had only been in Washington for three minutes when I saw my first political ad this afternoon in Reagan National Airport. Over the ensuing half-hour until I got onto the Metro, I was bombarded by ads for a wide range of causes, issues or industries -- oil & gas, electrical grids, wind power, environmental protection and diversity in housing.

The oil & gas ad made a particular impression on me, mostly for who it claimed to be representing -- the "people" of the oil & gas industry. In short, here was an ad that seemed to very clearly be presented purely on behalf of oil & gas companies, for their straightforward (and perhaps perfectly justified) economic interests, but the message was communicated in such a way as to be from "people", not inhuman corporations. The word "people" was even in italics and in a different font. It was as if they wanted to reassure you that no, the oil and gas industry isn't comprised of robots, zombies and vampires; they are normal people just like you and me.

All of this got me thinking about how rare it is for real people to be the direct beneficiaries of lobbying work in Washington and the fact that we overseas Americans are an example of that. In last year's blog I poked fun at the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association as an example of the typical assortment of corporate interests being represented on Capitol Hill. Countless other lobbying groups represent interests along the same lines -- an industrial sector, a group of companies making a particular product, etc. So it makes perfect sense that they would go to such effort to portray themselves as normal folks, not mere corporations.

We of course don't have to do that. We are as real as it gets. When we talk about citizenship, you can picture a parent uncertain about his or her ability to transmit U.S. citizenship to a child; on voting, we have the fundamental legal right to vote, but a web of confusing, inconsistent and impractical state and local rules can deprive us of the ability to exercise that right; and when we talk about taxation, you can picture an overseas American paying tax to two countries while his or her non-American friends live a simpler, more equitable existence.

We don't have to stretch the truth to describe ourselves as real, live human beings. We're a human constituency that needs a voice. We are moms and dads and brothers and sisters; somebody's best friend and somebody's work colleague. This human face is part of what distinguishes us from a lot of the visitors that Congressional staffers see day in and day out, which may explain some of the surprisingly interested, enthusiastic and sympathetic reactions we get in many of our meetings each year. Hopefully we will continue to elicit that reaction this year; it all starts tomorrow morning, with our first full day of OAW 2009.

Overseas Americans Week 2009

Welcome back to yet another one-week installment of Mr. Coyne Goes to Washington, a blog chronicling the work of the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO) and our sister organizations, American Citizens Abroad (ACA) and the Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas (FAWCO), during Overseas Americans Weeek (OAW), March 30-April 3, 2009.

Before going any further, one bit of housekeeping -- if you are on the email distribution list from 2008 and wish to be removed, just email aaro@aaro.org and our Office Manager, Christine, will gladly remove your name from the list. And if you're not on and want to be added, just ask Christine.

OAW is our annual lobbying trip to Washington, where we beg, plead and coerce members of Congress to do the right thing on our various issues, primarily voting, tax and representation. For more information, take a look at our position papers at www.overseasamericansweek.com.

We're looking forward to a busy, exhausting and productive OAW this year. We're hoping to make significant progress and may have some exciting news on some of our issues soon, so stay tuned!

Hard Times Café

Yesterday I began Overseas Americans Week the same way I do each year -- with a long lunch at the Hard Times Café in Alexandria, Virginia. As usual, I enjoyed a Hard Times specialty called the "Chili Bubba" -- two large pieces of cornbread smothered in veggie chili, sour cream and jalapeños -- while I worked on this year's OAW talking points on my laptop.

Hard Times Café is built on a theme of simpler, humble times. From the decor to the food, it's a no-nonsense, unpretentious experience. At Hard Times, you remember days long past when economic turmoil left millions in doubt and confusion. Sound familiar yet?

When Mollie and I discovered Hard Times while we were living in DC almost a decade ago, the idea of simple, hearty home-cooked meals for people on the down-and-out was essentially just a unique theme for a restaurant -- no more personally relevant to us than, say, the theme of an Outback Steakhouse or a Johnny Rockets.

Now it's a bit different. As I walked up to the restaurant, I realized that in the current economic environment, we are literally in hard times, which is on most people's minds (and lips) every day. The same thought had not occurred to me a year earlier at the same spot.

This all served as a reminder to me that we are coming to Washington at an extraordinary time for this country and for the world. Like so many others, we are approaching Congress to demand the redress of our grievances with various aspects of federal law and policy that uniquely affect us. We have to keep in mind that ours are not the only demands being made upon their time. A lot of people are going through some very hard times.

At the same time, some of our requests can be part of the solution. Our demand for fair taxation, for example, would allow American companies to more easily compete overseas, generating much-needed exports of American goods and thereby protecting export-driven jobs back home. In any event, we have to remember that ours are not the only issues in town; this year in particular, they will be viewed in the light of a larger context of hard times all around.