In case you see this, good luck and I’m glad you’re going. You’ve probably already edited this, but if you want your point to come across clearly and just as importantly to be heard by other constituents as well as your Senator, you’ll need to rework it so they don’t shut down on the third sentence.
Something like,
I have two questions, one for you and one for Chuck Grassley. But he hasn’t done a public meeting in this county in 6 years. Thank you for giving your constituents this opportunity to discuss this issue with you, one many of our lives depend on.
I wrote a lot of letters for Amnesty International in my younger years. I’d almost always write two drafts, the “what I think and feel” version and the “getting results” version, lol. Basically I’d edit out anything that I thought would shut them down and replace it with an appeal to their better nature, whether or not I privately thought it existed. Lot’s of “I’m sure that now that you know this prisoner that was arrested in your jurisdiction is missing, you will do everything you can to locate him and facilitate contact with his lawyers and his family”, knowing full well that this dude was almost certainly responsible for the disappearance. Amazingly, this kind of thing can work.
I’m not saying don’t be angry, I’m saying that sometimes it’s more effective to direct the anger just sideways of the actual target so they don’t just throw up their defenses and not hear you.
Anyway, your story is compelling and I hope you get a chance to tell it.