You’ve probably seen the emails or social media calls to action asking you to send a letter/fax/email to someone, either supporting or opposing a proposed law or other decision. Maybe you’ve even dropped a letter in a mailbox, or faxed, or clicked “send.”

Do you ever wonder what happens to those missives? Does anybody actually read them?

It turns out that the feds do, at least some of the time.

A couple of weeks ago I spoke with Keith Dane, Director for Equine Protection at the Humane Society of the United States, about the organization’s undercover investigation of abuse at the stable of a prominent trainer of Tennessee Walking Horses. Self-regulation of the Walking Horse industry isn’t working, Dane said, and he suggested that the federal government assume full responsibility for inspection of animals and enforcement of the Horse Protection Act (“HPA”)