Armchair Activism : Politics: 20/20 Vision mails out information cards that make it easy to become involved in today’s issues. As one professor put it: ‘You don’t need to raise a ruckus to change public policy.’

Civil disobedience takes a breather in the ‘90s.

The activists of the 1960s are older now. They have jobs and children. They don’t have time for marching in the streets.

So a group called 20/20 Vision is giving them a convenient outlet for their politics. Once a month, the group sends out notices about a particular environmental or political issue, giving background information and alerting group members if a legislative vote is pending. The postcard gives the name and address of a legislator that members can write to.

It’s sort of a Home Shopping Club for the socially conscious. They never have to leave their homes. They don’t even have to know what they are talking about. It’s all on the card.

“People basically want to make the world better. This empowers them to take 20 minutes a month and get something done,” said Susan Robins of Van Nuys who heads the Los Angeles chapter of the national organization. “Because all the other members are involved in the same issue, they don’t feel as if they are acting alone. It also assuages their guilt.”

The group takes its name from those 20 minutes a month, and the $20 yearly dues. 20/20 Vision originated in Massachusetts in 1985. The Los Angeles chapter formed in August, 1989.

Robins and Terri Mandell of Studio City, who run the group out of their homes, haven’t surveyed their 400 local members; they hope the easy-to-follow format is luring people who have never been socially active.

An expert in political participation, however, suggests that 20/20 Vision members might not be novices.

“Clearly with my generation, the generation of the ‘60s, studies show that our values have stayed the same, but we’ve changed fairly radically in the manner in which we express them,” said Sheldon Kamieniecki, a USC associate professor of political science. “Many of us have gone on to be professionals and are very busy and have been forced to participate in a less visible manner.”

The new brand of activism may not represent a turn for the worse. Marching in the streets, Kamieniecki said, sometimes serves only to alienate policy-makers.

“You don’t need to raise a ruckus to change public policy in America,” he said. “Writing in or telephoning, which is more quiet, may have a more critical impact on the political process than demonstrating.”

Liberals and environmentalists are perhaps the last groups to find their way onto the paper trail. Conservative and special-interest groups such as the National Rifle Assn. have been organizing letter-writing campaigns for years, Kamieniecki said.

Each chapter of 20/20 Vision decides which issue to highlight for the month. While the Los Angeles chapter tries to preserve a Southern California wetlands, a New York chapter might be opposing national legislation by writing the representative from its congressional district. This way, members either take action on an issue that affects their region, or on a legislator who relies on their votes.

A sampling of the local chapter’s recent actions:

* Last June, the group gathered support for the Federal Facilities Compliance Act (S-596), which would force federal facilities to comply with the same environmental regulations that govern businesses. Members were told to contact Sen. John Seymour (R-California).

* In August, a campaign was mounted to oppose the construction of a nuclear waste dump in Ward Valley, a few miles from Needles, Calif. The targeted legislator was state Sen. Diane Watson, (D-Los Angeles), chairwoman of the Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee.

* Last month, the group sought to support the Defense Industrial Diversification Act (S-2075), which would provide a first step in converting the defense industry into other types of production. Seymour and Sen. Alan Cranston (D-California) were the targets.

20/20 Vision’s national office distributes success stories from its 75 chapters and 11,000 members. Last April, for instance, the California chapters appealed to Rep. Pete Stark (D-Oakland) and Rep. Ron Dellums (D-Berkeley) to join with Rep. George Hochbrueckner (D-New York) on a bill to make the Pentagon pay for increased environmental cleanups at military sites. Both California legislators subsequently offered to co-sponsor the bill.

“20/20 Vision was very effective,” said Mary Ann Weber, Hochbrueckner’s press secretary. “They definitely helped in getting Dellums and Stark to the bill.”

The Los Angeles chapter’s results are more difficult to track, Robins said. The group usually agrees with Cranston and just as often disagrees with, and is unsuccessful at persuading, Seymour.

The work is done by volunteers like Robins, Mandell and Marge Mollner, a Thousand Oaks grandmother who has the cards printed and mailed each month.

Robins and Mandell are hoping to enlarge their chapter in the coming year. Last month, they organized a 1960s-style rally at a Santa Monica club. They are hoping to add enough members to establish splinter groups in Orange County, San Diego and Santa Barbara.

“We’re not a typical membership organization,” Robins said. “We don’t have meetings or newsletters. And we promise we won’t call you during supper.”

The address for the local chapter of 20/20 Vision is P.O. Box 4119, Los Angeles 90078.