#52: We’re Not Going to Let Him Pry the Bill of Rights Away From Us

Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends, if you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 100 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.

Some of us have taken personally all of these things about Donald Trump. His presidency has eaten away at our country, and we have not been able to abide it at all.

We have been sustained by the too rare legislative victory, notably John McCain’s thumbs down on overturning the Affordable Care Act. Even more so, our strength will come from what we will make happen next Tuesday. We have put together the largest collection of well-funded and well-fought off-year Congressional campaigns in history. We have been unrelenting. Because of that, we will win back the House of Representatives on Tuesday, November 6. 

Through it all, have we been too miserable, too worried, too obsessed with Trump? Have we overlooked any commendable policies he has advanced? Have we allowed his con-man, bullying, prevaricating habits to blind us from his positives?

No. No, we have not overlooked his positives. There is no brighter side. He is in permanent service to himself. He swore an oath to the Constitution and seems to think he swore an oath at the Constitution. He will say anything that suits him at any time that suits him. Left to himself, he will take this country apart.

We do not want to be embittered, or heartsick. More importantly, we do not want to see the world’s longest, greatest noble experiment in self-determination slip away. We will not let the Bill of Rights go, and he will be unable to pry it from our hands.

After next Tuesday night, it will be back to work, but in a new phase. There will be an all new set of issues to confront. New legislative challenges will be before us and the Congress, including House committees investigating Trump’s self-dealing on behalf of his holdings; his campaign’s ties to Russia, and his antipathy toward paying the income tax the law requires.

We have barely begun to sort out our Presidential candidates. We must pick a winner, hopefully someone who can articulate a nation’s dreams and its citizens’ values. Certainly, we have missed that. We do not intend to have this unthinkable presidency repeated, or mimicked by another.

With early balloting underway, it might seem like this chapter is over. This is untrue. With us putting new districts in play, there could be as many as 20 house races decided by one percent or less. In races like these, what happens between now and Tuesday will be monumentally important. Similarly, four or five Senate races are tied. Winning over the last few undecided voters and getting our voters to vote will mean everything for our candidates.

As underscored in missive #51, think how awful it would be to wake up on November 7 and wish that we had done more. You know how to keep that from happening. Here’s three things we can do in the next week.

1) Do Everything You Can to Promote Voting
	You can only vote once, but you can wear your “I Voted” pin and be visible about having voted everywhere you go. Just think of the discussions you can start at the post office, the bank, the grocery store or on the bus. Please, please stop telling yourself that single votes don’t matter. If you are unaffiliated, Indivisible is doing phone banking in key districts every day until the election. Here’s where to sign up.
2) Yes, There is a Way to Make One More Donation That Counts
	Early on, veteran political organizers wondered out loud about Swing Left, whose leadership did not ask whether they could join the circle of resistance organizations. They just acted, and they have played a major role ever since. Now in connection with Act Blue, they have the perfect way to fix your worries that you haven’t donated enough. In their Immediate Impact Fund, they have selected nine Congressional races where the margins are tight, and where our candidates could use a last minute cash boost. We have put so much money in play that it might be hard to imagine that parting with a final $100 could make a difference, but it does because there are thousands of us making that same $100 calculation at the same time. Remember that resisters put 85 districts in play for good reasons, to maximize the blue wave and to make Republicans defend ground that they had always assumed was their own. Let’s make sure these candidates are supported.
3) Let’s Make Elections Better With Each Election Cycle
	The battle to end voter suppression is ongoing, as is the separate but related effort to improve redistricting practices. Congressional redistricting will commence once the 2020 Census has been completed. We will make gains in State Houses this year which will have huge consequences for redistricting. In many states, this means acquitting ourselves better in the usual political battles. It is good to remember that there is a higher goal--- using the initiative process or legislative actions to guarantee that both parties attend more carefully to the importance of considering the citizenry when they do district drawing. It is not just gerrymandering that disenfranchises voters. Sometimes the two major parties do horse trading that guarantees one party’s preeminence in one district, providing it to the other party in a neighboring district. This limits the number of swing districts and thus the choices that voters would otherwise be able to make. It produces members of Congress that are less willing to work across the aisle. As told by the outstanding Brennan Center, five states will vote on initiatives that will improve redistricting processes. Four other states are enmeshed in legislative debates on how to redistrict. Check and see if your state is included, and help make it so in the future. Some of these initiatives are drawing serious opposition with smokescreen advertising, so a last boost is a good idea.

Well, we knew it wouldn’t be easy. And it hasn’t been. From the beginning, about the only good thing one could say about the electoral events of November 2016 is that it would surface hidden layers of sexism, racism, homophobia, and xenophobia that we have been needing to get into the daylight and confront. We will keep that up for every minute it takes.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#51: Do This Important Work Daily, and Hit Your Piggy Bank With a Hammer

Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends, if you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 100 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.

First, find your equilibrium, even as you harbor big dreams for November 6th. 

Then, eliminate political distractions. Checking Real Clear Politics or other sites is fine, but you must know it doesn’t count as actual campaigning for a candidate. Put aside silly discussions which have been the trend of late, like “We in the resistance should be less civil than we have been!” What is that even about? This week and every week, tell the truth, oppose Donald Trump with everything you’ve got, work hard and try to make the country and its politics better. Exchanges about whether you should be more personally unpleasant or a bit thuggish are not worth your time. 

Stop even thinking about which of Trump’s offenses are impeachable, at least for now. Put aside your solid arguments about the political unfairness of the Electoral College. Instead, in the next three weeks, in the time you can allot to politics, spend every bit of it on winning on the 6th.

Think about how you could feel waking up on the 7th. Imagine hearing that 15 or so Congressional races and countless local elections were decided by less than 2% of the vote. Most certainly, this is what will happen. Even with your considerable efforts between now and election day, what if you end up wishing that you had put it all on the table, and that you had worked even harder or donated even more? There won’t be any going back, no do-overs.

So, whatever you would end up wishing you had done, do it now. Maybe you have stopped and wondered what one person alone can do. But you are not alone. You are a part of a movement of millions of people who said two years ago, “No, this will not stand.” This movement depends on all of us knowing that others are by our side every single time we ring a doorbell, send a postcard, or make a donation. Revel in that and contribute to that. Rather than the presence of all of us causing you to decide to do less, make sure it motivates you to do more.

If you find yourself a little lost emotionally, listen to Robert Reich about the nature of his hopefulness. Feed off of the energy of others. Motivate yourself by talking to any unflinching, tireless friends or become unflinching or tireless yourself. 

We are not what Thomas Paine called “summer soldiers” or “sunshine patriots”, who eventually demonstrate that their commitment is thin. We are at this every day, and because we are, the nation will reap rewards. When Paine talked about the “times that try men’s souls” he was battling against a tyranny much greater than Trump’s, but it doesn’t hurt to remember the rest. After he warned that summer soldiers “will in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country” he insisted that one who “stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman… the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” 

Donald Trump is arguing that we should see his two years as a time of accomplishment. His argument would be stronger if you would take away his abdication of America’s global position, his mindless incuriosity and willingness to assume any random tweet as the truth, his obsession with himself rather than We the People, his attempt to destroy access to health care for many millions of people for whom health care is essential, his insults to leaders of countries who have stood by our side during the most dangerous of times, his refusal to recognize the huge global environmental threat of climate change, his delight in passing a tax bill to comfort the comfortable, his bullying of others and his fanning of flames of hatred toward people who are vulnerable, his “love” for Chairman Kim and any other dictator who writes him nice letters and his eagerness to separate those who seek asylum from their children.

There won’t be any more legislating until after the election, when there will be a dangerous “lame duck” session in which Paul Ryan will try to advance his agenda one more time. By now it has been stripped of any semblance of a Paul Ryan idea. Like Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan made a choice to mute his objections to Trump’s innumerable excesses. Both will argue that they were able to shape what has emerged to our collective advantage, that they made things better than they would have been. But it will be their ultimate participation in Trump’s mean-spiritedness and assaults on democracy which will provide them their place in history.

It’s time to move forward with Paine’s “glorious triumph.” We’re done legislating, we are finishing up on registering, and we are now voting on a country’s future. Right now, in the House races, the news is good. Polls on the “generic” Congressional vote (which asks which party’s candidate you are intending to vote for) are showing a 10%+ Democratic advantage). We need to win back 24 seats to control the House. These kinds of polls signal that we can win 40 if we don’t hold anything back, as signaled by Five Thirty Eight. Unlike the Senate election map (where most of the contested elections are in red states) 58 of the 70 House races in play are in blue states, many in suburban districts previously dominated by Republicans. Here is where the gigantic gender gap is playing to our greatest advantage.

Even after the Kavanagh debacle focused our voters and some of Trump’s, we have an enthusiasm advantage, where our movement is more likely to get people to the polls. Now is the time for the doorbelling, the calls, and the attention to turnout that will give us the blue wave we seek. Many of us live in such an intense political environment that it is difficult to remember that more than a third of Americans identify as Independents. More than half of those registered have fallen out of the habit of voting regularly. Please find these people today, and every day until November 6, and please do these three things:

1) Take a Final Pass at Getting People Registered
	There are any number of people who are out there intending to get themselves registered, and not necessarily understanding how easy it is, and not understanding that deadlines are looming. Can you or your friends or your voting age children find more folks to get registered? For a certain younger cohort that votes in insufficient numbers, it’s a matter of finding a clever cure for electile dysfunction. The good news is that some analysts are rejecting the notion that we are facing the typical lower than average mid-term election turnout from younger voters.  Please remember to vote as early as you can. The earlier you vote, the more you will help feed the narrative of a high turnout election, and the more others will follow your lead.
2) Make Your Final Decision on How You Can Help During the Final Two Weeks
	Many of us have already made our decision as to where and how we can boost one or more candidates. If you have found a candidate whose staff knows how to deploy you, go for it! Some of us have participated in an independent group of activists, a Democratic Party organization, or an Indivisible cell. Indivisible still has events you can support or phone banks to join. Or, see what Swing Left has in mind. And then in the perfect way to work together, 22 organizations have combined their efforts to make the last weekend before the election the biggest get out the vote drive possible. You wouldn’t want to be hanging out at home on November 3 and 4, would you?
3) Hit the Piggy Bank With a Hammer
	Previous missives have noted that taking back the Senate is a much more difficult task. Even if we fall short and “only” take back the House, we will be in far, far better position to protect America and the world from Donald Trump than is presently case. Ironically, the reason why the Senate map is so difficult (with almost all the key races in red states) is that we did so well in winning those close races in 2012. That’s why Democrats like Jon Tester, Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Donnelly and Claire McCaskill are there in the first place. There is an ideal place to send one last check. In Nevada, Democratic Congresswoman Jacky Rosen is running even with Republican Dean Heller. This is a winnable race in a smaller state. The margin of victory will be small. Dean Heller went from having an independent voice to being enthralled by Donald Trump. Go figure. Just think how it would boost each of us if we were to click and donate to Jacky Rosen today.

It is difficult to keep focus over 24 months. It’s hard not to begin thinking of Donald Trump’s malevolence as business as usual. One could be tempted to shut it all out and try to go on with life without having to shoulder the worries about a nation at risk. But we are not going to do that. As Thomas Paine said, you deserve our love and thanks for all the work you have undertaken.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington

#50: Help Accelerate Donald Trump’s Downfall

Thank you for continuing to share these messages with your friends, if you are not already on our mailing list, please click here to be added to our list. You can also follow me on Facebook. The more people we can reach, the more we contribute to this growing movement. We share these posts on our blog, A Path Forward to November 3, 2020, every two weeks, which means there will be a total of 100 missives before the Presidential election of 2020, in which our country will select a whole new course.

Some things about politics and government are complex. Legislative processes are arcane, and they are intentionally built to slow things down, not speed them up. And, as much as they may seem like a contest of television advertising, close Congressional races and the strategies it takes to win them can be complicated too, as strategies are devised, deployed and parried.

Having an election just over thirty days away has the effect of making everything that counts simpler, more obvious and more immediate. So much of what we as resisters have worked for is within our grasp if we tighten our grip now. Right around the corner is a dramatic change to our fortunes, which fell off the precipice in November of 2016. Just over four weeks from now, as we take back the House, win back several Governorships, and contend for the Senate, we can block much Donald Trump's nation-rending.

After we take back the House, Adam Schiff will be coordinating the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation of Russian election meddling, not the head sycophant Devin Nunes. There will be new ways to stymie the destruction of environmental regulations, protect refugees, energize criminal justice reform, block further tax giveaways, and prevent the walling off of Mexico. As importantly, the Democratic leadership of House committees will be able to use subpoena power to explore and expose any number of Trump cons and misdeeds to which the American people continue to be subjected.

With these stakes, our usual luxuries and habits must be set aside. Tweet-generated despair must be followed with an immediate rebound, not an extended period of mourning. Existential discussions of Trump, tittering about Trump gaffes, and exchanges of YouTube videos must all be dispensed with in favor of the real and immediate work before us. It takes just one question to motivate. Do you remember how awful you felt on November 8, 2016, how you would have done anything to take away the shame and the dismay and the worry and the fear? Now we have that chance.

Keeping the Affordable Care Act alive was splendid, as was forcing a reversal of Trump’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border. But, those were just a modest preview of what is to come if the blue wave brings us 40, 50 or even more House seats. 

Achieving that outcome isn’t just about the excellence of our candidate slate or the last month campaign efforts they are devising. This is about how many of us are standing with these candidates and how tall each of us stands. We must not and will not let ourselves get distracted when the focus on getting this done should be the sharpest. Whether or not you live in an enclave of like-minded people (sometimes making the election seem distant) or whether it is around you every day, you are in a position to do more than you have been planning to do! In fact, in some cases you are in a position to do MUCH MUCH more than you are presently planning to do. Since you felt badly in November 2016 and you have felt Trump-despair many times hence, then it’s time for you to take a specific pledge to upgrade your October activities. Among the seven deadly sins that could diminish the blue wave are distraction, overconfidence, misdirection (doing work that is less productive), and procrastination.

We can absolve ourselves of all sins by taking seven steps that characterize the finest resisters. Pledge to yourself today that you will get these things done.

First, be a part of the last wave of postcard sending through many of your local Indivisible cells or through the postcard maniac, Tony the Democrat. We have sent millions of colorful, compelling customized postcards. If you haven’t already done this, you surely wouldn’t want the election to be over without sending a hundred or so yourself.

Second, go to a rally. The closer we get to the election, the more we will collect in large numbers to signify that American is about to change. Large rallies attract attention and thus help get out the vote. Going to hear one of leaders speak will help you feed off the collective energy that is being generated.

Third, however much money you have donated so far, write at least one more check and send it just as soon as you can, since final campaign plans are being formulated. Give up something--- an evening out, a weekend trip, and write a check you never intended to write.

Fourth, find a campaign near or far that needs you there in person. As this missive has emphasized, pick a campaign that has already demonstrated that it is adept in deploying volunteers. Honor them with your presence, at least for a weekend.

Fifth, figure out everyone you know between 18 and 30 and email or text them to remind them that you can still register online in many states, and that they should pass the word. Rock the Vote will tell you and them everything you need to know. 

Sixth, in states accepting early ballots, send a message to like-minded friends asking them to vote as early as possible. The media will be following the early casting of ballots. They will interpret any uncommonly large early pile as supporting a blue wave, which itself will help generate a blue wave.

Seventh, find something you can do on election day that will be helpful to our cause. This could be last minute calling, taking people to the polls, or even holding a campaign sign in a public place.

There may be as many as 20 Congressional races decided by 2% or less. Take the pledge. Do some things you hadn’t expected to. Don’t be a bystander. Surprise yourself at how much you can get done. Help start the beginning of the end of Donald Trump’s assault on America.

And, since that isn’t quite enough, please do these three things:

1) Fight Against the Trump Refugee Cap
	Emma Lazarus said “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” and we made the Statue of Liberty a beacon for refugees. With 25 million people in refugee camps worldwide, Donald Trump has set the United States refugee quota at 30,000 for 2018, the lowest level since the current refugee resettlement program was established in 1980.  Mike Pompeo opposed that decision. When he announced the number, he said it wasn’t indicative of the treatment of vulnerable persons by the United States. Of course, the problem with that heartening sentiment is that it is untrue. Call the majority staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration at 202-224-7840. They won’t necessarily be expecting your call, which will give it even more resonance. Tell them that it is up to them to make sure the beacon is still there.
2) Check Out Initiatives in Your State
	There are 154 Initiatives on the ballot in 38 states. 20 of these are focused on voter access, campaign finance, redistricting methods and other elements of fair and free elections. Find out what is happening in your state. Make certain to continue the fight against voter suppression and for the highest level of citizen participation.
3) Go for Beto O’Rourke, One More Time
	There are all sorts of Democratic Senatorial Candidates that need your support--- Bredesen in Tennessee, Nelson in Florida, Heitkamp in North Dakota. But none will strike the fancy more than the quixotic, exotic effort of Beto O’Rourke to beat Ted Cruz by being a smart, open, idealistic, energetic candidate. He’s not taking PAC money, and he needs our help. $25 each from donors across the country adds up nicely. Beto O’Rourke says that “Texas deserves better” than Ted Cruz. That is a thought that is easy to endorse.

As the months wore on after the 2016 election, it seemed like the day would never come in which we would have our first rebound opportunity. Now it is here. Let’s seize every opportunity it offers, please.

David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington