This is the next of our series of missives on our unfinished work to restore the promise of our country and its government. Each will focus on a single element of the many opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. Each will provide three steps we can all take to build upon our huge victories winning back the House in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020.
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The future is promising, for all sorts of reasons. Republicans are split in at least three ways, with pro-Trump and non-Trump MAGA-its and those who don’t want MAGA to be the definer. There is every reason to believe their conflicts will intensify, including in the House of Representatives. Joe Biden just achieved the most successful two-year legislative record since The New Deal. Independents are estranged from Republican candidates. A woman’s right to choose will be with us aas a driver of votes until that right is again guaranteed. Inflation is abating and gas prices are lower. Biden has created and sustained an impressive international coalition to protect Ukraine.
There is little chance that Donald Trump will be nominated and no chance he will be elected to the Presidency in 2024. There is a distinct advantage to Democrats anytime Donald Trump does or says anything. It is a huge understatement to say the release of his tax returns and his impending criminal charges have worsened his situation. That doesn’t reverse the huge damage he has caused democratic systems, nor eliminate further threats to election integrity. Nonetheless, it is not lost upon Republicans that continuing to lie about the 2020 presidential election is to their great disadvantage. What a gift to Katie Hobbs, Gretchen Whitmer, Raphael Warnock, and countless others.
On the Democratic side, Joe Biden will decide not to run for re-election, because he knows even better than you that he will not have the stamina at age 82 to run and serve. This means the monumental movement to win back America that has had great success from 2018 on will have to generate its energy while multiple candidates seek to become its leader.
We are up to the challenge. Whatever “woke” could possibly mean, we are wide awake. We are aware and proud of what we have accomplished and are not even close to satisfied. We wouldn’t mind at least a temporary decrease in requests for money from candidates, but we are otherwise ready to do everything we can in 2023 to make certain we get the right results in 2024. Here’s the list of seven things we could pin on the refrigerator or next to the nightstand.
| 1) Attend to Your Community | |
 | Perhaps you live someplace where the attention to the Bill of Rights seems unabated and where elected officials are continually exploring what government can or should do with and for the people. Even in those places, the need for vigilance is ever present. Are local governments reaching out to citizens, or creating antipathy? Are books protected in the library, and patients and their choices protected in the hospital? Are good candidates emerging for local positions? Should you be considering running for local office, or recruiting a candidate? |
2) Maintain Voter Registration Efforts | |
 | For a long time, you have been meaning to examine the extent to which young people turning 18 are registering to vote, and whether there are systems to connect with people who have not done so? Are local high schools, community colleges and four-year colleges administering programs that register people as they become 18? Which of any partners are engaged? Check and see if the League of Women Voters is active or start your own voter registration group. It would not be difficult to do your own “audit” or what is happening in your area. Get on the mailing list of the national organization When We All Vote, to which Michelle Obama has devoted her time. As important, check to make sure your own legislators support easy registration and voting by mail. The National Vote at Home Institute keeps a scorecard of state practices. You can examine it and/or offer to help. |
3) Boost Underrepresented Groups | |
 | Organizations bent on improving Latino registration and voting had an enormous impact on the positive outcomes in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and New Mexico. One premier organization is Mi Familia Vota, which for years has used energy and inventiveness to have an outsized impact. You can make charitable contributions to the Mi Familia Vota Education Fund If you are 72 or older, you can send them part or all of the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) from your Individual Retirement Account. |
4) Defeat the Deniers | |
 | Election deniers were themselves denied on November 8. Four Republican candidates for Secretary of State in swing states (Michigan, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada) featured their rejection of the 2020 presidential election results, even though these positions include the supervision of elections! All four were defeated. Our movement needs to stay on this path by blocking corporate contributions to the 147 members of the House of Representatives who sought to block certification of the presidential election in 2020. The excellent organization Accountable US which monitors uneven and sometimes sordid corporate behavior is an outstanding resource for you or your organization to hold companies responsible. After promising after the insurrection not to support these members of Congress, several well known technology companies have forgotten their pledge. You can use Accountable US to keep you informed or to figure out how to put some pressure on individual companies. |
5) Keep Choice in the Forefront | |
 | Six states had choice on the ballot in November, and the pro-choice position prevailed in all six. Pro-choice forces are already evaluating which states to emphasize for ballot initiatives in 2024, since some states have statutes that limit initiatives and referenda, and others may have a legislative or legal path to victory before then. Initiatives have already been filed in South Dakota and Oklahoma! It's time to use NARAL Pro-Choice America to understand where your state stands and time to provide some new energy if initiatives and referenda are permitted in your state. |
6) Fight Voter Suppression | |
 | There is a myth that there was no voter suppression in Georgia since there was a record turnout that re-elected Senator Raphael Warnock. Even otherwise commendable Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger has maintained the position. However, as Senator Warnock has emphasized, if restricted Saturday voting (meant to reduce the African-American vote) means that voters have to stand in line for hours, it is still suppression, it just wasn’t entirely successful. We can stay focused by making sure we receive updates and alerts from the anti-suppression efforts of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. |
7) Recharge Reluctant Republicans | |
 | The weaker Donald Trump gets, the more Republicans show up to say things like they can’t understand why their party isn’t more intent on getting their supporters to vote by mail. How could that possibly have happened? We might want to stay on the alert for the Republicans who pretend they are in the forefront in protecting the Constitution when they are still peeking out from behind the curtain. But it is still good to recognize that there is a home in the House for Republicans who would not themselves storm the capitol. This is the Republican Governance Group (RGG) of 40 or so members, some of which are moderates. They plan to serve as a counterpoint to the Freedom Caucus, but time is about to tell whether they have what it takes. RGG member Nancy Mace of South Carolina has passed the test. She had the courage to decry Trump’s role in the insurrection. She was subsequently challenged in the Republican primary by a Trump endorsed candidate and won. Use this handy form and ask her to use the Republican Party’s bare four seat majority as a reason for her to expand her reach across the aisle. |
It isn’t besmirching you as a part of the movement to protect America to say that around now after six years your energies start to flag. This has been a long haul. Please keep it up.
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
