Chop Wood, Carry Water 12/11

Stay in the day!

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Hi, all, and happy Monday!

Hope you had a somewhat—or even very—restful weekend.

Reading the news this morning I was struck anew by what a brutally difficult time we’re living through. There are fires—proverbial and literal—burning everywhere. It’s hard to imagine existing in a more fraught moment—or at least one that was being drilled into our consciousness more relentlessly—than this one.

So a simple fact bears repeating: This is hard. The fight is hard, the constant awareness of the fight is hard, the duration of the fight is hard. The stakes of the fight, moreover, are staggering.

I want to remind you how I, at least, maintain strength and relative calm in this drawn out battle: by taking things one day, and even one minute, at a time. Every morning I ask myself: What can I do now? Having done that, can I do more? Or do I need to pause? Do I need to take the dog to the vet? Or eat a meal? Or pick my child up from school? Having done these things, can I return to the work for a bit? Or am I genuinely too tired to be useful?

Notice that at no point in that routine do I think about, say, next year’s elections. Or next month’s budget fight. Or next week’s polling numbers. I stay right here, right now. Because only now do I know for sure what needs to be done. The disasters we imagine for the future may happen, but they likely won’t—at least not in the way we imagine them. A million unforeseen occurrences between now and next year, for example, will shape the election in ways for which we can’t possibly prepare. So expending undue effort on them now is a waste of our time and energy.

There is plenty to do today, so in today let us stay. This approach is better for reaching our goals, better for maintaining our energy, and, perhaps most importantly, better for our mental health.

Again, this is tough. But never forget that we’re tougher. As long as we stay in the day.

Now let’s get to work.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.

I understand that some Democratic Senators are pushing to condition U.S. military aid for Israel on its adherence to international laws for armed conflicts and delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. They’ve introduced an amendment to the supplemental funding bill that imposes such conditions. I strongly support this amendment. Israel absolutely has a right to defend itself but American support can’t be a blank check to a right-wing government that has demonstrated a gross disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians.

Also, we must, must, must help Ukraine. A Russian victory there would be a devastating loss for global democracy and a huge danger to our NATO allies. Pass Ukraine funding now! Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

First, is the representative a co-sponsor of H.R.5010, the Recognizing Gun Violence as a Public Health Emergency Act? If not I’d like them to be.

Second, we must, must, must help Ukraine. A Russian victory there would be a devastating loss for global democracy and a huge danger to our NATO allies. Pass Ukraine funding now! Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Please consider sending a letter to the FTC demanding that they block Exxon and Chevron’s massive new oil and gas acquisitions—for obvious reasons. Email them at antitrust@ftc.gov and say something like (please personalize):

To Whom It May Concern at FTC Antitrust;

I want to make a public comment asking the FTC to block two huge oil and gas mergers currently under consideration.

They are Exxon’s $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources and Chevron’s proposed $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corporation. These mergers would be some of the biggest petroleum deals in U.S. history. At a moment of climate crisis this would be catastrophic. It’s also terrible for consumers.

Past Big Oil mergers have enabled anti-competitive coordination that limited supplies of oil to boost prices. Now, the two most dominant players want to suck up even more market power. Any further consolidation is guaranteed to harm consumers.

Please take action to block these mergers.

Thanks.

[Name]

[Address]

Get Smart! 📚

Interested in Pennsylvania election results? (You should be!) Join the two best PA turnout orgs for an election recap!

2023 Election Recap Meeting with Protect the Vote PA & Turn PA Blue 

Join us for a recap of the 2023 election cycle to go over the results, our efforts, and what's next for Promote the Vote PA and Turn PA Blue in 2024 on Wednesday, December 13th at 7 PM EST.

Sign up here. 

Give 💰!

You guys! I am thrilled to announce a new matching fund challenge! One of my readers has generously offered to match our donations to Run for Something up to 15K! Aaaaah! It’s a dream come true for me, as I am deeply, deeply passionate about this organization. The match runs until the end of the year. Can we do it? YES WE CAN!

For those of you who don’t know them, RFS recruits young progressives to run for office across the country for municipal, school board, election administrator, county supervisor, and statehouse seats. Their candidates have a high win rate and their school board candidates absolutely destroyed Moms for Liberty everywhere in November. (Their school board win rate was 72%.) Here’s a list of their recent successes. It’ll blow your mind. Oh, and they elected 138 election clerks this year, including 34 wins against noted election deniers. Their candidates tend to go on to phenomenal things–so they’re also building a bench! SO IMPORTANT! When I say that this organization is saving the country I am not exaggerating.

Here’s the link to give to the matching fund. Let’s do this! And please, please share.

Win Races! 🗳

Special election alert! On January 16th Democrat Tom Keen is running for HD-35, an Orlando area seat vacated when Ron DeSantis “coronated” his GOP buddy (who has no higher education experience) to be president of South FL State College. Keen is a veteran and can ABSOLUTELY win this seat!

Phonebank for Tom Keen—shifts four days a week. Sign up here.

Texting many days this week. Sign up here!

Or donate here!

Chop Wood, Save the Planet 🔥

Love this. The surprisingly simple way to convince people to go green. (This should be a gift link?)

Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻

[To all 3 reps: ] [H/T and more info] [Text SIGN PECNCK to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]

Last week, U.S. Senators Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Peter Welch introduced the End Solitary Confinement Act, companion legislation to HR 4972 introduced in the House of Representatives by Missouri Rep. Cori Bush in July. This bill would end solitary confinement in all federal custody and incentivize states and localities to do the same.

The End Solitary Confinement Act is a product of years of advocacy and activism from campaigns across the country led by people who have survived solitary and had loved ones inside, and draws from the best policy components of enacted and pending legislation. Specifically, the End Solitary Confinement Act does four key things: End all forms of solitary confinement, ensure that all alternatives to solitary are *actual* alternatives, enhance due process protections, and create oversight and enforcement mechanisms.

Over 175 organizations nationwide have already endorsed the End Solitary Confinement Act and I hope you will as well. Solitary confinement is torture. We must end this barbaric practice. Thanks.

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OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.

Talk soon.

Jess