Chop Wood, Carry Water 1/25
Hope is an action.
Hi, all, and happy Thursday!
Yesterday I made a “pep talk” video for my TikTok followers, knowing that lots of them would be in a state after the New Hampshire primaries. Most of the folks on TikTok, remember, only get their news there—they don’t generally read the Times or the Post, let alone luminaries like
, , , and. So I knew they might be missing some context on the results, and wanted to give it to them.The resulting video got a lot of engagement (you can see it on YouTube here or on TikTok here, but you already know all of it). I was struck, however, by how many people responded with the comment “I hope you’re right.” Like, over and over again.
“I sure hope you’re right.”
“I pray you’re right.”
“I hope hope hope this is true.”
Here’s the thing, though. Hope has nothing to do with it! Not, that is, unless we turn that word into a verb. For, as I’ve said many times, hope must be an action or it’s no hope at all. What we feel is beside the point. It’s what we DO that matters. And in taking positive action we can generate the hope we so desperately seek.
Hope. Is. An. Action.
Rebecca Solnit, of course, puts it best in this excerpt from her extraordinary book Hope in the Dark (I’ve quoted it here before):
Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal... To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.
Hope is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. YES! And that’s the very same axe, mind you, with which we “chop wood” every day. Never forget it.
There’s a reason I like this emoji so much: 🪓.
And there’s a reason those of us who do this work know that hope is real.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m calling to ask the Senator to support the Inclusive Democracy Act (S. 3423). Some laws disproportionately and intentionally suppress the votes of Black and Brown Americans with a felony conviction. I’m asking the Senator to cosponsor and pass this bill, which will guarantee 4.6 million Americans citizens the right to vote in federal elections. Thanks. [H/T]
[If GOP add:] Second, I am furious that Republicans in the House are backing away from addressing the immigration situation because Donald Trump, an electoral loser, criminal, and insurrectionist, is telling them to. It’s absolutely unacceptable. If Republicans are going to yell that conditions at the border are “an emergency” then they need to act like it. Voters are watching and we see what you’re doing. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m reaching out because I strongly oppose book bans. So I’d like the Congressmember to support the recently introduced Books Save Lives Act (H.R. 6830). This act will ensure public and school libraries maintain a diverse collection of books and employ at least one trained librarian, as well as classify discriminatory book bans as federal civil rights violations. [H/T]
[If GOP add:] Second, I am furious that Republicans in the House are backing away from addressing the immigration situation because Donald Trump, an electoral loser, criminal, and insurrectionist, is telling them to. It’s absolutely unacceptable. If Republicans are going to yell that conditions at the border are “an emergency” then they need to act like it. Voters are watching and we see what you’re doing. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
The Biden-Harris Administration announced that 21.3 million people selected an Affordable Care Act Health Insurance Marketplace plan during the 2024 Open Enrollment Period. This shatters all past records. Trump, on the other hand, is still promising to repeal the ACA if he wins.
Protect Our Care has a great toolkit which gives us everything we need to both promote these amazing ACA enrollment numbers AND remind everyone what Americans stand to lose if Trump repeals this law. Please check it out and spread the word!
Get Smart! 📚
This is early notice about an important event. Please sign up for one of two virtual calls to learn about Postcard to Swing State’s postcard program in 2024, which will help elect Democrats up and down the ballot across the nation. They plan to send 25.7 million postcards for the Nov 5 general election to voters in swing states, states with key Senate races, and competitive US House districts. I LOVE PTSS. They give you free postcards (!!) and their scripts are data-proven to be the most effective at turning out voters.
The people running the call will explain how we know that writing postcards is the most effective way to help re-elect President Biden and other Democrats from home. They'll discuss the details of their 2024 program. And they'll answer your questions!
Wednesday, February 7th 6:30-7:30 CT or Monday February 12th 7-8 CT. Sign up here.
Spread the Word! 📣
From my subscriber Albert Kaufman:
My buddy, Brian Hassett, put together this incredible collection of positive everything about Biden. Have a look. I believe he'll have this up until the election and beyond. I imagine your readers would enjoy it!
Trust me. You will. Please read and share this summary of all the ways Biden has been an amazing president.
Win Races! 🗳
Supermajority, an organization “focused on making women the most feared and revered voting bloc in the country,” recently launched a newsletter on Substack, "The Week in Women Voters."
It's written by Supermajority’s senior director of communications Jess Herrera. Each week she dives into the issues driving young women and the electoral stories you should be following. I’ve read the first two posts and they’re pretty great.
Please consider signing up to get it, and share widely with your own networks. It’s also well worth signing up to be a member of Supermajority. They have great phonebanks and a weekly textbank, too. They’ll get you plugged in!
Chop Wood, Save the Planet 🔥
Join the Environmental Voter Project on Zoom to mobilize low propensity environmental voters for the upcoming New York 3rd Congressional District special election! Sign up for their phonebanks using scripts proven to boost turnout:
January 29th at 7pm ET / 4pm PT,
February 6th at 12pm ET / 9am PT, and
February 12th at 12pm ET / 9am PT.
Training provided — please join us! (I just signed up for Monday’s!)
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: ] [H/T] [Text SIGN PSMVBN to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]
I’m sure you’ve seen the new report about the staggering number of American women who’ve been raped and impregnated since Roe was overturned, 91% of them in states where abortion is now banned. The invaluable Alan Unell has a great Resistbot letter about it in today’s “Healthcare Advocacy” newsletter. Let’s send it!
I am your constituent and I just learned that there are about 520,000 rapes (1 every minute) in the US that resulted in 64,565 pregnancies across 14 states. Of those, 91% happened in states that have no exceptions that allowed for terminations of pregnancies that occurred as a result of rape. That’s more than 58,000 women. 45% in Texas. Are you OK with this kind of treatment? I hope not.
I want you to come out in public and let everyone know that this kind of treatment of women in the US is not acceptable. HOW MANY WOMEN HAVE TO SUFFER?
I want you to get the Women’s Health Protection Act (H.R. 12/S. 701) passed and fast. I want you to make sure Mifepristone, the abortion medication, is available via tele-health and by mail fast. (H.R. 767/S. 4467).
I want you to behave like your job depends on this because it does.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
I just want to say, thank you so much for writing this and thank you for being you and being so awesome! 😊
I can so relate to the reaction you got from people, saying they "hope" you are right. I get that all the time from people I know. And it's paired with this half-quizzical, half-skeptical look that tells me they don't really believe there is hope. It runs counter to everything else they have been reading and hearing from "reputable" sources. I think that when they say 'I hope you're right', they haven't really started to hope themselves yet.
When I talk to people about being an activist, I feel like I've become the messenger of hope - I actually believe we will have a blue tsunami!!). It seems that a lot of people are lost in fear and hopelessness. I tell them why I believe we can win, and I tell them that taking action will make them worry less, but as a society we have not yet gotten it through our heads that democracy requires action. It is not a spectator sport! We need to keep chipping away at people's attitudes and fear, while of course we continue plugging away at getting out the vote.