Chop Wood, Carry Water 12/6

Healthcare for All.

Hi, all, and happy Friday.

I have to make this quick, as I’m rushing out to a physical therapy appointment.

Thanks for all of the well-wishes on my upcoming trip to the White House. I really am incredibly excited. It will be bittersweet, I fear, to see it so filled with love and light, considering how soon it is to be filled with darkness. But I’m still really glad to go. I want to celebrate good everywhere it is, even if it’s fleeting, or almost in the rearview mirror. I want to remember the White House as a place where decent people worked hard—and with very few thanks—to help a lot of people live better lives.

After all, how can we dream of getting it back to that state if we haven’t seen it that way first?

On related note, I’ve found the reaction to the shooting in Manhattan this week to be both grim and fascinating. It goes without saying—or it should—that I deplore violence in all cases. Zero exceptions. So on one hand seeing so many people react with glee to a mob-style execution is deeply disconcerting. On the other hand, our healthcare system does violence daily to millions of Americans; the reaction, then, isn’t surprising. And while I grieve for the man’s family, and for the acquiescence of so many to violence as a solution, I wonder if maybe in all of this awfulness there isn’t a tiny bit of opportunity? Is a real conversation about our broken healthcare system—and the corrupt and unfettered power of corporations in general —about to happen?

It will if we make it so.

If we can bring Americans together in such a conversation, and then in collective and peaceful action against oligarchy and plutocracy we may really see some transformation! If we can unite in our anger towards monopolies and out-of-control privatization we might stop, for just a moment, being divided against each other. We might, dare I say it, be able to build something together instead of just tearing each other apart.

It’s a filament of hope amidst so much gloom. I’m going to cling to it.

I’ve written a letter demanding that Congress see this moment for what it is and begin seriously considering the Medicare For All bill. It’s in the Resistbot section—you can send it too, if you like. Will they do it? Doubtful, right now. Should we start making noise in this moment even so, since ears are perhaps more open than usual?

Absolutely. So let’s do that.

Have a great weekend, friends. This is tough, but we’re tougher.

Now let’s get to work.

P.S. — I mistakenly referred to the position AOC is seeking as the Chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee yesterday. One of you pointed out—thank you!—that she would not be the Chair, since Democrats will be in the minority, but rather the ranking Democratic member. I’ve put the corrected script in the “Call Your House Member” section below. Thanks again to the reader who caught my error!

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

[If Democrat]

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

I’m calling to ask Senate Democrats to work harder and faster, not just to confirm more good judges, but also to confirm National Labor Relations Board nominee Lauren McFerran—so we can lock in a pro-worker NLRB majority through 2026— and appoint strong regulators to the SEC and FDIC and renominate Lina Khan to the FTC. We need as many of these people in place as we can get before Trump takes office. This is not the time to let up. Keep going! Thank you.

[If GOP]

This week we’ve heard a string of Republican lawmakers, like Representative Richard McCormick, Senator Mike Lee, and others talk about cutting Social Security, Medicare, and other vital government programs. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have alluded to it, too. Does the Senator support this? Will s/he vote for such cuts while also supporting Trump’s tax cuts for giant corporations and billionaires? Because let me tell you, voters will not tolerate it. Leave our programs alone, please, and stop handing tax giveaways to people and corporations who already don’t pay their fair share. We will vote you all out if these cuts happen. Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

[If Democrat:]

I just read that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has now formally launched her bid to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. I would like the Congressmember to support her in any way s/he can. She’s the right person for the job.

[If GOP:]

This week we’ve heard a string of Republican lawmakers, like Representative Richard McCormick, Senator Mike Lee, and others talk about cutting Social Security, Medicare, and other vital government programs. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have alluded to it, too. Does the Congressmember support this? Will s/he vote for such cuts while also supporting Trump’s tax cuts for giant corporations and billionaires? Because let me tell you, voters will not tolerate it. Leave our programs alone, please, and stop handing tax giveaways to people and corporations who already don’t pay their fair share. We will vote you all out if these cuts happen. Thanks.

Get Smart! 📚

Join Sister District on December 12, as they begin planning for the battle ahead at their Fight for Our Future: It Starts with States mobilization call. 

With a second Trump administration looming, we need a powerful line of defense in our state legislatures to safeguard elections, advance voting rights, protect abortion access, and more. Sister District will tell us how we get there.

JOIN THEM FOR THEIR DECEMBER MOBILIZATION CALL!

Spread the Word! 📣

Interested in working on messaging to stop RFK Jr’s nomination? The next Stop RFK War Room meeting will be on Monday (12/9) at 10:00am ET. Data For Progress will join the meeting to go over some recent findings on voter attitudes toward RFK Jr. and his nomination to lead the Department of Health & Human Services.

Please register for the meeting here: Stop RFK Jr. War Room Call: December 9

Give 💰!

Please join Movement Voter Project on Tuesday, December 10 for a briefing on where we go from here. If you’re new to this newsletter you should know about Movement Voter Project; they are one of my top three recommendations for where to give money ALWAYS. I love them.

MOVEMENT VOTER PAC BRIEFING—Some Bright Ideas for 2025
An Early Peek at MVP’s Emerging Strategy

Tuesday, December 10
3pm ET • 2pm CT • 1pm MT • Noon PT

RSVP

Chop Wood, Save the Planet 🔥

Interested in polling? Care about climate? You're invited to join the Environmental Polling Consortium’s last quarterly community poll briefing of the year, which is taking place on Wednesday, December 11 at 1PM - 2:30 PM ET.

This briefing is open to the public and will feature important lessons and takeaways for environmental advocates from post-election polling, including presentations on:

• Climate change and energy as issues in the 2024 election, based on exit-style polls and post-election surveys;

• Voters' priorities for the EPA under Trump, courtesy of the Environmental Protection Network and Seven Letter Insight;

• Voters' attitudes about solar energy and rooftop solar adoption, courtesy of Data for Progress; and

• Attitudes about clean energy and the economy, including electric vehicles, IRA incentives, and green banking, courtesy of Northwind Climate

They will record this session so if you are unable to attend, please register to ensure you receive a follow-up email with the recording and resources shared during the session. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Register

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

[To: all three reps] [H/T] [Text SIGN PIGGWI to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages or MESSENGER]

The tragic and horrific shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as well as the public’s mostly gleeful reaction to it, contain a sobering lesson. Americans have had it with the injustice and cruelty of our current healthcare system. Their rage has hit a boiling point. I abhor violence; it is never, ever justified. But it is clear that something has to change.

The author Joyce Carol Oates wrote yesterday that the outpouring of negativity “is better described as cries from the heart of a deeply wounded & betrayed country; hundreds of thousands of Americans shamelessly exploited by health-care insurers reacting to a single act of violence against just one of their multimillionaire executives.”

She’s not wrong. Americans are really, really hurting. We’re angry. We’re fed up.

The solution to this terrible situation, in which millions of U.S. citizens are being saddled with staggering amounts of debt, going bankrupt, or even dying because of our utterly broken healthcare system, is some form of single-payer healthcare. There is no other way.

Will it be easy? No. Will it be perfect? Definitely not. But can we afford to keep going down the deadly road of healthcare-for-profit? I think it’s clear we can’t.

Please co-sponsor and support S. 1655 / H.R. 3421 The Medicare For All Act. The time for change has come. We can do this if Congress has the will. It must. Because we, the people, surely do. Thank you.

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

Talk soon.

Jess