Chop Wood, Carry Water 3/20
You are the rock.
Hi, all, and happy Wednesday!
It was great seeing some of you at my workshop yesterday. It’s always so fun to talk about strategic political giving, and I’m constantly impressed by the great comments and questions I get after the presentation. If you weren’t able to be there remember there’s a Zoom recording of the original “Smart Giving” workshop here; the accompanying document with some of my top giving recommendations is here. And if you’d like me to come give that workshop or my full Activism 101 webinar (which contains a smart giving section) to one of your groups, email me!
Anyway. Is it me or is there hope in the air? Not a ton, perhaps, but a smattering. The fact that DT is consistently losing 20% of the Republican electorate in primaries gives me hope. The fact that he’s hemorrhaging money and unable to raise funds gives me hope. The fact that Nikki Haley’s donors are planning to help fundraise for Joe Biden gives me hope. President Biden’s crack social media team (whom we should all be following) gives me hope. The burgeoning awareness of Project 25 gives me hope.
Am I grasping at straws? Perhaps. But what gives me the most hope of all is you. You’re the solid rock upon which our progress is built and I know you’re not going anywhere.
The news, then, could start to curdle again tomorrow, and I’d still have all the faith I need. Because I have you. I know you’ll do the work on good days and bad, and that we will chop wood and carry water until the job is done, come what may.
That, my friends, is why we’ll win.
Now let’s get to it one more time!
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m calling to urge the Senator to cosponsor S. 3612, the Access to Family Building Act, and demand it receive a vote. We need federal protection for the right to access IVF and other services that help people start or grow a family. This bill would do that and protect families and doctors from criminalization. Will the Senator sign onto it?
Also, has the Senator made a statement denouncing Donald Trump’s increasingly dangerous rhetoric? I’m worried about political violence and it alarms me that more lawmakers aren’t calling him out for the way he’s speaking. We can’t allow this to become normal. Please ask the Senator to vocally denounce his “bloodbath” remarks and ask that he halt such speech immediately. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m calling because I know there is a discharge petition for HR 815, the National Security Supplemental Appropriation, circulating in the House, and I’d like to ask the Congressmember to sign on. While there are aspects of the bill I oppose, the aid to Ukraine is so important that I hope the Congressmember will support it. There is also aid to Gaza in it that is desperately needed now. Please vote yes. (This is a list of which Dems haven’t signed the discharge petition for the Senate Aid Bill. I’m told no Republicans will sign until Dems get over 200 names on it.)
Also, has the Congressmember made a statement denouncing Donald Trump’s increasingly dangerous rhetoric? I’m worried about political violence and it alarms me that more lawmakers aren’t calling him out for the way he’s speaking. We can’t allow this to become normal. Please ask the Congressmember to vocally denounce Trump’s bloodbath-like remarks and ask that he halt such speech immediately. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
has a call to action in today’s newsletter that’s easy and really important. Please read, and, if you have a Democratic Senator, make the call! (By the way, the last name of the justice in question is pronounced man-GEE, at least according to Corey Booker.) 
Get Smart! 📚
This Framelab piece about how and why we should “claim the freedom frame” is really important reading. Its messaging guidance will help us win! Please check it out!
Give 💰!
From subscriber Cheryl:
I posted over the weekend about a postcard campaign for Dem Marilyn Lands who is running in a special election for an AL statehouse race next Tuesday. The postcards were finished yesterday, but I got an emergency appeal for a donation so that she can run an ad about reproductive rights - they are about $2500 short of their goal and time is running out!
I think it would be sweet justice to elect a pro-choice Dem in AL just after that ridiculous ruling by the AL judge that killed IVF!
Can we please help Marilyn make this goal? Give here.
Win Races! 🗳
From subscriber Alyssa H.:
The Biden Harris campaign has launched a three part training series for volunteers. I attended the first one about storytelling last week and it was really powerful. It focused on compassionate listening and the power of storytelling, which I think is helpful for anyone connecting with voters for Biden or any candidate. They have the three part series for each battleground state so there's lots of opportunities to sign up: joebiden.com/training.
Chop Wood, Save the Planet 🔥
From Stop the Money Pipeline:
Are you interested in joining or starting a pension divestment campaign? Join the Climate Safe Pensions Network by emailing Cassie at Stand.earth (cassie.cain@stand.earth). We meet bi-weekly on Tuesdays at 11PST/2EST and everyone is always welcome to join us. It's a great community of people who work on pension divestment and we are always looking for people to join us on these exciting campaigns.
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: your two Senators and one House rep] [H/T] [Text SIGN PBVLCW to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]
Of all the responses to the economic upheavals of the pandemic, price gouging has got to be one of the most egregious. This is when prices go up, or continue to stay high, not due to market pressures or other economic factors, but only because the seller, renter, or provider wants to increase their already excessive profits.
Some CEOs have even bragged to their shareholders about how much their profit-making pricing strategies exceed their inflationary increases in production costs.
To fight back against what they call “greedflation,” Senator Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jan Schakowsky have reintroduced their Price Gouging Prevention Act (S. 3803 / H.R. 7390 and are now seeking co-sponsors for the bills.
As your constituent, I would like to urge you to co-sponsor and pass this bill. It has several important features: It will prohibit price gouging on a nationwide basis; it will take aim at companies that have taken advantage of the pandemic to jack up prices unnecessarily and keep them up; it will focus on companies whose executives brag to shareholders about increasing prices faster than inflationary costs; it will require public disclosure of companies’ costs and pricing strategies, and it will increase the FTC’s funding to enforce these conditions.
Thank you for considering co-sponsoring the Price Gouging Prevention Act.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
I think you’ll like our local success stories, Jessica. A woman I met recently wants to “do something” but didn’t know where to start, so I forwarded a copy of your newsletter to her. Wow! She’s so fired up now! We’re going to have a gathering where we tell people which org’s to work with, what newsletters to read, etc, and have people write postcards. She started a book club where we’ll begin with Anand Giridharadas’s “The Persuaders”. She’s offering her family’s place of business for a weekly postcard writing evening. All because of YOU!
Another woman in the group has become a friend, and we’re starting #screamforsanity next week—which is just what it sounds like. Check us out on IG!
And….while petitioning this week, I ask women “what’s your big issue?” Each and every one says the same thing: abortion. And boy are they mad.
So I’m feeling more hopeful than I have in months.
Thanks! Jessica for the mention of Marilyn Land's campaign.
I called both my GOP senators - I got voicemail for the more reasonable one (Tillis) and one of his staff for the Trumpier one (Budd) who has naturaly NOT denounced Trump. But I stayed polite...
Fortunately my Dem House Rep has already signed on to the discharge petition, but I gave his office a call anyway to say thank you, since I had previously called to ask him to sign it!