Chop Wood, Carry Water 3/24

Alter the future.

Yesterday I watched a recording of Together We Elect’s monthly meeting—I wanted to hear Miles Rappaport speak about schisms in the GOP and how they might affect the next two elections. (Fascinating, by the way—and hopeful! Highly recommend.)

Rappaport closed his talk by noting how critical grassroots activism would be to our eventual victory. “If we win, it’ll be because of people like you,” he stated.

Some of the group’s members then made brief pitches to encourage such activism.

One said:

“People always talk about how, if they found out they could travel to the past, they’d be afraid to, because they’d be scared that one tiny action of theirs would alter the course of history. But they never seem to reverse that. I think we should. If one tiny action in the past can change history dramatically, think how much one small action NOW can change the future!”

She went on to say that this was why she phonebanked. “Just a couple of phone calls, a couple of voters, a couple of volunteers can change the course of history. You can. I can. You never know what tiny gain will alter everything.”

Later I had the chance to put this advice to the test, as I’d signed up for a Sunrise phonebank for Jessica Cisneros.

There were 21 of us there; we were using an automatic dialer, so calls went fast. In about an hour and a half I spoke to at least twenty voters. Only a few of them knew about the runoff. But by the end of our conversations almost all said they would vote, and vote for Jessica. One woman even said she had a daughter who’d just turned 18, and they were going to go out and get her registered so she could vote in May!

In all I got Cisneros—conservatively speaking—about 15 votes.

Others on the phonebank were having similar luck. The zoom chat was truly inspiring, as volunteer after volunteer wrote “got another one!!” or “+++” (meaning they were able to not just get a vote, but get that person to ask three friends to vote. This is called vote tripling.)

I did some simple math and figured that if each of us got Cisneros even half the number of votes that I did, we got her 147 votes in under two hours.

Jessica was 700 votes behind Cuellar in March.

These phonebanks are happening twice a week until May 24th.

See what I’m getting at?

As we move closer to the midterms I want to remind every single one of you: your small actions make a difference. Your calls, your volunteer hours. We must think of them not just in terms of the small gains we’ll make individually, but in terms of the totality of the gains we will make together.

Even the tiniest action can—and often does—change the course of history.

So let’s alter the future for the better one more time.

Call Your Senators (find yours here)

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

First, I’m disappointed that the Hyde amendment was included in the budget that Congress just passed. This amendment, which makes abortion access harder for low income Americans, needs to be abolished. I want the Senator to support S 1021, the EACH Act, which would do just that. I support expanded abortion access and will only vote for legislators who do, as well.

Also, I support Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson and want her to be confirmed right away.

[If GOP add:] I want the Senator to support her confirmation and ask other Republican Senators to stop harassing and insulting her. It’s shameful. Thanks.

(I’m told Murkowski, Tillis, Romney and Collins are all possible GOP aye votes. Please put particulars pressure on them.)

Call Your House Rep (find yours here)

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

I’m calling to say I want the Congressmember to fight to pass H.R. 675, The COVID-19 Price Gouging Prevention Act, which would help the Federal Trade Commission and State Attorneys General protect people across the country from pandemic profiteering. 

I also want them to immediately co-sponsor H.R. 7099, the Stop Gas Price Gouging Tax and Rebate Act. Americans are hurting. Congress needs to send help right away. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

On April 26th, the shareholders of Citibank, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America will vote on a resolution that asks one key question: should these banks do what is required to curtail catastrophic climate change and end funding for the expansion of the fossil fuel industry?

Just three companies ― BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street ― will have a huge influence on how these vital shareholder resolutions fare. With over $21 trillion under management, these three investment giants alone own 17.29% of Citi, 17.04% of Wells Fargo, and 14.93% of Bank of America.

If they vote the right way at Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America’s shareholder meetings, it will make a huge difference.

So let’s send them a calendar invite and ask them to do so. It’s EASY!

1. Open your calendar app and create a one-hour event on April 26th in the AM.

2. Call it “Bank of America, Citi, Wells Fargo: Vote for Climate Justice! 🚨”

3. Go to the “add invitees” field and paste in these email addresses: laurence.fink@blackrock.com, sandra.boss@blackrock.com, mortimer_buckley@vanguard.com, john_galloway@vanguard.com, rohanley@statestreet.com, info@stopthemoneypipeline.com

4. Hit “send invitation.”

You did it. Ideally they’ll be getting thousands of invites like this in their calendar inboxes. Good! Let’s pester them into doing the right thing. [H/T]

Get Smart! 📚

Seniors Taking Action is a fun and friendly seniors postcard writing group with members in New York and across the country. They also get fantastic speakers, and this week they’ve got Senator Cory Booker coming! They’ve asked me to extend an invitation to all of you to come hear him speak. It’s not a huge group, so this will be a great opportunity to interact with him in an intimate setting.

To quote STA:

Join STA for a virtual meeting with NJ Sen. Cory Booker who, at the Judge Jackson confirmation hearings on Wednesday, exclaimed, "I'm not letting anybody in the Senate steal my joy."

It’s at 11:00 AM ET on Friday, March 25. Here’s the Zoom link.

Win Races! 🗳

Friendly reminder: Just 11,000 votes decided the 2020 elections in Georgia – then, in 2021, the legislature passed a Jim Crow 2.0 voter suppression law. Voters going to the polls in Georgia this coming May and November may not know about the new restrictions.

There is a virtual phone bank TODAY to reach GA voters targeted by voter suppression and help them understand how to vote in the upcoming primaries. This is SO IMPORTANT!

It’s at 6:30 PM EDT. Yes, they will train you. Can you attend?

Sign up here.

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

[to your Senators] [H/T] [Quick send: text SIGN PYIVST to 50409]

I urge you to vote YES on Lisa Cook's nomination along with the rest of Biden's nominees – Philip Jefferson and Lael Brainard – to serve on the Federal Reserve Board.

Lisa Cook is extremely qualified and brings much-needed expertise to the Fed. It’s why The Washington Post, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and dozens of academic leaders have all supported her nomination.

Ms. Cook would be the first Black woman to serve as a Fed governor in the central bank’s 108-year history. She has spent years studying developing economies, many of which struggled with high inflation.

She is a director of the Chicago Fed and has been a regular contributor in recent years to the prestigious Jackson Hole gathering of central bankers and top economic thinkers. She is a professor at Michigan State University.

The Federal Reserve Board will benefit from her many decades of experience and the Senate needs to confirm her now.

Our financial system will be better off with Lisa Cook and these nominees on the Federal Reserve Board. Please support all three of their nominations to secure a fully functioning Fed. Thank you for your time.

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

Talk tomorrow.

Jess