Chop Wood, Carry Water 5/31
Chop Wood, Carry Water 5/31
Hi, all, and happy Wednesday!
I’ll keep it short this morning, as my mother is in town and I’m about to go play hooky with her at the Huntington Gardens.
The week continues tumultuous; will Kevin McCarthy find the votes? Will he be removed as Speaker? Will he pull the bill? Will the Freedom Caucus demand last-minute changes Democrats will find unacceptable?
Much remains to be seen, and we cannot fully control the outcome. What we can do is use our voices to push our lawmakers in the direction that helps the most Americans.
That, we know how to do. Because we’ve been doing it for years now.
Remember: just as the flap of a butterfly’s wings on one side of the world can change the course of history on the other, so can our small actions make an impact impossible to measure or understand in places we can scarcely imagine. So let’s do the things we know to do, and then sit back and trust that what unfolds will be better because we used our voices.
In the end I feel sure that our side will get the better end of the deal. Why?
Because it has all the best people on it. Including you.
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I’m very upset that the “Fiscal Responsibility Act” exempts the Mountain Valley Pipeline from the law and judicial due process. Gutting core environmental protections, sacrificing impacted communities and forcing completion of the MVP must be rejected. Please get these provisions stripped out of the bill. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m very upset that the “Fiscal Responsibility Act” exempts the Mountain Valley Pipeline from the law and judicial due process. Gutting core environmental protections, sacrificing impacted communities and forcing completion of the MVP must be rejected. Please get these provisions stripped out of the bill. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
Send a letter to your representatives using Appalachian Voices’ tool. Tell them to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline and polluter giveaway! Please personalize if possible. Click here to send.
Get Smart! 📚
If you’re into history and politics (I am!) Big Tent has a fascinating-sounding event tonight from 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm EDT with historical experts Jonathan Alter and David Greenberg. (Sorry for the last minute invite again.)
Alter and Greenberg will provide a historical framework for our current political and cultural reality. They will define the events in modern history that led us to this moment. Evangeline Morphos will moderate the conversation.
Give 💰!
I’m obsessed with raising money for Run For Something right now, so I went and found this 2022 Blue Tent article that does a deep dive on why they’re such a good organization to support. Feel free to read it, share it with folks you know who have deep pockets, and set up a recurring donation for Run For Something if you can!
Win Races! 🗳
Join the Northeast Arizona Native Organizing campaign on Thursdays from 5-7 MT for their virtual phone bank to reach out to Navajo, Hopi, and Apache voters to update them on how they can help get their family and community registered. You will also explore other hot topics such as the new voting districts.
They'll begin each week in their Zoom meeting, review the week's script, and then make calls for two hours. You can stay on the Zoom if you'd like help (or company), or you can hop off to make calls on your own.
Why are these calls so important? We have no off years on NEAZ sovereign lands! Help recruit Matriarchs for their Family Votes program- and make sure they have all the information they need to register their families for mail-in voting (AEVL). The work you do now to empower Native voters will last beyond the next election. We are building a political power base for Native communities.
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[to President Biden] [H/T] Quick send: text SIGN PLVZSR to 50409 or share here]
I’m writing to urge the President to reject all further Republican ransom demands as McCarthy attempts to whip votes for the “Fiscal Responsibility Act.” I wish President Biden hadn’t negotiated with him in the first place. The GOP are economic terrorists holding our economy hostage for right-wing political goals they cannot win through the democratic legislative process. If they demand yet more concessions in today’s last-minute negotiations, do not give up anything more! Instead, nullify their threat by rejecting the debt ceiling law on grounds of the 14th Amendment, or by circumventing it by minting platinum coins and depositing them in the federal reserve.
You’ve given away much already. Some would argue too much. Do not give them one concession more. Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
As we wait for tonight's vote, and hope to celebrate one of the biggest political victories of this amazing Biden-Harris Administration, I wanted to pass on part of Bernie Sander's response to a letter I wrote him (prompted by Jess's CW/CW) regarding the expulsion of the two Tennessee State Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Peters:
Let me be clear: civil protests are part of the long history of Americans engaging in acts intended to highlight injustices. Civil disobedience and peaceful protests—such as demonstrations in support of women's suffrage and marriage equality, sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, or marches to oppose war—were acts intended to draw attention and affect social change. I myself demonstrated against the Vietnam War, was arrested as a young student protesting segregated housing at the University of Chicago, and spoke out strongly against the Iraq War as a Member of Congress. I support the free speech rights of every American to peacefully protest or speak out against policies or action they disagree with.
Protecting our fundamental rights is critical for the future of our country. At a time when demagogues want to divide us up based on the color of our skin, where we were born, our religion, or our sexual orientation, we must do exactly the opposite. We must bring people together around a progressive agenda. We must educate, organize, and build an unstoppable grassroots movement that helps create the kind of nation we know we can become.
Off topic for today's pile of wood and puddle of water, but inspired by previous conversations in this space and its affiliates, I sent an email to my house representative Jamaal Bowman regarding young person voter pre-registration in New York. Here is what I sent. At the end I have also included a snippet from his monthly newsletter (received by email today) that motivated my message.
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In a newsletter from the Congressman received today, I noticed with great pleasure his engagement with schools and young people in NY-16, especially New Rochelle HS which is in my neighborhood. The Youth Leadership Conference on June 3rd sounds AMAZING, especially your intention to "listen and learn from our youth and include your voice in the legislative process.”
I wonder if the Congressman is aware that New York is among a fairly small number of states that provide for voter pre-registration for high school-age young people starting at age 16. Studies indicate that pre-registration correlates very closely with actually voting when young people reach the age of majority. Unfortunately, despite the availability of pre-registration, the percentage of young people who pre-register is extremely low, especially in the five boroughs of New York City and in Westchester County. The rates are especially low when compared to the rate of pre-registration in rural districts of New York.
It seems to me that there is a tremendous opportunity to improve citizen engagement of the young people of New York if we can build programs and partnerships with high schools in the region.
Are you aware of any programs in NY-16 that are currently working on this? If so, I would like to get involved. If not, I would like to help get something started.
It would please me greatly if someone on your staff could reply to this suggestion, which may fall a bit outside of the usual request.
Here is the text that prompted my email.
"Calling all young people! Come to my Youth Leadership Conference on June 3rd from 9AM-5PM at New Rochelle High School. I want to listen and learn from our youth and include your voice in the legislative process. We’ll be having design challenges for students on topics like climate change, gun violence, mental health, queer studies, and more. We want to create a space where youth feel empowered, heard and seen, and bring this model to areas across NY-16, Westchester, New York, and nationwide. Students should come ready to tell us about issues affecting them and help us work on solutions to bring back to Congress. Join us by registering at bit.ly/NY16Youth.