Chop Wood, Carry Water 7/25

Hope is an action.

Hi, all, and happy Monday!

I missed you. 💙

I’m still traveling—I will be for the next 3 weeks—but I am going to do my damndest to get a newsletter out to you (nearly) every weekday during that time. I’ll be driving up the coast of Maine for three days this week, so I may have to send truncated versions on some of those days, but you’ll get something, I promise.

There’s simply too much going on to do nothing.

I hope you are all finding ways to stay nourished and soothed during this utterly gobsmacking time. For me, action is the medicine that heals, so I’m going to take a few actions today just like I’d take a pill.

I hope you’ll join me. It’s just what the doctor ordered, I promise.

Call Your Senators (find yours here)

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

I understand that Senators Collins and Manchin just unveiled a set of bipartisan bills meant to protect our elections. The first, the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, modifies and updates the Electoral Count Act and raises the threshold for the number of members of Congress required to object during the Electoral College count. The second bill, the Enhanced Election Security and Protection Act, would increase the penalties for threatening or intimidating election officials. I strongly support them and expect the Senator to co-sponsor both bills.

[If GOP add:] Also, I want the Senator to vote yes on the Respect For Marriage Act and The Right to Contraception Act when they come up for a vote. Will they?

Call Your House Rep (find yours here)

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

It’s time for billionaires to start paying their fair share in taxes, and that means paying taxes each year, just like the rest of us. Whether through a Billionaires Income Tax or other means that tax the wealth gains and income of billionaires, Congress needs to make billionaires pay their fair share in taxes and limit their influence on our elections. This is a top issue for me. Thanks.

Extra Credit ✅

Let’s call Chuck Schumer, who is refusing to bring a Big Tech anti-trust act up for a vote — he’s essentially being bought off by Amazon, Apple, and other Big Tech companies. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act seeks to curb the market power of tech platforms like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google by making it illegal for them to privilege their own products on their platforms or unfairly limit availability of their competitors’ products. We NEED this bill.

Chuck Schumer’s office numbers: (212) 486-4430, (518) 431-4070 or (202) 224-6542

Say:

My name is _____ and I live in _____. I’m calling the Senator in his capacity as Senate Majority leader to ask him to bring S. 2992, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, up for a vote now. I’m disappointed to hear that he’s refusing to do so, despite bipartisan support for the bill, because Amazon, Apple and others are writing huge checks to the DCCC and DSCC. Democrats are supposed to be better than this. Bring it for a vote! Thanks.

Get Smart! 📚

Great news! If you didn’t make it to Focus For Democracy’s last event, or you attended and want to spread the word, they’re holding another one on Thursday, July 28th at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern.

Come hear what we can do now to begin to win key elections in State Legislatures, State Supreme Courts, and Secretaries of State, offices that are critical to setting policies like reproductive and voting rights that are being pushed down to the states and, critically, to protect our elections and the rule of law.

You’ll hear from Daniel Squadron of the States Project and Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s Secretary of State. (Both are utterly electrifying speakers.)

Click here to register and a Zoom link will be emailed to you.

Register Young Folks to VOTE!! 🗳

The Civics Center estimates that one million high school students will be eligible to register and vote in time for the midterms. Schools in several states, including Arizona and Nevada, start in August. They are coordinating volunteers across the country to reach out to these high schools to encourage them to get their students registered to vote this fall and to take advantage of their training sessions and resources to learn how to hold a high school voter registration drive.

They need your help. Join them on July 28 at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET for a virtual volunteer workshop to learn about how you can get involved in this campaign. They’ll go over the many ways you can support high school registration efforts through building relationships with students, educators, and community members. 

You can sign up for the workshop here. If you can’t make that date, (I recognize that it conflicts with the above webinar), you can find another volunteer workshop to attend here. 

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

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

I’m writing to ask the Senator to support S 443, the DISCLOSE Act.

This much-needed bill would fight dark money in politics, exposing the influence of billionaires and corporations in our system. 

Dark money is serving the interests of the rich and powerful at the expense of Black, brown, young, and new Americans. The unchecked power of special interests erodes our rights and damages democracy.

Voters deserve to know how money influences their elections. The DISCLOSE Act will tell us which billionaires and corporations are using dark money to unfairly influence our politics.

Americans don’t want billionaires buying influence and drowning out our voices. The DISCLOSE Act would shine a light on dark money and expose which billionaires and corporations are funding extremist politicians. 

Will the Senator co-sponsor the DISCLOSE Act now? I’d like an answer in writing. Thanks.

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

Talk tomorrow.

Jess