Chop Wood, Carry Water 8/17 🪓

Aug 17, 2023

Hi, all, and happy Thursday!

I’m in a meeting, so in the interests of getting this newsletter out in a timely fashion I’m going to keep this intro brief.

In fact, I’m simply going to leave you with my favorite Rebecca Solnit quote; it’s from her extraordinary book Hope in the Dark. Solnit always, always says it best:

Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures and the grinding down of the poor and marginal...
To hope is to give yourself to the future - and that commitment to the future is what makes the present inhabitable.

I couldn’t have said it better. So let’s “give ourselves to the future” one more time with our simple actions today, y’all.

Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲

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

I’m calling because I’m extremely concerned about the threats of violence we’re seeing against politicians, members of the judiciary, and grand jury members in Georgia. What is the Senator doing to address this increase in political violence and violent rhetoric? Has s/he made a statement denouncing it? Does s/he have any legislation pending to address it? We can’t do nothing. Attacks on public servants are intolerable in a democracy and must be addressed. Thanks.

Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲

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

Spread the Word! 📣

Below is Anat Shenker-Osorio’s suggested messaging on the Trump indictments. Anat is a Principal at ASO Communications and the host of the Words to Win By podcast.

Americans value our freedoms – our freedom to elect leaders who respect our will, protect our interests and govern in our name. Now, multiple grand juries of everyday Americans across races, backgrounds, and parties have indicted the former MAGA President many times over for his criminal conspiracy to overthrow the will of the people, from inciting supporters to deadly violence on January 6th to asking government officials in Georgia to falsify votes. Yet the MAGA Republicans in office today who supported, schemed and covered up for him want to overturn our legal system to allow him to evade consequences, while they carry on this criminal conspiracy and seize power unchecked.
From the House of Representatives to the Supreme Court to state legislatures, they want to take away our freedoms and rule for the wealthy few. We must come together and demand that anyone who aided, abetted or excused the MAGA criminal conspiracy be held accountable so we can make this a place where our leaders honor their oaths, protecting our country and our freedoms.

Get Smart! 📚

Markers For Democracy has two great speakers tomorrow (Friday) that I think many of you will want to hear.

At 10 am ET, they are hosting Ken Grossinger, the author of ART WORKS: How Organizers and Artists are Creating a Better World Together, published by the New Press in July 2023. In Art Works, Ken distills lessons and insights from grassroots leaders and luminaries such as Ai Weiwei, Courtland Cox, Jackson Browne, Shepard Fairey, Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Alexander, Bill McKibben, JR, Jose Antonio Vargas, and more. Drawing from historical and present-day examples—including Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock, the Hip Hop Caucus, the Legacy Museum, and the Art for Justice Fund—Grossinger offers a rich tapestry of tactics and successes that speak directly to the challenges and needs of today’s activists and of these political times. Register here.
At 11AM they are hosting Zev Shapiro. Zev is a Harvard senior and founder of TurnUp, a non-profit that has become the nation's largest youth-led voter registration and turnout initiative. Over the last two election cycles, TurnUp recruited and trained more than 4,000 youth organizers and 20,000+ young volunteers. They helped register more than 200,000 community college and high school students, sent more than 11 million texts to young voters, and had over 60 million impressions of their ads about how to register or vote. Join MFD to hear from Zev about how TurnUp got started and their plans for 2023, 2024, and beyond. Register here.

Chop Wood, Save the Planet🔥

Clean water is on the line in Suffolk County, NY! Please help!

New York state recently gave the Suffolk County legislature approval to hold a fall referendum that would allow residents to vote for clean water, sewer expansion, and beach protection funding. Yay! But the Republican-controlled county legislature is blocking it. Boo! Republicans are afraid of Democrats turning out to vote for this measure. Polling shows citizens support it to remediate and protect their water quality.

The Suffolk County Democrats, environmentalists, labor, professors, local press, and businesses are fighting back. And you can help too! How?

Markers for Democracy's postcard program, Postcards For Democracy, has postcard programs supporting 5 Democrats running for Suffolk County Legislature this November. Sign up here.

Are you a phone banker? The Environmental Voter Project will be phone banking into Suffolk County. People can register here.

Win Races 🗳️

If you’re interested in learning more about writing postcards for VA I encourage you to attend tomorrow’s Network Nova Zoom hour from 12-1PM ET. Much of it will be devoted to hearing from the leaders of various postcarding campaigns!

To quote from the invitation:

We are launching with a conversation on Virginia’s favorite activity, writing postcards. Robbin Warner (co-founder, Postcards4VA) will present the many postcard writing campaigns active right now for supporting local, Delegate and Senate candidates. Andrea Miller (president, National Women’s Political Caucus of Virginia (NWPC-VA)) will talk about their partnership with Postcards4VA writing postcards to women voters about women candidates. Susan Labandibar (co-Leader, Swing Blue Alliance) will announce a major postcard study being conducted in Virginia to measure whether postcards increase rural voter participation and help rural candidates get more votes.

Anyone wanting to write should be able to find a campaign that suits them. Sounds fun!

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

[to all 3 reps] [H/T] [Quick send: text SIGN PXTNFC to 50409]

I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor HR 4889 / S. 2488 the Raise the Wage Act of 2023, Senator Sanders' and Congressman Bobby Scott’s bill to increase the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour. In this country, a job should lift a person out of poverty, not trap them in it. But the $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage we currently have is a starvation wage. It’s obscene.

American workers are among the most productive in the world. Yet, in industry after industry, the share of revenues going to wages has dropped, while the share going to profits and stock buybacks has soared. In fact, if the minimum wage had increased with productivity over the last 50 years, it would be $23 an hour today. If it had increased at the same rate that Wall Street employee bonuses have increased, it would be more than $42 an hour.

During rising income inequality and skyrocketing corporate profits, raising the minimum wage to a living wage is not a radical idea. It will be good for the economy and lift people out of poverty.

Americans understand that workers need a living wage. Congress needs to represent them and pass a livable wage! Thanks.

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

Talk soon.

Jess

Chop Wood, Carry Water