Chop Wood, Carry water 8/19
Hi, all, and happy Friday!
Sorry this is getting out so late—so much to do these days!
Hope you’re all staying busy and healthy. I also hope you’re taking every moment you can to amplify the amazing legislation the Democrats just passed. I did my part by making a two-minute TikTok summarizing the amazing provisions in the bill—feel free to share. (It’s on IG, too, here. And twitter here.)
Or make you own post! Or talk about the bill at work. Or share its strengths with your walking buddy. Whatever your platform is, please use it to spread the good word!
It’ll be fun, because people are already excited! They’re loving all the great news. There’s great polling news (see the above thread), great registration numbers, great approval rating news, great successes everywhere we look.
The Republicans, meanwhile, are *really* in disarray. It’s bad.
But let’s not let any of this make us complacent. We still have a lot of work to do to ensure not just wins in November, but an absolute rout.
Carthage must be destroyed.
And we must keep pushing our lawmakers, hard.
In other words, no rest for the weary quite yet. But remember, a functioning democracy, equality and justice for all, a livable planet…these are goals very much worth working for.
So let’s do that again one more time.
Call Your Senators (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
Hi, I’m calling to see if the Senator is yet a co-sponsor on the DISCLOSE Act (S.443)? It’s a great bill that would stop anonymous spending in our elections by requiring entities trying to influence our elections to disclose their major political donors. It would also increase transparency on political advertisements by requiring disclosure of major donors who underwrite advertisements supporting or attacking judicial nominees. The use of dark money to influence our elections has gotten out of control and our democracy is suffering. Please support this bill! Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here)
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I’m calling to ask the Congressmember to support and push to pass HR 4277, the Overdraft Protection Act of 2021. This bill would ban deceptive tactics, limit fees, set up consumer protections and stop Wall Street banks from reaping enormous profits at the expense of the most economically vulnerable. [H/T]
Extra Credit ✅
Another student debt letter, this time courtesy of reader Joan F. This one takes a slightly stronger and more thorough approach. Please send it through President Biden’s web form or via Resistbot (text SIGN PZHKIP to 50409)!
I'm in favor of cancelling all student debt—clean slate!—and then dropping the interest rate to zero going forward for new loans. Cancelling the first $50K would be much better than not doing anything. But I'm concerned about all the people who owe much more than they ever borrowed after years of payments because both college costs and loan rates and conditions have been so predatory.
Here’s an alternative suggestion if canceling all student debt is impossible: Forgive as much student debt as you can. Make the interest rate on existing student loans zero, and make that retroactive. So the amount still owed will be the principal borrowed minus payments made, minus the amount forgiven.Give people 6 months to arrange a realistic plan to pay off remaining debt, with NO interest charged. Everyone wins! Thanks.
Get Smart! 📚
Y’all, this event is going to be great. I just met with Aaron Frank from FFD yesterday and now I’m super psyched for this webinar. I’ll be there! Join me!
With election season officially upon us, you are likely flooded with political fundraising requests and may be unsure of how to prioritize your giving. Focus For Democracy hopes to make your decision-making easier and enable you to make a larger impact by sharing their research on the most effective, cost-efficient places to invest your election dollars.
Join them on Wednesday, August 24th at 5pm PT/8pm ET for an event supporting one of their TOP recommendations for this cycle: Working America. (This is a great group!)
At this event, you will learn how, with your support, Working America can produce thousands of democratic votes in key battleground states. Working America’s Executive Director Matt Morrison will be joining.
To register, click here or below and a Zoom link will be emailed to you.
Write Voters! 💌
Y’all, Vote Forward has just added campaigns for several new congressional districts and states across the country. They need a LOT more writers!
Starting today, you can write to voters in:
CA-09, FL statewide, FL-02, IN-01, KS-03, MD-06, NY-01, NY-17, NY-18, NY-19, NY-22, RI-02, and TX-34.
Go here to adopt 5 or more voters from one of these new districts! Oh, and if you’ve never written for Vote Forward before here’s a quick YouTube video that explains exactly how it works—it’s EASY! And effective!
Call Voters (With ME)! 🗳
All, I’ve got my Sister District Phonebank tomorrow and I sure hope some of you will join me! We’re calling for AZ State Senate candidate Mitzi Epstein. It’s easy and I’ll train you.
Remember, we are TWO statehouse seats away from flipping the Arizona legislature. Imagine what achieving such a thing will mean for abortion rights in the state, as well as for LGBTQ kids, voting rights and more.
Please come. Every Saturday including tomorrow, 10 AM -12 PM PT / 1 PM - 3 PM ET. Register here.
Resistbot Text (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.)
[to President Biden] [H/T and petition] [Quick send: text SIGN PRMQMS to 50409]
With two more vacancies slated to open on the Postal Board this coming December, I’m writing to ask you to appoint Governors who will stand up to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s destructive leadership and advocate strongly for the expansion of USPS services.
Only the USPS Board of Governors can fire Louis DeJoy, and that’s exactly what they should do after DeJoy’s numerous failings, conflicts of interest and destructive leadership. At the very least, it’s imperative we have a strong, diverse, and reform-oriented Board of Governors in place to hold the Postmaster General accountable to the true mission and public service goals of the USPS.
Now is not the time for more corporate nominees who are focused only on small-scale tweaks, service cuts or price hikes -- now is the time for a visionary Board that will invest in building the Postal Service of the future. America needs nominees who understand that the USPS could serve an expanded essential role nationwide by providing affordable financial services to low income communities and families as well as other products and services authorized by Congress in the PSRA .
The current board is also majority white and nearly entirely male. The president’s nominees should provide a diversity of life experience to more accurately represent both the postal workforce and the nation overall -- and not just another rich white man like Louis DeJoy. Please save the USPS and appoint qualified, diverse Board Members who will support firing Louis DeJoy! Thanks.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk tomorrow.
Jess
Thank you for your guidance. This is an amazing activist tool. I was waiting at the doctors office and used the time to send letters to my Senators,Congressman and President Biden. Amazing!
awesome again !!