Stop Problems Before They Get Out of Hand
That is, we now have written proof of an attempt to destroy our democracy and replace it with an autocracy.
This was not some crazy plot of some obscure dude in a shack in the mountains; this was a plan of the president of the United States of America, and it came perilously close to succeeding. The president of the United States tried to overturn the results of an election—the centerpiece of our democracy—and install himself into power illegitimately.
If this is not a hair-on-fire, screaming emergency, what is?
– Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American, Sept. 24, 2021
It’s best to stop really big problems before they get out of hand. Indivisible started – from behind – because we didn’t stop Donald Trump from “winning” in 2016. Trying to stop him later took its toll on us all. Trump doing absolutely nothing to stop COVID at the beginning cost at least half a million unnecessary deaths. And not changing the California recall provision just cost activists months of hard work and the state nearly $300 million. In every case, the effort to nip it in the bud would have been relatively tiny. The costs in ignoring the problem? Staggering.
We face two problems right now that have the potential to overwhelm us. Permanently. We have to nip them in the bud. And it’s going to take all of us.
OUR DEMOCRACY IS BEING DISMANTLED
Republicans are cementing their power in the states to support a future coup like the one Eastman described. Using “audits” of the 2020 elections, notably in Arizona but now also in Pennsylvania and Texas, Trump loyalists have convinced their supporters to distrust elections, softening the ground to overturn them in the future.
– Heather Cox Richardson, Sept. 24
Republicans across the country are rigging the system: changing laws so that voters can be blocked from voting and from having their votes counted if they do. They’re giving themselves the right to overturn results they don’t like. This is modern autocracy: a system that looks on the outside like democracy but in fact has been completely corrupted within and which locks in dictatorial power for one party. In every country where this has happened – yes, including Nazi Germany – people should have acted sooner to stop it.
We are running out of time.
We have the legislation – the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act – to thwart the attack but both bills are sitting in the Senate. Neither Chuck Schumer nor Joe Biden is making enough effort to get the bills passed and the filibuster stands in the way. Biden and Schumer must push recalcitrant senators NOW to pass both bills. And we need to push them to do it. Before it’s too late.
Please call President Biden, who has finally agreed to pressure Democratic senators to get the job done, and say:
Mr. President, we can’t “out-organize” voter suppression – not when the results of elections can be overturned on false pretexts. We must have legislation and we need your help to get the job done.
Please make getting the Freedom to Vote Act your top priority and do everything in your considerable power to unite Senate Democrats to pass the bill by any means possible, including by abolishing, reforming, or providing an exception to the Senate filibuster.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN
(The White House phone number is 202-456-1111, Tues - Thurs, 11-3 EDT.)
At all other times, write to the President: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
(or better yet, use: resistbot.io)
And please call your Senators, who need to keep the pressure on their colleagues to get the job done quickly, and say:
If we lose our democracy, we will lose everything. Please push for the immediate passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and be willing to modify, reform, or abolish the filibuster to get the job done. There is no time to lose! Please get the job done!!
SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN
DC phone: (202) 224-3841
SF phone: (415) 393-0707
SENATOR ALEX PADILLA
DC phone: (202) 224-3553
SF phone: (415) 981–9369
THE CLIMATE CRISIS ISN’T WAITING FOR US
We’re facing what may our last, best chance to begin to attack the climate crisis. Again, we have the means: the big reconciliation bill that’s working its way through Congress contains strong, effective climate measures such as the Clean Electricity Payment Program and Clean Energy Tax Credits. And it does so much more, with programs to address the cost and quality of healthcare, the care economy, immigration and a pathway to citizenship, affordable housing, and making the ultra-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.
But there’s a problem. A small handful of conservative Democrats in both the House and Senate are standing in the way. They would rather pass a small, fossil fuel-friendly bipartisan bill and let the reconciliation bill die – or at least gut its provisions. Their interference is breaking the dual-track plan that they previously agreed to and, if successful, will decimate Biden’s agenda and harm Democrats’ chances of keeping the House and Senate. It’s sabotage. They have to be stopped.
Please call your Representatives and say:
I’m asking the Congressman to stand with the House Progressive Caucus and vote NO on the Bipartisan Infrastructure bill until the full, robust reconciliation bill, the Build Back Better Act, passes both houses of Congress. Furthermore, I’m asking him to vote NO on any reconciliation bill that does not include the full Clean Electricity Payment Program and Clean Energy Tax Credits. No climate, no deal.
CONGRESSMAN JARED HUFFMAN
Phone: (Petaluma) 707-981-8967
CONGRESSMAN MIKE THOMPSON
Phone: (Santa Rosa) 707-542-7182
DEMOCRATS MUST REBALANCE THE SUPREME COURT
The illegitimate Supreme Court demonstrated, in its ‘Shadow Docket’ action that let the The illegitimate Supreme Court demonstrated, in its ‘Shadow Docket’ action that let the draconian Texas anti-abortion, bounty hunter law stand, that it will stop at nothing to promote the agenda of the wealthy donors who stacked the Court. It’s time for Democrats to fight back. The Court must be expanded.
Unless the Court is rebalanced, the radical GOP will use their ill-gotten Court to force their anti-majoritarian agenda down Americans’ throats for the coming decades. This cannot be allowed to stand. But (stop us if you’ve heard this before) Democrats are afraid to act. If you care about abortion rights – or gun restrictions, elections, climate, you name it – help us pressure Democrats to finally use the power we worked so hard to give them.
Please call your Members of Congress and say:
I need [the MOC] to co-sponsor the Judiciary Act of 2021 (H.R. 2584 / S. 1141), which will expand the Supreme Court by four justices. Nothing less will protect us against the illegitimately-stacked radical, right wing Court that McConnell has installed. Please co-sponsor the Act and work hard to make it law.
CONGRESSMAN JARED HUFFMAN
Phone: (Petaluma) 707-981-8967
CONGRESSMAN MIKE THOMPSON
Phone: (Santa Rosa) 707-542-7182
SENATOR DIANE FEINSTEIN
DC phone: (202) 224-3841
SF phone: (415) 393-0707
SENATOR ALEX PADILLA
DC phone: (202) 224-3553
SF phone: (415) 981–9369
CLIMATE ACTION:
FIGHT TO PROTECT ROOFTOP SOLAR IN CALIFORNIA
PG&E and other California utilities are trying to kill rooftop solar by raising fees on those who have installed it, including public schools, hospitals, and others. Local, rooftop solar power undermines their antiquated, fire-causing, climate-killing business model and cuts into their profits. It also hardens our communities against blackouts, gives people more control over their own power, and enables us to fight the climate crisis.
We defeated the utilities in the State Assembly, so now they’ve taken their case to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and found a compliant audience. We must defeat them there, too, to protect rooftop solar and to battle the climate crisis. The members of the CPUC aren’t elected, they’re appointed – by Governor Newsom. So we need to pressure him.
Please call Governor Newsom and say:
Utilities are asking your CPUC to stall rooftop solar installations and harm those financially who have installed solar panels. Local solar power generation is critical to Biden’s goal of decarbonizing our grid by 2035. It protects and hardens our fire-endangered communities. It is an essential tool to slow the climate crisis. Please stand up for rooftop solar and tell the CPUC to reject the utilities’ request.
GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM
(916) 445-2841
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