Most folks in this forum are angry and upset about what happened in the Senate Judiciary Committee over the last couple of days. And justifiably so. Hell, the last two years have been a nightmare for anyone that cares about democracy, public institutions, basic human dignity, you name it.
And I get that some of you may feel demoralized. You are supposed to, that is what this assault on our values is designed to do, make you feel paralyzed.
But there is so much that you can do. The question I raise is what are each of you willing to do in the next 39 days to fight back? Are you willing to write a check, get out of your chair and your comfort zone and knock on doors, make phone calls, do whatever it takes to win on November 6?
Me, I plan to not spend a penny on any games and to send that money to candidates that are either vulnerable (Heidi Heitkamp is my top priority), or most closely speak to my values and have a ghost of a chance (Beto O’Rourke is another priority). Take your pick, there are so many great candidates out there. I was going to replace my crappy laptop with a real gaming computer, but fuck it, that $1,000 is going to candidates that will save us from this insanity.
Or, send your money to organizations that will put it to good work. EMILY’s List is a good choice if you need a start.
The point is, keep raising hell on this forum, but get out there and act like our country’s fate depends on it. America needs every one of you.
Home of the brave! Go get 'em! Stay mad and get even!
More seriously, my gf’s finally maybe relented on doing some canvassing work with me, which I’m pretty pumped about. She’s basically been in a state of utter despairing hopelessness since 2016 and didn’t think it worthwhile to do much, but I think this might have been a final straw for her. She’s got crippling social anxiety and a nasty leg condition, but she sounds down. Fingers crossed :)
I will be phone banking for my district (NY-18) and have taken Election Day off so that I can help get the housebound and carless around the corner to the polls. I wish I had extra cash to donate but vacation time is all I got.
Canvassing is awesome. I started political work as a paid canvasser on a fridged cold December night in Augusta Maine. Changed my life. Lot of great folks behind those doors. Doing it in pairs makes it easier.
Just donated to Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Joe Donnelly (ID), Clair McCaskill (MO), Beto O’Rourke (TX), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and Jacky Rosen (NV). All are Cook Political Report toss up US Senate races.
Beto has a shot and at least he will keep that POS Ted Cruz looking over his shoulder and camped out in TX rather than helping out other GOP candidates (like they’d want his sorry ass showing up in their states).
I can’t afford a grand, but I’ve sent off a few hundred this cycle and will no doubt send more. I wish there were better canvassing opportunities in the Bay Area…most everyone is already a Democrat!
I will contribute (and I always support environmental organizations throughout the year.) I’m going to see if there’s anything I can do for NH-1 that doesn’t involve talking to people.
My wife has been out canvassing and doing voter registration events in Mimi Walters district (Orange County, CA). We’ve donated a bit so far, but we’ll ramp it up after this absurd week. Worst Infrastructure Week yet.
I’m fortunate in that I work for a big city Mayor, a Democrat and a very progressive one at that, so I get to devote my day to fighting the good fight. And I sleep well at night.
But all of you doing this on a volunteer basis are the real heroes. Thank you.
What’s happening on 6 Nov? Wikipedia told me it’s a mid term election and doesn’t that mean you can change President mid terms? American politics is very confusing sometimes. There seemed to Ben many elections and won’t it drain people?
I’m fascinated by what’s happening in US and yet I’m not understanding many of these events in terms of importance.
Hopefully what’s happening is that one of the crucial checks in our “checks and balances” system is going to saddle up and do its job. This will require the Democrats taking back as least half of our bicameral legislative branch from the Republicans.
Every two years, our legislative body has an election. Every seat in the lower house and a cycling one-third of the upper house seats are up for reelection. When the election falls in the middle of a President’s four-year term, we call them mid-term elections. Just goes to show how much stock we put in our Presidents. We define our legislative elections by his time in office!
Thanks for the explanation Tom. It’s actually nice that you get to do some check and balance during a President terms. That’s a great example of democracy that I’m not aware of and definitely non existent in my country at all. In fact, at one point we even have a Prime Minister that stays more than 15-20 years and his monopoly caused a lot of problems for us now.
I put my time/money this campaign season into the Voters Not Politicians anti-gerrymandering ballot proposal here in Michigan. They got on the ballot, and it looks good in the polls…all depends on turnout, as with most things. If enough educated voters show up, we should have it.
In addition to placing a constitutional check on the power the presidency, and this President in particular, the US Senate has the power to ratify treaties and the power to advise and consent to the President’s nominations to our federal court system and to our highest court, the Supreme Court. Without that consent Trump can not replace vacancies on the courts. Those are lifetime appointments.
The lower chamber is where all spending legislation originates, and it is from this chamber that articles of impeachment initiate.
As Tom said both the upper and lower chambers of the Congress are acting as rubber stamps to this President. Restoring a balance is crucial. The fate of US democracy is at stake.
My point of issuing a pledge is to ask the US citizens enjoying this forum that have such strong opinions about the current President what they are willing to sacrifice in order to contribute to a successful mid-term election. Be that time, money, their particular talents, etc.
