Welcome to Organizer’s Corner — a (free) newsletter from your friends at Get Pod Local! Because we can help you stay inform — but then what?
Enter in your weekly call to actions (CTA!) from our Resident Precinct Chair, Joey Cade!
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Straight Dope
Living through the authoritarian takeover of America is hard. And it’s going to continue to be hard. It isn’t going to get easier until we win back power - and only if we elect legislators who are up for the fight we really need to have. We need courageous elected officials who are in touch with the life experience of The People who will push through real reforms to improve lives.
Read: Nancy Pelosi faces primary challenge from former AOC aide
We Can All Agree On One Thing
For decades, our elected officials have not delivered for The People. That’s a fact we’ve known since before the start of this century. But little has been done to resolve it. Instead, monopolies have continued to grow. Wealth inequality has continued to worsen. Our elected officials seem wholly owned by cult leaders, oligarchs, and powerful lobbies.
Read: Wage Stagnation in Nine Charts
Read: For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades
Read: Falling wages and discretionary pay-setting practices
I’m not going to lecture on the past few decades of milquetoast solutions and compromises brought to the table by liberal legislators. Or praise those who have come with bold ideas, only to compromise away the real benefits The People may have felt in their lives.
Unfortunately, The Truth Is, Liberals Haven’t Delivered
And The People are in distress now. We’re all overworked and struggling financially, physically, and/or emotionally, making it nearly impossible for our splintered, struggling masses to harness the power of our government to be more responsive to The People.
More Straight Dope
In this darkest period in over a century, when the extremist, racist right has taken all reigns of power. When we need them the most. Liberal elected officials are NOT meeting this moment. Obviously there are those that are fighting courageously and taking a stand. But sadly, most are not.
It’s time to demand our elected officials lead or get out of the way. Join me in taking a few minutes at the beginning of another sure-to-be-wild week to make your voice heard.
First
Take a minute to REGISTER TO VOTE or CONFIRM YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION IS ACTIVE.1 Hundreds of thousands of voters have been purged by the GOP so you need to double check your registration. If you need to get registered you have to do so by Mon, Oct 6th and there’s no way to complete registration online, so you must mail or drop off your registration application to your local county elections office.
Check: Your Registration In Dallas County, TX2
Pro Tip
Over 30% of voter registration applications in Texas are declined due to “illegibility”. There is no notice to the voter who may assume they are registered after mailing in their signed application, but find when they go to vote that they aren’t.3 The way to avoid your application being thrown out is to create your application online so it is typed, then print the form, sign it, and put it in the mail. You need access to a printer, but this is the best way to ensure your registration is approved.
Check: In Dallas County, TX
Extra Credit
For bonus points and gold stars in Dallas County, TX, print and put these flyers up wherever you can.4 They are nonpartisan guides to help get ready to vote so you should be able to put them up in schools, break rooms, recreation centers, churches, etc.
Now that we’ve ensured we are ready to vote on Monday, October 20th, the first day of early voting, we can move onto demanding action from our leaders in the US Congress.
Use the handy 5Calls app or find contact info here:
As we’ve discussed before 👇, calling elected officials carries much more weight than emailing. So please make these calls. We need your voice to be counted.
Who We Calling
The current Democratic Leader of the U.S. Senate is Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
The current Democratic Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives is Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).5
Here Is A Script You Can Use To Call Them Both
Be firm, clear, and concise for the most impact. But also know that when calling a Congressional office, you will most likely speak to a staffer. Be polite, as the staffer’s job is to log constituent opinions for their boss. You want them to pass along your thoughts.
The script below is a reference guide. Consider rewriting it to suit your individual message and know the staffers responses are only generalized.
Your Call Script
Targets: The offices of Senator Schumer and Representative Jeffries
Goal: Demand a stronger stance, specific actions, or leadership change
[Greeting & Introduction]
You: “Hello, my name is [Your Name], and I am a Democratic constituent calling from [Your City/State/Zip Code]. I would like my message to be passed directly to Senator Schumer/Leader Jeffries.”
Staffer: “Thank you. I’m happy to take your message.”
[The Core Demand - Be Clear and Direct]
You: “My message is one of profound disappointment and urgency regarding the Democratic leadership’s response to the ongoing authoritarian threats to American democracy. The current leadership, your office in particular, is not meeting the moment. Weak defense responses and a lack of offensive action is actively failing the American people.“
[The Specific Ultimatum]
You: “I am calling to demand three things:
Immediate, tougher action—I demand that Senator Schumer/Leader Jeffries use every tool at his disposal, including unprecedented procedural moves, aggressive public confrontation, and a unified legislative front, to actively and fiercely fight the authoritarian agenda. No more negotiations with the extremist GOP. No more compromise on fundamental democratic values.
A pledge to step aside: If leadership is unable or unwilling to demonstrate a real, relentless, and truly tough approach to defend our Republic, then they must resign their leadership position immediately to allow fresh, tough leaders to take the reins. Democrats are angry and demand leaders who will fight to win.”
Do NOT compromise on the government shutdown. The extremist GOP, holding all levers of govt, will take the blame. They must provide real, progressive concessions for any democrats to vote YES to keep the govt open. Play hardball or step aside.
Read: Leading California Dems urge Schumer, Jeffries to hold fast on shutdown
Conclusion
You: “Please note that this is not a suggestion or exaggeration. It is a serious demand from Americans who feel abandoned. Please make sure this message is logged as an urgent leadership ultimatum for [Senator Schumer/Leader Jeffries] to either FIGHT HARDER OR STEP ASIDE. I expect his leadership to take our moment of real danger and the Democratic movement’s anger and resolve seriously.”
Staffer: “Thank you for your input. I will log your comment.”
You: “Thank you for your time.”
(Real Quick, On Why We Care About The Possibility Of A Shut Down)
Once you’ve made your plan to early vote and called Senator Schumer and Representative Jeffries6, but you still feel a calling, consider RUNNING FOR OFFICE7. We need more of us common people to run for office. If you are a Progressive citizen who wants more to be done to help The People, the very best thing you can do is step up to lead. Check out Run for Something for help getting started.
You can feel good about having taken action this week. Try to find a few friends who will join you.
And remember, it gets darkest just before the dawn. Let’s fight our way through this darkness together. Demand our leaders meet this moment or move out of our way. We’ll only accomplish the changes we need when we all demand our voices are heard.
Peace and high fives,
Joey
PS: I’m also not saying liberal legislators haven’t accomplished anything at all. There have been positives, like Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act. But if you followed the legislation, you know that the original concept would have been transformative. At the time, we held all 3 levers of government - POTUS, Senate, and House. But we couldn’t get what we wanted - and needed - accomplished. We can’t keep waiting for change to come with leaders who can’t - or won’t - deliver.
And Now, A Moment of Zen
Organizer’s Corner is a Newsletter brought to you by our very own, Joey Cade Lots of folks have ideas of what can help / what you should do — and while no one has all the answers, we (specifically Joey) do have some. Okay, a lot. Joey is not just a co-host of Get Pod Local …she’s also the Precinct Chair for Dallas’ Precinct 1052.
Other GPL Goodies
Every week, Jalon catches you up on what is going on out here, who is doing it, how does that impact your everyday life, and what everyone is saying about. We are based in Texas, so we have a lot of Texas news, but we cover the whole wide world. There is a LOT of stuff going on everyday, and no one can keep up with it all, but we attempt to….for you. (Clap for us).
GPL Presents: Water Cooler Chats
Every morning, Jalon D’na and Joey Cade check in and talk about something we read or saw on slack. And once a week, we let you in our conversation! Click below to sign up for that weekly newsletter!
GPL Presents: Daily News Briefs
Every weekday, Jalon reads you the headlines of the day — just to keep you in the know. Think NPR at the top of each hour, with a lot of shade some jokes.
We had a Special Sunday Edition today because the News just poured like rain.
Please do this up until you cannot register to vote. They will be purging voters at a higher number this go around. Go to Vote.Org to quadruple check your registration.
Like I said, they will be doing this at higher numbers and in every state. Do not let up and let them take your right to vote away.
Jalon wants you to know she’s very disappointed in both of these “leaders” — especially Jeffries. Like, come on dude.