We will not walk away from the best within all of us as Americans. Please continue the inexplicable strong growth in the market for these missives (sent every two weeks) by getting your friends to add their names to our e-blast, or enroll to receive the same ideas in my Path Forward Blog, or connect with me through Facebook.
This situation is not going to normalize. I once hoped that the President-elect would allow the importance of the office to lift him, but that isn’t going to happen. An excellent explication by David Brooks describes what will instead emerge --- the shifting tweet-interpreting battle within and between senior White House staff, the Cabinet appointments, and House and Senate Republicans.
There is good news amid this awful news. The possibilities for our collective efforts are going to come earlier and be ongoing. As always, we must sort our priorities, and there is a huge opportunity on health care and on reproductive freedom.
Because the American Medical Association and others have insisted that the Affordable Care Act be replaced almost immediately after it is repealed, the chance that major elements of the Act can be preserved has grown. This has previously been the case with coverage of pre-existing conditions and young adults. The new news is that traction can be gained on maintaining coverage of 20 million health care recipients. The Pottery Barn rule -“ You broke it, you own it” will apply. As the Republicans remove mandated inclusion of healthy persons, they will face the need to find another way to finance the newly covered population, and they don’t have an answer, except for the tax increase they have already rejected. They will either save Obama provisions or damage themselves politically by rejecting them. Similarly, they will extend their own problems if they include banning funding of Planned Parenthood as a part of their repeal, as Speaker Ryan intends.
Right now, it is all about the Congress. We know that we have a powerful agenda to pursue at the local and state level and with Executive Branch agencies. But, we will be benefited from this point forward if Congress gets the early signal that Trump has generated an unprecedented, relentless movement with which they must deal. We are here. We are not going away. If you support the Trump agenda, whether or not you lose your specific seat, you will lose your majority. In the size and the principles of our efforts, we will make the Tea Party look like a tea party.
Here's what we can do:
We can do this, together. We already remember that we can’t afford to lose focus. This situation that we are in is not a good thing, and the dangers to our country and world are significant. But, this situation also provides us the opportunity to again elevate the things that are important, and to successfully oppose those who would make our country small.This situation is not going to normalize. I once hoped that the President-elect would allow the importance of the office to lift him, but that isn’t going to happen. An excellent explication by David Brooks describes what will instead emerge --- the shifting tweet-interpreting battle within and between senior White House staff, the Cabinet appointments, and House and Senate Republicans.
There is good news amid this awful news. The possibilities for our collective efforts are going to come earlier and be ongoing. As always, we must sort our priorities, and there is a huge opportunity on health care and on reproductive freedom.
Because the American Medical Association and others have insisted that the Affordable Care Act be replaced almost immediately after it is repealed, the chance that major elements of the Act can be preserved has grown. This has previously been the case with coverage of pre-existing conditions and young adults. The new news is that traction can be gained on maintaining coverage of 20 million health care recipients. The Pottery Barn rule -“ You broke it, you own it” will apply. As the Republicans remove mandated inclusion of healthy persons, they will face the need to find another way to finance the newly covered population, and they don’t have an answer, except for the tax increase they have already rejected. They will either save Obama provisions or damage themselves politically by rejecting them. Similarly, they will extend their own problems if they include banning funding of Planned Parenthood as a part of their repeal, as Speaker Ryan intends.
Right now, it is all about the Congress. We know that we have a powerful agenda to pursue at the local and state level and with Executive Branch agencies. But, we will be benefited from this point forward if Congress gets the early signal that Trump has generated an unprecedented, relentless movement with which they must deal. We are here. We are not going away. If you support the Trump agenda, whether or not you lose your specific seat, you will lose your majority. In the size and the principles of our efforts, we will make the Tea Party look like a tea party.
Here's what we can do:
| 1) Obsess about Congress | |
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Calling Congress over the next two weeks should come right after coffee. Missive #4 included a first meditation on why members of Congress care about calls, even if they live in safe districts and even (within some limitations) if you are not their constituent. There is nothing wrong with being a part of their tally, but you are trying to get beyond the tally if you can. a) Start with your own member of Congress, and your two Senators. Always tailor your message. Never send or read someone else’s script. Study their website to see who are the best points of personal contact. On the Affordable Care Act issue, see if somewhere on the website you can find the name of their legislative assistant who covers health care as one of her or his staff assignments. If you can find their number or email, use those in addition to calling their main number, or using the email comment function on the site. Whether or not you get a human or a tape, be positive and concise. If you don’t want 20 million people to lose their insurance, say so, firmly and compellingly. b) Turn around and do the same thing with one of the District offices of each of the Senators and the Congressperson. If you live anywhere near the office, stop by. c) It is true that members of Congress are focused most on their constituents, but there are ways around that. Take advantage of every connection you have---- if you are a health care professional, or you used to live in their state, or visit it frequently. Don’t misrepresent your state if asked, but look for comment opportunities where you aren’t asked. d) Consider what groups or professional associations you can rally. If you have a circle of people who share your views on these matters, give them a name and ask the Member of Congress for a meeting next time she or he is in the district. e) Write letters to the editor to the newspapers that still exist, commend members who are doing the right things and ask people to contact members who are not. f) Start learning more things that will be useful to your argument, this Washington Post article is a good resource. Always tailor your message. Never send or read someone else’s script. How many people in your state will lose their insurance if Affordable Care Act markets and subsidies are going away?What are the dangers to insurance markets and consumers if the Republicans repeal and fail to replace? In which states that voted for Trump would replacement without repeal mean hundreds of thousands of people would be thrown off the roles? These Trump electing states who could lose the partial or fully expanded coverage they previously adopted include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. |
| 2) Find National Leaders Who Can Get Us to 218 | |
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We will be a quart low on sufficient national leadership for a little while, which is a little disquieting because we should be working right now on the elections of 2018, to add 3 Senators (difficult, because of which seats will be on the ballot) and 24 House members. This is not as far-fetched as you might have thought. To start, there are 14 Republicans holding seats in districts where Clinton beat Trump. Whomever leads the Democratic National Committee should quell the unhelpful back and forth between former Clinton and Sanders partisans. People who plan to work through the Democratic Party have a right to expect that this party will get better in every way and on all levels. However, casting the effort to make it better as a Sanders-Clinton second chapter is a splashy gift to Donald Trump and Paul Ryan. Even after the DNC there is a need to figure out which of any national political efforts you want to support, such as MoveOn.org. There are arguments to be made for each national organizing vehicle, and MoveOn is a good one. Just make certain to check where each organization is spending its energy, and make certain that their recommendations are current, well-formulated and not snarky. Also, remember that on such issues as voter registration, the best work may be being done at the local level. Missive #4 includes material from Daily Kos which is the best site for understanding which individual members of Congress are most vulnerable in 2018. Move beyond the map to the tables that provide the vote totals in specific races in states where you have interest. You are comparing the vote total and percentage for the Republican member of Congress in 2016 with the vote total and percentage within that district for Obama in 2012 and/or Clinton in 2016. What you are doing is finding districts with a lot of people who want to protect President Obama’s achievements but which have members of Congress that Speaker Ryan is deploying to unravel those achievements. Targeted races will develop. |
| 3) On That Day | |
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It now seems clear that there will be enough people in the streets before and after the Inauguration to send the signal that Donald Trump’s present and future actions are not acceptable. Pointed public protest is an important tool going forward, as long as it does not substitute for the rest of the work. Thanks to Jon Bayley, we have a reminder that we need to attend to our own celebration on January 20. Some of his counsel:
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Best regards,
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
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