Please sign our petition on change.org to urge Donald Trump to start working on his taxes now so that he will be ready to pay on April 15. Send the petition on to your friends. And, if you are interested in giving this effort an extra boost, use the "Promote this petition" link to send $25 or $50 to change.org so they can get the word out.
Dear Friend,
One of the most unusual things about this post-election period is that there are major choices to be made every single day about how to engage. Because Donald Trump’s tweets, cabinet appointments, and recent foreign policy positions are so disheartening and dangerous, the varying approaches you could use to defend the republic are growing, even exponentially. What standard can we use to sort things out?
I don’t think there is much danger that at this point, we will start falling by the wayside, figuring that things will be okay, not when the President-elect insists that he is smart enough to not need regular intelligence briefings. Of all Donald Trump’s flaws, and there are many, the greatest danger to all of us may be his lack of curiosity, his disinterest in learning new things, his erstwhile selection and parroting of information (however fanciful or inaccurate) that supports the view he already held.
In the context of the turmoil which will persist and our dismay which will linger, the question becomes how we make choices. How can we pick the most consequential actions, so we will turn ourselves into activists who will not rest unless we block Trump’s worst intentions and until we revel in this being over on November 3, 2020?
There isn’t going to be a universal standard for how to sort out where to focus our most intensive efforts. My own sorting device is to avoid initiatives that seem doomed from the outset, like changing the vote of the Electoral College, since so many of the electors are legally bound. You might feel differently about that. My interest in Trump’s income tax payments comes from a feeling that 1) the pressure from multiple fronts will grow between now and April and 2) he is destined to act in a way that is disfavored by a broad cross section of the electorate. I think this is a negative that will stay with him. If anything it will get worse.
My priority setting standards on what all of us can do involve questions like: Could the proposed approach have any chance of success? Is it fair? Does it avoid a level of snarkiness or self-righteousness that is tempting but self-defeating? In terms of trying to influence the votes of citizens or lawmakers, is the message accurate and well-articulated? Is it being delivered to the right people, and is the timing right? If the approach includes supporting a specific organizing group or a non-profit, will they be able to sustain their effort? What is their track record?
Helping our Collective Impact Grow
In addition to these missives being emailed to you all, they are posted on Facebook and are collected on my blog. It would be a great honor to me if you could send me two or three names of people who would like to regularly receive these ideas, as many of you have already done. We will build on approaches we have already offered (archived on the blog), including:
- How to contact a member of the U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate so your views will have a life beyond hitting their phone call tally sheet. (November 30)
- How to identify which Trump supporting members of Congress will be most vulnerable in the fall of 2018, including some that may surprise you. (November 30)
- How to watch whether Democrats do a better job of framing and presenting their economic message, with a little progress already on this front. (November 16)
1) Combat Ongoing Voter Suppression Efforts |
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Many of us are aware that gerrymandering by state legislatures after the 2010 elections makes the task of taking back the House of Representatives even harder. If Republican controlled legislatures can engineer it, they will concentrate Democratic voters in as few districts as possible. For instance, there are nearly as many Democratic voters as Republicans in North Carolina, and the Congressional delegation has 10 Republicans and 3 Democrats. Even more pernicious is voter suppression. 2016 brought the lowest presidential election turnout in Wisconsin in 20 years. The primary tool for decreasing the vote was a Voter ID law, with the state Department of Motor Vehicles dragging its feet in issuing ID’s to those without driver’s licenses, and the related drop in voting totaling 41,000 in Milwaukee alone. At this point the primary battle over voter suppression is in the courts, though state legislatures must be watched too after many go back into session in January. Advocates for voting justice should support the impressive legal efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union in several states, and nationally should support the very thorough and principled actions of the voting rights program of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. The Brennan Center is an excellent resource on what is happening in the courts. |
2) Fight Where the Greatest Dangers Will Emerge |
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It is certainly possible that Trump will never secure positive approval ratings during the entire period of his presidency. However, the damage that can be wrought even by an unpopular, under-supported President can be huge. Hence our attention is naturally drawn to global destabilization, given the dangers of Twitter diplomacy. It is good to remember that in some areas defenses are easier to mount, as will be evidenced in the bi-partisan hearings on Russia and hacking. Surprisingly, this is also true of tax policy. When the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee start working on tax “reform”, they will not begin their efforts with the frame of Trump’s proposal. Of course, that doesn’t mean the resultant law will meaningfully address wealth disparities. We are in the greatest immediate trouble in the area of environmental policy, because so many of our recent gains were secured by executive orders from President Obama in the face of Congressional abdication of responsibility. The President-elect nominated Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency as the first step in rescinding and reversing these executive orders. There have been 35 executive orders on energy, climate change, and the environment, and President Obama issued a new one last week on oil drilling and wilderness protection in Alaska. Here the battle will be multi-pronged. We know that Ivanka Trump does not want her father to walk away from the Paris accord. I expect that he won’t formally walk away, but that he will do multiple, continued, insidious destructive things. So you will want to pick and support your favorite national environmental advocate. I like the litigation-oriented Natural Resources Defense Council. But don’t stop there. There are very considerable actions that can be taken at the regional, state and local level. If you live in a state that recognizes the existence of climate change, find out what state government is being asked to do that it isn’t presently doing, who is asking them to do it and contact your own state legislators. For example, in Washington State the excellent driving force is Climate Solutions. And, don’t stop there either. Almost every member of Congress speaks of the wondrousness of our environment when they are campaigning. When Congressional environmental committee memberships are settled in January, I will provide the names and personal numbers of these members’ key environmental policy staff members, and I will urge you to do some intensive, individual contact work. |
3) Advance a Robust Free Press |
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It turns out that a pizza parlor in DC is not the headquarters of a Democratic sex ring! It was just selling pizza, as they informed the man who showed up with a shotgun. We have a long, long way to go in battling made up news, and we can start by subscribing to publications where news is researched and covered and written. This from my very wise friend Hilary Hilscher: "As a former journalist, and one who still believes there are such things as true facts as opposed to twitter blather, I think supporting the “Fourth Estate”, i.e., a robust, honest free press is one extremely important step we can take. With the probable-incoming President dissing all of the foundations of our democracy, we simply HAVE to have intelligent, ethical reporting if we are to continue as a viable country." So please consider adding this to your list of to-dos: Support original sources of news rather than just using internet aggregators! This means subscribing or contributing to solid news sources such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Guardian, National Public Radio, or go straight to indie groups. Consider subscribing to local news outlets: The Seattle Times, one of the last family-owned regional newspapers, and like all newspapers, is struggling to find its financial footing in the digital age. Know the editorial outlook of your media: The New Yorker and Atlantic are definitely progressive in outlook, but offer some of the most in-depth, thoughtful analysis available. ALSO, use every opportunity to challenge fake or hate-talk outlets like Fox and Breitbart. |
Thank you all again for participating in this venture. With each missive, our “audience” continues to grow. Could you stay with us, ACT whenever you can, and pass this all on to your friends.
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
