The first thing we did in our house after the election was turn off the news and listen to classical music for a week. We felt profound sorrow for our country. Now we are in the midst of 100 consecutive missives (one every two weeks) leading up to the next Presidential election and describing in detail specific steps we can take to help the republic for which we stand. Those wishing to receive this series can ask to receive the e-mail blast, sign up for the blog, or follow me on Facebook. You can also read and share past missives on the blog page. We started with a list of less than 300 friends, and now have well over double that number, with many others sharing these thoughts through social media. Please continue to help spread the word!
It seems like forever since Donald Trump became President. It’s difficult not to have our sole response be to just watching, or exchanging “he said what?” jokes, or spending an inordinate amount of time viewing the various comedic bits that have been developed in response to the worst or most bizarre actions of the president.
If that is all we do, the joke is on us. This situation is not going to normalize. It demands that we sustain an every week activism that was probably not our previous pattern. If we sort our actions wisely, if our movement continues to grow, the republic will withstand the blows it is receiving. We will block and parry and resist and propose and advance. You can take a health-restoring break from this now and again, but please don’t stay away for very long.
The flood of calls and emails and letters to Congressional offices matter, as do the big crowds at town hall meetings. The House “replacement bill” for the Affordable Care Act is totally unacceptable, since it will Make America Sick Again. But, even that proposal begins with an opening position on coverage that House Republicans would have found unthinkable before they started getting very worried about angry voters. For instance, it maintains until 2020 the expanded Medicaid coverage that brought 11 million people health insurance. Obviously, that is not acceptable, because this coverage of low income Americans should be expanded to the states who did not initially select the option, and it should be made permanent. However, before this movement started, there was zero chance even this provision would have been included. That’s real evidence that the national movement counts, and we will make it count even more.
This replacement bill and whatever alternative the Senate leadership proposes must be fought on every level, because even outside of the Medicaid coverage issue the refundable tax credit it is built around is ethically bankrupt and will jettison millions from coverage. Paul Ryan already knows it is far more likely to work for families with steady employment (so the credit can be reflected in withholding taxes and the net paycheck) and strong cash flow. With this provision and no long term Medicaid guarantee, the bill turns its back on millions of the people who desperately needed the Affordable Care Act.
It won’t be long before tax reform will be back on the table, requiring us to display the same intensity of effort we have displayed on health care. What can we do beyond keeping unprecedented pressure up, issue by issue? As has been underscored in previous missives, we must embrace other essential elements of resistance to a president who is devoid of principle. We must continue to strengthen the political organizations that fight against Trump excesses, such as Indivisible, with its many thousands of new chapters. Now that Tom Perez and Keith Ellison have formed a partnership to lead the Democratic National Committee, let’s celebrate the notion that the DNC will become a stronger and more productive force.
Let’s keep it up with supporting the immigrant and refugee and assistance programs that have been buffeted, the organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union that are fighting unconstitutional Presidential orders, the organizations like Mi Familia Vota who are registering Latino voters, and the organizations like Eric Holder’s National Democratic Redistricting Committee that are starting to work on battling gerrymandering in 2020.
And, let’s target these three actions right away:
| 1) Stand Up for Mexico | |
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Of all the positions taken by candidate Trump and President Trump, the assault on Mexico may be the most preposterous and galling. In two weeks just spent in Mexico, I personally witnessed the hurt and bewilderment from citizens of a country which has long ties to ours and which has benefited (as has the United States) from an important, mutually productive trade agreement. It is painful to travel in Mexico when you know our own President has been a bully. What do you say? My friends and I apologized for Donald Trump. However, we heard Mexican experts in international relations predict that our countries will not estrange and that the State Department, international companies and reason itself will carry the day. May it be so, and may we all help to make it so. Senator Lindsey Graham has indicated that Senate Republicans who value this friendship and trade relationship will not accept the 10% import tax on Mexican goods that is being bandied about in the House and advanced by Trump. Let’s start by calling Lindsey Graham’s office at 202-224-3808 and thank him for being a leader on this. Then, try to reach someone who isn’t flooded by mail. Write a personal appeal on behalf of sanity in Mexico-United States relations to Christopher Tuttle, Policy Director, U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 423 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510. Finally, start getting ready for May 5, Cinco de Mayo is the celebration of the unlikely defeat of French forces by a smaller less experienced Mexican army of liberation in 1862. Let’s make it the day when those of us north of the border throw a party to celebrate Mexico’s exported products, its ties to the United States, and to publicly reject the mean-spirited Trump attacks. |
2) Focus on Each Off-Year Election |
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There are two off-year gubernatorial elections in 2017. Chances are great that Democrats will take back New Jersey, where Chris Christie is both unpopular and term-limited. Democrats will seek to hold the governorship in Virginia, where Terry McCaullife is term-limited. Here’s an initial handicapping of 2018 races, which will soon come into greater focus. Remember that states can be laboratories of democracy and are strong tools in fighting Trump excesses, especially in social welfare and environmental protection. There will also be six special elections to fill Congressional vacancies in 2017, including the Montana election to replace newly named Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on May 25. The special election that has attracted the most attention so far is in Georgia’s 6th district, vacated by new HHS Secretary Tom Price. Even though this is a Republican district, Trump beat Hillary Clinton by less than two percentage points. Support is building behind Jon Ossoff, who has been endorsed by John Lewis. Here’s where you go to donate. Any seat we can pick up now decreases the 24 we need to take back the House on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, which already looms as a critical day in the history of our country. |
3) Make Some Choices in Supporting Environmental Organizations |
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In missive #4, I emphasized that the President’s overall executive powers and the ability to issue executive orders are especially problematic in the area of environmental policy. This is because Trump is a climate change denier and because many environmental statutes intentionally left room for executive discretion to improve enforcement and keep pace with advances in scientific knowledge. There is hardly an area of governmental action where Trump can do more damage more quickly. He added multiple additional insults to injury by naming long time EPA opponent Scott Pruitt to be the agency’s administrator. The fox has a room in the hen house. For the time being, the underlying pillars of environmental protection in the United States (including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resource Conservation Recovery Act) will retain their huge value because major changes are only possible through Congressional reauthorization processes. But under Pruitt’s leadership, each will be under-enforced or subject to creative misinterpretation. Thus, the case is strong for lending immediate personal and financial support for two kinds of environmental organizations, above all others. First, we can select organizations which are doing the best work in our state capitals, where new efforts must be advanced to counter reduced federal enforcement. The types of environmental organizations that lead in state capitals vary by state, but often they are a state environmental council bringing together several disparate environmental nonprofits. On the national level, it is time to emphasize environmental litigiousness. Where an unacceptable Presidential action or EPA decision can be vigorously challenged, it should be. Two litigation focused national nonprofits come immediately to mind, EarthJustice (“Because the Earth Needs a Good Lawyer”) and the even larger and very highly respected Natural Resources Defense Council. |
It is not time for our energies to wane. Nor is it time to become so interested in the variety of ways we can express our horror to each other over day to day events that we set aside the arduous work of day to day activism. We all get it, so now we have to get it done.
David Harrison
Bainbridge Island, Washington
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