Not...One...Call

[hay rick]

Alabama's governor signed the "heartbeat" abortion bill yesterday. Since then I have seen dozens of outraged posts here and on my Facebook feed.

I also volunteer at the local Democratic office. I check the answering machine and email every day. Yesterday and today we did not receive a single email or call from anybody asking what they could DO to help elect Democrats and stop the attacks on women.

Insanity is doing the same thing (especially when that thing is nothing) and expecting a different result...

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. Are you in Alabama?

[hay rick]

3. Next door in Florida.

We had a heartbeat bill in Florida that failed this year. They will be back.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. If you had had someone call or email, what would you have told them?

[hay rick]

7. Come to our office.

We canvass and phone bank every week. If you can't do that, you can give money to your preferred candidates- it will help them fight on your behalf. Also, right now there are a bunch of bad bills (just not a heartbeat bill) on the governor's desk. Call him and state your opposition. What you do doesn't have to be a lot, but it needs to be more than you have done in the past.

[oldtime dfl_er]

2. People are exhausted

and many people are disappointed in the current Democratic response.

[hay rick]

6. "Disappointed in the Democratic response" is an all-purpose excuse for doing nothing.

I sympathize with the exhaustion, but I think part of it self-inflicted. I think people feel better when they start fighting back. Plus you get support from other people who are fighting back.

[benfranklin1776]

8. Agreed.And people need to contact Pelosi and Schumer and Nadler and demand they use their inherent

....contempt powers to bring these lawless thugs to justice. No report? Fine a fine of 125k a day; no tax returns fine? 125k or more a day since you say you’re Richie Rich Steve. Etc. simply passively doing nothing in the face of this contemptuous behavior is not an option.

[angrychair]

5. It's my new talking point

I was quite and read through Twitter post after Twitter post and one Facebook post after the other and read as people gave every excuse under the sun as to how they were powerless to stop it and Republicans control the govt and gerrymandered districts and so on.

The fact of the matter is that the very rights (voting rights and civil rights) that people are all but letting slip through their fingers were rights that other people died to get.

People marched. They protested. They had work strikes. Sit-ins. They were attacked by people. By dogs. By water hoses. But they persisted.

Its disgraceful that to many forget that this isnt the first time people had to make the hard choice to take a stand, no matter the consequences.
That they may get arrested. Or attacked. Or killed.
But people already made that choice before. Not that many years ago.

For labor rights.
For voting rights.
For civil rights.

People have to vote. People have to act. Ranting on Twitter and hoping someone fixes is not a solution.

[Shoonra]

9. The real purpose and response to the anti-abortion legislation

The real intent of the Georgia, Alabama, and the other Wire-Hanger States, is not to prosecute a doctor or a woman but really to incite a legal challenge to the new law, which will eventually go to the Supreme Court, at which point Kavanaugh and Company will overturn Rowe v. Wade.

This is the real plan and picketing, marching, and boycotts will not impede it. Only the preparation of legal arguments that would convince the Supreme Court, even without the precedent of Rowe v. Wade and its progeny, that abortions should be legal.

[hay rick]

10. The necessity of (and possible futility of) legal arguments originates in lost elections.

The long-term solution starts with winning elections. Winning elections can lead to remedial action through legislatures and judicial appointments.

[lindysalsagal]

11. People don't think like that. But they'll show up to vote and help GOTV when needed.

[hay rick]

12. You're right. People don't think like that. And that's why we lose.

I'm in Florida and we have lost almost every statewide election for the last 20 years despite having more registered voters the entire time. We can change that by registering voters, and even more importantly, signing up already registered voters for vote by mail. This is labor-intensive door-to-door (and in Florida, hot and sweaty) work. We can do these productive things throughout the two year election cycle...or we can wait until a few months before the election and fall just short. We lost the governor's race by 0.2% and the senatorial race race by 0.4% last year.

[appalachiablue]

13. The FL (& GA) loss was crushing, I didn't know it was that close.

I'll mention this post to some peeps there; glad I saw your comments.

[Hekate]

14. Look, I don't call politicians to ask "what I can do." I call Planned Parenthood.

What do you think your local Democratic office is going to tell people? Why should anyone even bother with them? We tell them.

If you want to be where phones are ringing off the hook offering money and voluntary help, go to your local PP, which has been helping women for a century, and which has a political arm as well. Check out religious coalitions that are actively pro-choice. Check out advocacy groups like NARAL.

When I call or write a politician or any party about a single issue, it is to tell them what I think they should be doing, not to ask what I should be doing. I'm already there.

ETA: I have done Party volunteering in the past, but it's triggered by campaign/election season. Maybe it's that way for others. I hope your state's advocacy groups are showing an uptick in public interest, as I suggested above.

[hay rick]

16. Issue advocacy is what you have to do after you lose elections.

The local party does a lot of work before the campaigns arrive for the election cycle- voter ID, voter registration, and signing up people for vote by mail. Also, there are a lot of special elections that are contested around the state. We have three special elections for the 120-member Florida House in the next month. We phone bank (and if the district is nearby, canvass) for these elections. The people who win these elections will be votes for or against a "heartbeat" bill when it surfaces in Florida's next legislative session.

Special elections are opportunities to pick up seats where we are not usually competitive in a general election. Special election turnout averages around 25% (vs. 63% in the midterm and 75% in the presidential election).

[Honeycombe8]

15. I'm in Louisiana. There's not even a Democratic office where I am.

That's how RED the redneck is here.

[displacedtexan]

17. Where are you that you have a Dem office open now?

You must be in a major city.

[hay rick]

18. In Florida, we have county parties.

Our county has a population of 160,000. We are a red county (2:1 Republican advantage) but well-organized for our size and circumstances. It costs us about $10,000/yr. to keep the lights on. Another thing our volunteers (we're all volunteers) help us with is fundraising. We use the office for our meetings, for allied clubs and caucuses, for training, canvassing, phone banking, etc. We also make the office available to campaigns when they start up.

[displacedtexan]

19. That's amazingly cheap for a year's rent, utilities & a phone bank.

I've never worked with a county org that small with the $$$$ to fund all of that. Congrats!