Press
We need For The People Act
Letters to the Editor, DAVIS ENTERPRISE |PUBLISHED: Feb 26, 2021
The American people find their democracy in a precarious position— despite his heinous acts to inspire and incite the insurrection of Jan. 6 that tried to stop the peaceful transition of power, the U.S. Senate fell 10 votes short of convicting the former President. Sad, but true.
But the scarier reality is that voter suppression, gerrymandering and buying elections continue apace. In response to the historic voter turnout by Black and brown voters in states like Georgia, Texas and Arizona, Republican-led legislatures are working to add additional barriers to accessing the ballot box.
That’s why our first priority should be fixing our democracy and ensuring that structural reform rebalances power for the people — before it’s too late. We need Congress to pass H.R. 1, the For The People Act, to get money out of politics, expand voting rights, combat corruption, secure our elections, and much more. These reforms to our democracy are pivotal to preventing future tyrants. The Democratic House passed H.R.1 last year, with every Democrat voting yes. It’s time for them to do the same and for the new Democratic majority in the Senate to do the same.
Partisan gridlock appears all but assured unless Congress does its part to fix our badly broken democracy and pass H.R. 1, the For the People Act. If the filibuster must be eliminated to do so, so be it!
Steve Murphy
Davis
Eliminate the filibuster
Letters to the Editor, DAVIS ENTERPRISE |PUBLISHED: Feb 16, 2021
Congress has the opportunity to pass a sweeping anti-corruption and voting rights bill that seeks “to expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and strengthen ethics rules for public servants.” This bill was first introduced in 2019 by Rep. John Sarbenes (D-Maryland). It was co-sponsored by every Democrat in the House, and passed but with no chance in the Senate.
We have another chance.
On Jan. 4, the For the People Act (HR1) was reintroduced and now has 217 co-sponsors (thank you Congressman John Garamendi). With the Senate under Democratic control (however split 50-50) H.R.1 can pass but not without the elimination of the filibuster,
So where are our senators? Sen. Padilla’s office line has had a full mailbox, Sen. Feinstein’s DC line has you wait two minutes, cuts you off, you can’t leave a message and her staff in the SF office were not able to tell me if she supports eliminating the filibuster or whether she has endorsed HR1.
As voters from the largest state in the U.S., Californians are the least represented proportionally of any state. The filibuster only makes that worse by letting as few as 20 states with as little as 11% of the total U.S. population dictate the legislative agenda. That’s not democracy!
Call/email/write to your members of Congress to let them know it is time to eliminate the filibuster, clearly an anti-democratic practice and let them know how important the HR1 resolution is to fixing out democracy.
Sue Barton
Davis
Filibuster reform
Letters to the Editor, DAVIS ENTERPRISE |PUBLISHED: Feb 9, 2021
Americans want President Biden and the 117th Congress working together to restore our nation’s health, economy and social infrastructure. This is truly a time for bipartisanship and for our three government branches to unify with the common goal of strengthening our national wellbeing. I believe we are made stronger and more resilient when our elected officials unite and collaborate. Yet, I also believe there is little value in unity for unity’s sake. Bipartisanship that comes with continued legislative disfunction and the gamesmanship of the last decade is a fool’s errand.
This brings me to filibuster reform. Building legislative consensus is exactly why filibuster reform is so important. As a constituent, I have thanked Sen. Padilla for supporting filibuster reform and have been petitioning Sen. Feinstein to similarly pursue reform of this misdirected, extraconstitutional Senate legacy. Effective advocacy requires us to fully understand how the filibuster threatens the bipartisan unity we say we seek; no longer a tool for curbing majority tyranny, it is now the minority’s “endgame” strategy, relentlessly blocking the timely serious governance solutions we need.
Current filibuster rules obstruct debate and consensus building, kill compromise and shut down meaningful legislation. Today’s minority leadership remains poised to continue this posturing for the next two years. During the Obama years, filibuster provisions blocked routine judicial appointments, stalled economic recovery proposals and sidelined critical regulatory and funding bills. The filibuster was repeatedly employed against legislation where the minority lacked the votes to pass (or creativity to propose) better solutions; even used, at times, just in hopes the president’s agenda would fail.
The Senate’s reconciliation process may address our current urgent need for COVID relief and delay an early confrontation on filibuster rules. Yet, the Senate majority, including Feinstein and Padilla, must be prepared to act decisively when comprehensive legislative solutions for any of the problems Californians expect Biden to tackle (immigration, infrastructure, voting rights, environment, healthcare, economic disparity, criminal justice) require the true bipartisan engagement that is likely only after the Senate removes or reforms its current filibuster rules.
Michelle Famula
Davis
Calling on Courage
By Lloyd Knox |PUBLISHED: Sept 21, 2020
I punch in the number. I look at the voter info one more time: Janet, 58-year-old female, registered with no political party. I don’t want to call Janet. I’m scared. I can feel my heart beating a little bit faster, and my breath a bit shallower and tighter. I silently rehearse the simple beginning of my script: “Hi, this is Lloyd. Have I reached Janet?” I gather my courage and take the plunge by pressing the call button on the screen of my phone. “The person you are calling is not available. Please leave a message.”
On to the next voter: Jose, 28-year-old male, no party affiliation. The courage I found for Janet is already gone. I need to start all over. I punch in the number. I rehearse the beginning of my script. I pause to find the courage and hit the call button. Jose does not answer either.
I’m in California, calling voters in Arizona to try to flip the Arizona house or senate — or both — to Democratic control, elect democrat Mark Kelly to the U.S. Senate, and send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the White House. It’s my 4th time phone banking this electoral season and my 5th time ever.
I phone banked for Barack Obama in 2008. Once. I found that experience so uncomfortable I decided I’d never do it again. I still remember being told, “I’m making dinner right now,” and being horrified that I was the unsolicited caller, making exactly the calls I hate receiving myself.
So no, not for me. The worst was, “No. Deborah is not here. And she’s a Republican,” in a hostile voice followed immediately by a click. I’d pay other people to do it, by giving to campaigns or MoveOn.org, but it was not for me.
Why am I at it again? A lot of the credit goes to my friend Kari. Kari is one of many women volunteering with our local chapters of Sister District and Indivisible, two grassroots groups that sprung up in the aftermath of the 2016 election. I called her in August to talk about how I could do more than just give money. She told me that direct contact, conversations with voters, calms her anxiety about the election. I decided to give phone banking another shot. I committed to doing it once a week until November 3rd.
It is different this time. Somehow I’m no longer worried about annoying people. I know for myself it’s easy to ignore a call from a strange number. They can do that too! They’ve made the choice to pick up the phone.
My fear of calling does not come exactly from concern about disturbing other people. If I could press a button and it magically resulted in 20 people getting unwanted phone calls, while influencing at least one of them to vote the way I want, and I did not have to talk to anyone, I’d be pushing that button all day long.
If I’m honest with myself, it’s the contact I’m afraid of, not the possibility my call might annoy somebody. I’m safe in my home, separated from the people I’m calling by hundreds or thousands of miles. But my heart and lungs let me know I’m scared.
Am I glad I’m doing it? Yes. I do not want to live in fear. I want to be courageous and fully alive. I want to restore sanity to our politics. I want food for hungry children, access to quality education and health care, jobs, the rule of law, good governance, racial justice, and respect for the Constitution. I want us to elect people to work against climate-change-driven environmental catastrophe. I want to lend my voice to the triumph of truth and connection, over lies and division. I do not want to see that voice silenced by tiny fears.
I join a weekly Zoom call with twenty to forty others led by a local volunteer. I don’t think I could do this were it not for the others who are also on the Zoom call. Those who need training get it. When we’re ready to call, we turn off the Zoom sound and get to work. We can still see each other on the screen while making calls. Halfway through, we take a break to check in with one another. We meet at the end to debrief. This generates a sense of community that lets me keep going despite the fear. I don’t want to let them down. I am grateful to all of them, not just for the work they are doing, but for the courage they give me — the courage I need to respond to what my heart calls me to do — to reach out and continue the building of a more perfect union.
Letter: Trump visit boosted phone banking
Letters to the Editor, DAVIS ENTERPRISE |PUBLISHED: Sept 17, 2020
I’m a professional fundraiser. I often hear the term “effective altruism:” How to make your philanthropic dollar go further. How can we do the most good with the resources we have?
It’s personal, too, for me. I don’t earn a lot of money so I’m not a big donor. I work full-time, so I don’t have all the hours I’d like to volunteer. I care deeply about increased suffering in the U.S. Our gorgeous planet is stumbling towards a dead end. Women, people of color, LGTBQ+ individuals and more are hurt simply because they don’t match the white men at the top of the heap. Animals are killed by the millions because of our trashy food system.
How do I choose, and what can I give?
The task isn’t so overwhelming now that I’ve found Indivisible Yolo and Sister District. Thanks to their leadership, I can help elect a new government that will help all the causes I care about. They’ve done the heavy, messy background work (without pay). We volunteers just show up, do the cool stuff, and then enjoy a slightly less depressing evening! Doing the work is a great antidepressant.
Trump came to California this week. Indivisible Yolo and Sister District CA-3 put together a protest phone bank event in less than 2 days. I was excited they asked me to help. We had over 80 callers, and made 2,600 calls!! In two hours! Talk about effectiveness. It was powerful activism. The IY and SD folks are welcoming, fun and helpful. They work long hours to create a system the rest of us can rely on. When they announced our total calls last night (31% more than the goal of 2,020!), I felt like I had chugged a double espresso!
I donate to down-ticket candidates they recommend (my small gifts go further that way). I volunteer every week. They make it all so easy. I’m grateful for all they do and I hope Enterprise readers will join us!
A full list of upcoming volunteer opportunities can be found at: sisterdistrictca3.org or indivisibleyolo.org.
Alex Bury
Davis
The ‘E’ in this election is for all of the above
Letters to the Editor, DAVIS ENTERPRISE |PUBLISHED: Aug 7, 2020
“Hi is Collin available? Hi Collin I’m a volunteer for Joe Biden and Democrats up and down the ticket in Arizona.”
And so we talk as he is a strong supporter. I get to the question about what matters most to him. The 10 items show up in a pop-down menu from Economy to Women’s Issues.
“E, all of the above” he says. So I dutifully ask again and then we both decide that the imaginary “E-all” is the best answer and move on with a chuckle.
I spoke with Collin for a while. He and his wife Janice were traveling outside of Arizona when they took my call. Collin served two tours in Vietnam. Retired now, he asks himself each morning, “what exactly was I fighting for considering the actions of this senate and this president? … It’s treason.
“It’s all important,” says Collin, “the most important thing of all to get this president out of there”
The volunteers at Indivisible Yolo (indivisibleyolo.org) agree. Indivisible Yolo has joined hundreds of volunteers here and across the country because the answer to what matters most is “E” all of the above. There is a calendar of activities, time slots and a friendly Zoom training waiting for you so you can help save our country.
Colin asked me to check the box “will volunteer.” He’s ready — how about you?
Scott Ragsdale
Davis
Community read — ‘Unrigged’
Letters to the Editor, DAVIS ENTERPRISE |PUBLISHED: June 29, 2020
I fully endorse Kari Peterson’s suggestion in the June 26 letters that the book Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy is an inspiring summer read. I have read the book this past month, and the successful campaigns it details against political gerrymandering (both Democratic and Republican), voting rights and restoration of those rights, and expansion of health care fill one with hope, as well as righteous awareness of the hard work that these “for the people” campaigns take against great odds and powerful interests.
Unrigged describes the fight against voting restrictions in Native American communities in the Southwest. This hit home especially to me, as I grew up in Navajo country in northern New Mexico. Our Native American brothers weren’t covered by the 15th amendment (we decided they weren’t citizens) in 1870 and did not fully get the right to vote until nearly a hundred years later (unfortunately, voting rights for our sisters of all races also came much, much later than 1870). Beginning with the Snyder Act in 1924, the right had to be won state-by-state. A federal judge forced Utah to grant voting rights to their Indian population, including the Navajo people, in 1957. New Mexico was the last state to allow Natives the right to vote, in 1962 when I was 7, blissfully unaware that the Navajo I lived among could not vote.
Unrigged also discusses a voting rights campaign in North Dakota. You don’t have to be registered to vote there, but you do need a Voter ID. After Heidi Heitkamp was narrowly elected Senator in 2012, with significant Native American support, the legislature changed the Voter ID law to strictly enforce a street address requirement – which most Native Americans did not have. They had to struggle to create addresses and then get the newly required IDs to vote – some were turned away even though the poll workers had known them all their lives.
There is much more inspiration in the book, so I encourage participation in the Community Read event on Zoom at 7 p.m. on July 15. Register at bit.ly/unrigged.
Timothy Tutt
Pick this one up
Letters to the Editor, DAVIS ENTERPRISE |PUBLISHED: June 23, 2020
I have an inspiring suggestion for your summer reading list, “Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy.”
The author is David Daley, a journalist whose work appears in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Slate, The Washington Post, The Guardian and New York Magazine. He is a senior fellow at FairVote and the former editor in chief of Salon. He’s an authority on gerrymandering and wrote “Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count.”
His latest book shares stories of the activist groups that paved the way for the historic 2018 blue wave and offers a vivid portrait of a nation transformed by a new civic awakening.
We could use some inspiration as we prepare for a grueling campaign, leading up to November’s enormously consequential election!
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Two local political action organizations — Indivisible Yolo and Sister District CA-3 — are partnering to offer Mr. Daley’s book as a community read.
The first event associated with the Community Read will be a Zoom gathering at 7 p.m. July 15. UC Davis associate professor of sociology Stephanie L. Mudge, author of “Leftism Reinvented: Western Parties from Socialism to Neoliberalism,” will lead a discussion of “Unrigged.”
Later in the summer, we are offering another Zoom event at which Daley will be on hand to delve deeper into the book and answer questions.
“Unrigged” is available at The Avid Reader. Less than a month to read it before the July 15 event!
To register for the community read, go to bit.ly/unrigged.
Kari Peterson
Sister District CA-3
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Pandemic shifts political activism online
By Special to The Enterprise |PUBLISHED: May 23, 2020
In early March, two local political-action organizations jointly hosted a rousing kickoff rally and celebrated the festive grand opening of their brand new joint Volunteer Center on Olive Drive.
Days later, they were reading through emergency stay-at-home guidelines from the Yolo County Health Department and putting revised signs on the door that effectively shut down their newly-opened center and suspended all of their planned activities, due to the global pandemic.
Kelly Wilkerson of Sister District CA-3 and Rachel Beck of Indivisible Yolo gathered their leadership teams and began to quickly regroup. Dozens of volunteers scrubbed long-made plans for events and activities that would take them through the November 2020 election and began to strategize options for alternative ways of getting the work done.
“For three years, we’ve worked hard to recruit and activate hundreds of volunteers in our community who are distressed about the direction our country has gone since the 2016 election and are motivated to do whatever it takes to bring about a change in 2020,” said Beck. acheter tadalista
Added Wilkerson: “We’ve bussed and carpooled to districts all over the West for canvassing. We’ve registered hundreds of voters. We’ve met in homes and cafes all over town and written thousands of postcards. We’ve marched, made thousands of phone calls, and sent hundreds of thousands of texts.
“We were able to raise enough money to open a huge, two-story center that would serve as a hub of operation to coordinate our efforts through November. We were ready to ensure a Blue Wave of change in 2020.”
And then the novel coronavirus hit. State and county guidelines restricted in-person activities, meetings and events. Wholesale change was required.
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By mid-March, leadership teams developed a whole new set of action plans and “At-Home Activism” was launched.
“I am so impressed by the creativity and motivation of all of our leadership teams,” said Wilkerson, adding, “We had to dive in and learn entirely new skills and figure out new ways to get the work done. And then teach those skills to our hundreds of volunteers.”
Zoom became a fundamental part of how they operated.
“Zoom is the core of our At-Home Activism strategy,” said Beck. “We use it to train people on a variety of phone banking and text banking platforms, for example. Then we gather our volunteers over Zoom and actually do the work.”
Meghan Miller, a founding member of Sister District CA-3, said it wasn’t easy moving everybody into an online-only world.
Volunteers like Miller and Indivisible Yolo organizer Emily Hill are accustomed to working with virtual platforms.
“A lot of our volunteers are retired,” Hill said. “It’s a big ask for some to make the shift from in-person to online.”
Audrey Pan, who coordinates the postcard writing teams, said, “We had about a dozen groups who would gather together once a week to talk, share their feelings and write postcards to voters. A major draw for those gatherings was social. It’s hard to duplicate that online.”
And yet, since March, Pan’s postcard teams have sent 7,124 postcards to voters all over the country.
Linda Cloud, Chris Craig-Veit and Janette Vine, who coordinate the text banking teams, reported that their volunteers — over a hundred currently active — have sent over 255,000 texts this year.
“We used to meet at the Volunteer Center and train people in person, then they would go home and everyone would be plugged into their texting software sending texts by the hundreds,” Cloud said. “Now we still do that, but we train and gather via Zoom. It’s been challenging, but worth it. Everybody feels really accomplished and like they’re having a significant impact.”
Steve Murphy, Tim Tutt and Katherine Holmes, who organize the phone bank efforts, said their groups have made 6,525 calls since March.
“We offer four two-hour phone banking sessions a week,” said Tutt. “Each one has a steady team of folks who come back week after week and make calls using fairly sophisticated software. It seemed complicated at first, but virtually everyone has grown comfortable with the technique of making calls while in a Zoom meeting. It’s been a lot of fun.”
Said Beck: “It’s a phenomenal effort. In the span of two months, we open a volunteer center, close a volunteer center, cancel a full calendar of events and then turn around and learn a whole new way of doing business. And churn out 7,124 postcards, 6,525 phone calls and over 255,000 texts.
“As Margaret Mead said, ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’”
For information about upcoming trainings and volunteer events visit www.sisterdistrictca3.org or www.indivisibleyolo.org and click on the calendar link.
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First-of-its-kind election volunteer center opens in Davis
By Lloyd Knox, Special to the DAVIS ENTERPRISE |PUBLISHED: March 14, 2020
Across the country, thousands of local grassroots political groups — formed in the wake of the 2016 election — are organizing now to support Democrats in November.
Here in Yolo County, Indivisible Yolo and Sister District CA-3 held their Election 2020 Kickoff last week, a call to arms pitched to an audience of almost 200 people. Then, on March 7, they hosted the grand opening of the Election 2020 Volunteer Center.
Their mission: Flip red-state legislatures blue, defend the House of Representatives and flip the Senate, and win the White House for the Democratic nominee.
At March 5’s kickoff event, emotions were palpable as the leadership (mostly women) shared their motivations, experiences and lessons learned.
“The last three years have taught us a lot, but the resounding lesson that shapes our path forward in this moment is that no one is coming to save us,” said Rachel Beck of Indivisible Yolo. “(Robert) Mueller didn’t do it. Impeachment didn’t do it. Neither the Department of Justice nor the judiciary will save us. A Democratic majority in the House (of Representatives) alone isn’t saving us. And even our favorite presidential candidate will not be our savior. So who saves us? We save us.”
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The two local grassroots groups are aiming to build on activity and accomplishments of the past few years by recruiting more volunteers. Since 2017, they have reached out to voters via more than 14,000 phone calls, 25,000 postcards and 140,000 texts. Collectively they have spent more than 3,000 days knocking on doors.
The strategy is a broad one, aimed not just at the White House, but also the Senate, the House of Representatives and even state legislatures.
“In key swing states like Arizona and Pennsylvania, Republican legislatures are keeping Democrats from winning through gerrymandering and voter suppression,” said Kelly Wilkerson of Sister District CA-3. “We need to work strategically to flip state legislatures blue and give Democrats a fair fight in every state.”
Beck expanded on the strategy: “To save our democracy we must drive overwhelming voter turnout, enough voters to vote the GOP out of office up and down the ballot. Enough voters that we negate the impacts of voter roll purges, the closing of polling places, racist voter ID laws, exact match voter registration laws and the like. That takes work. It happens with person to person, voter to voter contact. One voter at a time.”
After the overview from Beck and Wilkerson, the audience heard from the leaders of the efforts in phone calling, texting, writing postcards, canvassing (knocking on doors) and registering new voters.
“We don’t canvass in our district because we’re safely blue. So for us, canvassing usually involves a road trip to a nearby congressional district,” explained Kari Peterson.
Audrey Pan spoke about writing postcards to voters, and then about her 10-year-old son.
“Just the other day, as my son was cooking some simple soup for himself, he said he’s just as independent as a 5th grader we saw in a movie; because in the movie, the child’s mother was hospitalized long term, forcing the child to grow up. My son said his mother is postcardalized and activistalized. He understands we have something precious to save, our Democracy and our only home, Mother Earth.”
The event ended with a call for commitments to participate in the work.
“The last thing I want you to take away from tonight is, ‘Whew, they got this’,” said Emily Hill of Indivisible Yolo. “Because we do not ‘got this.’ But together? We’ve got this.”
Center of attention
Two days later came the grand opening of the Election 2020 Volunteer Center at 720 E. Olive Dr.
The opening attracted the attendance of local politicians like Davis City Councilman Lucas Frerichs and Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor, as well as professional grassroots organizers Bobby Michaels of the national Indivisible organization and Andrew Kim, field director and strategist with Flip the West.
The center is the result of a local fundraising effort that paid the rent through the Nov. 3 election.
“We are extremely grateful for the generous support from the community that has made this facility possible,” said Wilkerson. “We are now equipped to work to win the most consequential election of our lives.”
Michaels told the crowd, “This is the only Indivisible group across the country that has opened its own brick and mortar volunteer center.”
Added Kim: “Many of the local chapters of these national groups are fighting with each other over limited local resources. But Sister District CA-3 and Indivisible Yolo are working together toward their common goals. It’s paying off. They are building a large, positive, effective community of volunteers. And they are doing it now. This is when elections are won. Not on election day, but months in advance.”
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Davis-based political groups hold Election 2020 kickoff events
Sister District CA-3 and Indivisible Yolo plan campaign events
By WOODLAND DAILY DEMOCRAT |PUBLISHED: February 20, 2020
Sister District CA-3 and Indivisible Yolo will hold their “Election 2020 Kickoff” event on Thursday, March 5, and the grand opening of their Election 2020 Volunteer Center on Saturday, March 7.
Sister District CA-3 and Indivisible Yolo are local chapters of two national groups that sprung up as a result of the 2016 election of President Donald Trump. Both groups have supported political campaigns at a variety of levels, both in California and in other states, as well as worked to hold members of Congress accountable.
The California primary will come to a close on March 3, and momentum is building toward the general election.
“The time is right,” said Kelly Wilkerson, part of the leadership team of Sister District CA-3, “to be ready to welcome a large expansion in our number of volunteers.”
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At the March 5 Kick-Off Rally at the Veteran’s Memorial Center in Davis, 7 to 8:30 p.m., the groups will be detailing all the ways volunteers can contribute: phonebanks, texting, canvassing, voter registration and writing postcards to voters.
Rachel Beck, a leader of Indivisible Yolo, said, “Hundreds of volunteers have been working for three years now on a variety of election campaigns, both in California and in other states. But to succeed in 2020 we really need a lot more people to join us.”
At the Election 2020 Kickoff, leaders from Sister District CA-3 and Indivisible Yolo will explain their plan to flip the Senate, defend the House, flip states blue, and win back the presidency from the Republican Party. This event takes place at the Veterans Memorial Center MPR, on 203 E. 14th St. in Davis.
On Saturday, March 7 at 10 a.m. will be the Grand Opening of the Election 2020 Volunteer Center at 720 E. Olive Drive No. D in Davis.
“With this new facility we are taking a big leap, enabling us to channel our energy and our hopes into action,” said Beck.
The Center is the result of a local fundraising effort that paid the rent through the Nov. 3 election. “We are extremely grateful for the generous support from the community that has made this facility possible,” said Wilkerson. “We are now equipped to work to win the most consequential election of our lives.”
The Grand Opening will begin with a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony, followed by opportunities to get right to work. Coffee and doughnuts will be on the house as volunteers spend the morning phone banking to voters in red districts.
Volunteers will also be able to check out postcard packets to take home to write to voters in key races.
Text-banking with training for beginners will happen in the afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. Text-bankers and phone-bankers should bring a charged laptop or tablet and cell phone. Phone-bankers generally find it helpful to bring earbuds.
New volunteers will be joining ones who have worked for one, two, or three years already. Sue Barton, who heads up Welcoming and Recruiting for Sister District CA-3 reflected on the existing volunteer base.
“Not only have we been engaged in effective political action, we’ve built a supportive community,” she reported. “I find it comforting to be working shoulder to shoulder with like-minded individuals. Most of us were not politically active prior to the 2016 election. We’ve been figuring this out together and building an even bigger skilled volunteer group.”
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It’s time to protect what you love
Letters to the Editor, DAVIS ENTERPRISE |PUBLISHED: February 12, 2020
Do you feel that democracy and the rule of law are under attack? Do you want to protect what you love and value? Do you want Democratic control of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives? If so, I have some good news.
Right here in Davis are opportunities, with groups like Sister District CA-3 and Indivisible Yolo, to work shoulder-to-shoulder with like-minded people. As long as we have freedom of speech, let’s use it to defend democracy, the rule of law and the environment, and to expand access to education and health care.
I often hear that because we’re in California, in a solidly blue district, there are no opportunities to influence national politics. But in fact we can, and do, reach out to voters in other districts in a variety of ways. One of them might be a good fit for you. Some of us send postcards to voters in support of various campaigns.
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Some of us will be traveling to nearby districts that flipped from red to blue in 2018, in order to keep them blue by knocking on doors to talk with voters. Some of us are already getting out to these districts to register voters. Some of us phone voters in states with key senate races. Some of us textbank – we use a texting platform, accessed through our laptops, to have texting conversations with voters (without exposing our own phone numbers). Some are motivating (with postcards, text messages, or phone calls) voters in key state government races because of how they will influence congressional redistricting in 2021.
We are all part of a growing community. We want you on board. Join us! Bring a friend! You could drop by our Volunteer Center on 720 Olive Drive this Thursday, Feb. 13, between 6 and 8:30 p.m. for training in textbanking.
The forces aligned against us are powerful. The stakes are high. I know it’s a big ask but we need you. Look up Sister District CA-3 and/or Indivisible Yolo. Reach out to us. We’ll welcome you and train you to engage in the activity of your choice. You’ll be glad you did.
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