Who are the five people you should contact in the next 48 hours to ask for their commitment to fight for freedom and fairness? Can't name five? How about two? Whatever the number, get in touch and get them on board.
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PS Someone said a few days ago that we should just wait and see what happens as a result of all these GOP "reforms." That's like saying you should just wait and see what happens when you put a plastic bag over your head for a few minutes.
If GOP "reforms" had been tried in other states or in other eras and worked, that person might have a case. But they've all been tried ... and they don't work. These "reforms" will lead school resegregation, a shortage of good teachers, more polluted water, more poverty, more misery, more homelessness, more risks to women, and more economic malaise.
We can stay informed and read blogs until we're bluenc in the face (ahem), but many of us want to take action. I've already contacted the NCDP and the Wake DP and have heard nothing. Is it just too early? People are willing to start helping, but where and how?
Some of us have been thinking about having a meeting of unusual suspects ... outsider thinkers who have no particular allegiance to any established power structure ... to map out the makings of full-scale uprising. I have only a few ideas, with two common thread:
Uprising Part 1.
1. Make as many people as possible aware of the specific impacts of new policies.
2. Get as many people as possible to understand exactly who is responsible for them.
3. Register voters like crazy.
4. Lure as many regular people into running for office as possible. I'm talking groundswell.
5. Use the May primary as a dress-rehearsal for November.
Don't know exactly how to do it with all the posturing going on between the NCDP, the caucuses, etc., etc. Looks to me like NCNAACP, Progress NC, and Democracy NC are leading the charge. I'm happy to follow them almost anywhere.
Push Moral Monday civil disobedience to the next level of resistance. Don't know exactly what this is either ... and it will definitely require some creative thinking. Lots of lessons to learn from the past for sure, but innovation will be needed to. It would be easy enough to blow shit up, but that's the right wing MO, not ours. We need some fresh ideas. (And I don't mean promotional ideas and messaging, though lord knows we need that too. I'm talking frontline action.)
The NCAE could be join the ranks of key movers, given how must damage is being done to education. SEANC could too, if they weren't suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
All that said, it's obvious I don't have a good, crisp answer to your question.
I've got a couple of suggestions. First, don't wait for anyone. Start acting. Read the blogs, this one, mine, Pearce's and others, but use them for talking points. Right now, there are still a whole lot of people in this state who aren't tuned in. They don't live in the Triangle, read a newspaper (other than a local one) and only watch news for the killings and sports. Find an AM talk radio station near you and start calling in and talking, particularly on less political shows. Write letters to the editor in these small town papers. Bring up politics in conversation at church and family events, even if it's uncomfortable. These folks in Raleigh are making me very uncomfortable so I'm gonna make other people share my pain. They might not agree me, but they will hear me out. Anybody with a brain should know that cutting schools when we're already funding them at a lower level than 80% of the other states is bad public policy. The goal is to put doubt about these idiots into the minds of people who will probably never really know the details. Then watch and when something does begin to happen, volunteer, dig deep and give. We kept Elaine Marshall's U. S. Senate campaign alive with low-dollar contributions. While we came up short, I learned the value of $5, $10, $25 donations. Those are a few things I think are worth trying. Keep throwing it against the wall until something sticks.
Someone said a few days ago that we should just wait and see what happens as a result of all these GOP "reforms." That's like saying you should just wait and see what happens when you put a plastic bag over your head for a few minutes.
Maybe we should wait and see if requiring a voter id that can cost poor people a couple hundred dollars really discourages them from voting.
Maybe we should wait and see if allowing more dark money for political candidates results in more transparency and better government from our elected officials.
Maybe we should wait and see if putting NC in debt to give a few millionaires a tax break will improve the economy.
Maybe we should wait and see if putting more taxes on NC's poor and middle class improves the economy.
Maybe we should wait and see if letting the NC legislature give Asheville's watershed to land developers is beneficial for Asheville.
Maybe we should wait and see if closing almost of the abortion clinics in NC really has any impact on the ability of poor and minority women exercise their right to abortion.
Maybe we should wait and see if taking money away from public schools and giving them to private schools has any impact on keeping good teachers and getting students to succeed in public schools.
Maybe we should wait and see if giving NC teacher's the lowest pay increases in the nation improves our kids's education.
Maybe we should wait and see if being last in the nation in broadband access has any impact on the state's economy or ability to attract new business.
Maybe we should wait and see if small NC service businesses find collecting new taxes a burden - maybe they'll enjoy collecting new taxes.
Maybe we should wait and see if NC's Amendment One really turns out to be constitutional and encourages talent and businesses to move to the state.
Maybe we should wait and see if allowing concealed guns in bars, schools, playgrounds and universities leads to everyone being safer.
Maybe we should wait and see if other states attach abortion legislation to a motorcycle safety bill.
Maybe we should wait and see if redistricting to count Democratic votes at 3/5's the rate of Republican votes really makes any difference in competitive elections.
Maybe we should wait and see if McCrory actually signs any of these bills.
Comments
How does it start?
Who are the five people you should contact in the next 48 hours to ask for their commitment to fight for freedom and fairness? Can't name five? How about two? Whatever the number, get in touch and get them on board.
_________________________________
PS Someone said a few days ago that we should just wait and see what happens as a result of all these GOP "reforms." That's like saying you should just wait and see what happens when you put a plastic bag over your head for a few minutes.
If GOP "reforms" had been tried in other states or in other eras and worked, that person might have a case. But they've all been tried ... and they don't work. These "reforms" will lead school resegregation, a shortage of good teachers, more polluted water, more poverty, more misery, more homelessness, more risks to women, and more economic malaise.
So how do we organize?
We can stay informed and read blogs until we're bluenc in the face (ahem), but many of us want to take action. I've already contacted the NCDP and the Wake DP and have heard nothing. Is it just too early? People are willing to start helping, but where and how?
Let's have a committee meeting!
I'm only half joking.
Some of us have been thinking about having a meeting of unusual suspects ... outsider thinkers who have no particular allegiance to any established power structure ... to map out the makings of full-scale uprising. I have only a few ideas, with two common thread:
Uprising Part 1.
1. Make as many people as possible aware of the specific impacts of new policies.
2. Get as many people as possible to understand exactly who is responsible for them.
3. Register voters like crazy.
4. Lure as many regular people into running for office as possible. I'm talking groundswell.
5. Use the May primary as a dress-rehearsal for November.
Don't know exactly how to do it with all the posturing going on between the NCDP, the caucuses, etc., etc. Looks to me like NCNAACP, Progress NC, and Democracy NC are leading the charge. I'm happy to follow them almost anywhere.
Uprising Part 2.
Sue the hell out of them out every turn.
Uprising Part 3.
Push Moral Monday civil disobedience to the next level of resistance. Don't know exactly what this is either ... and it will definitely require some creative thinking. Lots of lessons to learn from the past for sure, but innovation will be needed to. It would be easy enough to blow shit up, but that's the right wing MO, not ours. We need some fresh ideas. (And I don't mean promotional ideas and messaging, though lord knows we need that too. I'm talking frontline action.)
The NCAE could be join the ranks of key movers, given how must damage is being done to education. SEANC could too, if they weren't suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
All that said, it's obvious I don't have a good, crisp answer to your question.
Mills, here
I've got a couple of suggestions. First, don't wait for anyone. Start acting. Read the blogs, this one, mine, Pearce's and others, but use them for talking points. Right now, there are still a whole lot of people in this state who aren't tuned in. They don't live in the Triangle, read a newspaper (other than a local one) and only watch news for the killings and sports. Find an AM talk radio station near you and start calling in and talking, particularly on less political shows. Write letters to the editor in these small town papers. Bring up politics in conversation at church and family events, even if it's uncomfortable. These folks in Raleigh are making me very uncomfortable so I'm gonna make other people share my pain. They might not agree me, but they will hear me out. Anybody with a brain should know that cutting schools when we're already funding them at a lower level than 80% of the other states is bad public policy. The goal is to put doubt about these idiots into the minds of people who will probably never really know the details. Then watch and when something does begin to happen, volunteer, dig deep and give. We kept Elaine Marshall's U. S. Senate campaign alive with low-dollar contributions. While we came up short, I learned the value of $5, $10, $25 donations. Those are a few things I think are worth trying. Keep throwing it against the wall until something sticks.
Maybe we should wait
Maybe we should wait and see if requiring a voter id that can cost poor people a couple hundred dollars really discourages them from voting.
Maybe we should wait and see if allowing more dark money for political candidates results in more transparency and better government from our elected officials.
Maybe we should wait and see if putting NC in debt to give a few millionaires a tax break will improve the economy.
Maybe we should wait and see if putting more taxes on NC's poor and middle class improves the economy.
Maybe we should wait and see if letting the NC legislature give Asheville's watershed to land developers is beneficial for Asheville.
Maybe we should wait and see if closing almost of the abortion clinics in NC really has any impact on the ability of poor and minority women exercise their right to abortion.
Maybe we should wait and see if taking money away from public schools and giving them to private schools has any impact on keeping good teachers and getting students to succeed in public schools.
Maybe we should wait and see if giving NC teacher's the lowest pay increases in the nation improves our kids's education.
Maybe we should wait and see if being last in the nation in broadband access has any impact on the state's economy or ability to attract new business.
Maybe we should wait and see if small NC service businesses find collecting new taxes a burden - maybe they'll enjoy collecting new taxes.
Maybe we should wait and see if NC's Amendment One really turns out to be constitutional and encourages talent and businesses to move to the state.
Maybe we should wait and see if allowing concealed guns in bars, schools, playgrounds and universities leads to everyone being safer.
Maybe we should wait and see if other states attach abortion legislation to a motorcycle safety bill.
Maybe we should wait and see if redistricting to count Democratic votes at 3/5's the rate of Republican votes really makes any difference in competitive elections.
Maybe we should wait and see if McCrory actually signs any of these bills.
I love it when you get mad
Nice rant