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You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Don't Mourn, Organize / If The Phone Don’t Ring…

If The Phone Don’t Ring…

by Tom Levenson|  November 18, 20157:59 am| 35 Comments

This post is in: Don't Mourn, Organize, Don't Trip, Organize, Flash Mob of Hate, Our Failed Political Establishment, Their Motto: Apocalypse Now

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Hey everyone!

I’ve got a message for you:

Pick up the damn phone.

The backstory:  I heard last night from a valued reader with connections to the Hill reminded me that there is more this crowd can do than point, sigh, and mock the GOP pants-wetters (abetted by an increasing number of feckless Dems) who so fear the widows and orphans from the latest spasm of our long decade of war in the Middle East.*

Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_052

What to do about the attempt to make fear the ground state of American policy?  What to do about the spreading political meme that the proper exercise of US state power is to bar the door to Syrian refugees? How should we stand with President Obama when he says of the fear mongers “that’s not who we are”?

Pick up the damn telephone.

Call your Congressional representatives in the House and the Senate.

You know the drill:  Speak your mind, politely, respectfully, but firmly to whoever you get on the phone.

My reader emphasized, and my own distant memory of an internship on the Hill concurs, that these calls really matter.  House and Senate staffs keep notes and logs.  There are regular reports of how many calls came in, on what side, and with what passion or urgency.  \

Paradoxically, because of the ubiquity of social media, an actual human voice that has taken the trouble to pick up a phone carries a great deal of weight.  So call.

The numbers:

The Senate.

The House.

If you’re feeling extra virtuous — your governor and state legislature representatives would also be worth a call.

We can water the tree of liberty not with blood, but words.

Pick up the damn phone.

*Yes, I do know that the conflict there — and “Great” Power strategerizing through its misery — extends well before 2003.  But the Syrian Civil War of the last few years is (at least to me) both a conflict with deep roots and a proximate consequence of Bush the Lesser’s attempt to remake the Middle East into an model US client region.

Image: attr. to Rembrandt van Rijn, The Flight Into Egypt,  1627

 

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Reader Interactions

35Comments

  1. 1.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 18, 2015 at 8:06 am

    I contacted MD Republican Governer Hogan yesterday afternoon via his website to express my disgust at his decision to jump on the anti-Syrian refugee bandwagon. Hope he’s being deluged with emails.

  2. 2.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    November 18, 2015 at 8:17 am

    Thanks for the reminder.

    Along with calling, it’s important to have an insight into what’s going on in the heads of Daesh and its compatriots.

    Waleed at The Project in Australia (4:47) is an excellent argument for not over-reacting and instead coming together.

    (Sorry if it’s been mentioned before, except it needs to be seen by as many people as possible.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  3. 3.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 8:25 am

    I watched some of CBS morning with Charlie Rose. One reporter said that the GOP politicians who wanted to refuse refugee entry were simply following the orders of their constituents, who had been calling their offices in droves.

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    November 18, 2015 at 8:33 am

    I called Congressman Tonko (D-NY) yesterday to commend him on his courageous statement on the Syrian refugee issue. (A commenter in the morning thread shared it, which is what brought it to my attention.) I told the guy who answered the phone that I am not a constituent but that I wanted to thank the congressman for doing the right thing.

    When the staffer answered the phone, there was a wary tone in his voice — I suspect he’d been dealing with rage-and-fear-o-holics. I could tell he was so relieved to get some positive feedback, which he said he’d share with the congressman.

    I also called my own senators and rep, including worthless, absentee haircut Marco Rubio, to urge them to do the right thing. Of course, Rubio will do what’s politically expedient. But nonetheless, I really do think this stuff matters and can make a difference, so thanks for the reminder.

  5. 5.

    MattF

    November 18, 2015 at 8:34 am

    @Patricia Kayden: I think Hogan is a good target for this sort of thing. He’s shown spasms of rationality.

  6. 6.

    sparrow

    November 18, 2015 at 8:40 am

    @MattF: As a Marylander I will do my duty and call today, though I loathe Hogan, and hate picking up the phone under any circumstances (social awkwardness gets even worse when I can’t see who I’m talking to, somehow).

  7. 7.

    Germy

    November 18, 2015 at 8:43 am

    @Betty Cracker: It would be nice to turn on CBS morning show and see Charlie Rose mention the phone calls like yours, but i suspect that won’t happen. They have a narrative and they’re sticking with it.

    I made a phone call yesterday. I hope it did some good.

  8. 8.

    MomSense

    November 18, 2015 at 8:48 am

    Will call this afternoon.

  9. 9.

    amk

    November 18, 2015 at 8:53 am

    meanwhile, in the real heathens world

    ABC News
    ✔
    @ABC

    NEW: Pres. Hollande commits to taking 30,000 refugees in next 2 years; says France has duty to honor that commitment. “Life must go on.”
    6:12 PM – 18 Nov 2015

  10. 10.

    Xantar

    November 18, 2015 at 8:55 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Hogan’s pronouncement inspired me to write a Facebook post which I’ll summarize briefly:

    In the mid-20th century, there were lots of Vietnamese terrorists. That’s the only way to describe the Viet Cong whose tactics including firing flamethrowers at crowds of people, bombing hospitals and clinics, and mass executions. From the 50s through to the 70s, their civilian body count was conservatively estimated at 40,000 (and possibly as high as 80,000). In 1975, polls showed that only about 36% of Americans supported taking in Vietnamese refugees. But the United States took them anyway.

    To date, not one act of terrorism has been committed by a resettled Vietnamese refugee or their descendants. If Larry Hogan had his way back in 1975, my parents wouldn’t have made it here.

  11. 11.

    Patricia Kayden

    November 18, 2015 at 9:02 am

    @Xantar: Cheers to that FB post!! Pretty powerful. It’s important to do the right thing even if it’s not popular.

    @amk: Good for President Hollande. That’s leadership right there. You don’t penalize a whole group for bigoted reasons (especially given that none of the terrorists were Syrian refugees).

  12. 12.

    raven

    November 18, 2015 at 9:05 am

    Let’s make fun of the scaredy cat republicans and write about being soo scared to drive through “the south”.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    November 18, 2015 at 9:13 am

    C-Span had Pennsylvania rep Lou Barletta (R-Pants Wetting Caucus) on. He followed the more rational Earl Blumenthal, Dem of Oregon.

    A caller (sounded like a male African American) ragged Barletta for selling fear, which is precisely what Barletta was doing.

    Barletta told the moderator that he worried Americans would forget what they felt on September 12.

  14. 14.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    November 18, 2015 at 9:19 am

    @raven: Speaking as a fishbelly white someone from a family that’s been in the South since before the Revolution (and I’ve got the lawsuit records to prove it), married to someone with equal credentials, there are a lot of people who have good reason to be nervous about visiting the South. Wrong shade of skin, wrong accent, wrong license plate on the car….

  15. 15.

    raven

    November 18, 2015 at 9:24 am

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: I’ll keep that in mind.

  16. 16.

    Tommy

    November 18, 2015 at 9:25 am

    @raven: Who is scared to drive through the south? My favorite memories of living in the south, at LSU, my best friend from Vermont, we drove all over the state of Texas with the Allman Brothers on repeat.

    I can mock Texas easily, but I loved to spend time in the darn state.

  17. 17.

    Tommy

    November 18, 2015 at 9:38 am

    @Elizabelle: I am an immigrant. I will keep saying that again and again. Family came here in the 1870s. Let me say that again I am a proud immigrant. Best I can tell it was because for generations we fought the Brits.We got tired of it.

    I got letters from that time of coming here and they are so cool. In a single generation family members went from an immigrant to elected local official.

    Vet the Syrians but welcome them here …..

  18. 18.

    japa21

    November 18, 2015 at 9:47 am

    Both called and emailed Tammy Duckworth. Told her I was proud of her stance and that she represented the values of our country well.

    I am still waiting for someone to call out the bed-wetters for their turning their back on the National Anthem and its last line: “Home of the Brave”.

    Mandalay was talking yesterday about how Obama shouldn’t use the phrase “That’s not who we are” because, somewhat obviously, that is who we (meaning a majority of Americans) are. Yet, sometimes we need to be reminded of what we can be.

    Also, I remember the attacks in England by al Qaeda and how the terrorists were mocked for having such a small victim total. Of course Bush was President so it had to be shown how his policies were having an impact.

    Not to diminish the personal tragedies many people suffered in Paris, but the actual totals of dead and wounded, considering the number of attacks, was not as bad as it could have been and to some degree should be shown as the overall impotence of the terrorists instead of, once again, turning them into some sort of existential threat.

  19. 19.

    Librarian

    November 18, 2015 at 10:01 am

    David Ignatius is such a fucking tool. He just said on Morning Joe that the governors just need to be reassured. No, you stupid fuck, they want to score political points against Obama and demagogue this issue.. He can give them “reassurance” from now until doomsday, and they’ll never be satisfied no matter what he does. Has Ignatius been asleep for the past 8 years?

  20. 20.

    Momus

    November 18, 2015 at 10:03 am

    If this Canadian can make a suggestion to his American neighbours (or at least those who lurk/comment here) over this issue, you might consider sending a letter (y’know, pen, paper, envelope, stamp – although the last may not even be required) to your political representative(s). The views expressed by means of such a concrete physical form are usually interpreted by the recipient as reflecting those of many more persons other than the individual writer. Anyway, good luck to all in the anti-xenophobe campaign.

  21. 21.

    Gin & Tonic

    November 18, 2015 at 10:04 am

    @Tommy: I do appreciate your welcoming sentiment, and don’t want to belabor this unnecessarily, but if your grandparents were born in the US, then you are not an immigrant. You may be descended from immigrants, as virtually all US citizens are, but being 3rd or 4th generation US-born is about as far from “immigrant” as can be.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    November 18, 2015 at 10:29 am

    @Librarian: I watched a longer clip of the presser where Obama mocked the sniveling cowards, and it included lots of reassurance in the form of a description of the thorough, lengthy and arduous vetting process refugees endure before being permitted to come to the US. So not only is Ignatious a tool, he’s the wrong tool!

  23. 23.

    Tara the Antisocial Social Worker

    November 18, 2015 at 10:44 am

    Awhile ago, when my congresscritter did something right, I called his office to express my appreciation. The guy answering the phone was so surprised, I know the call made an impression.

  24. 24.

    Matt McIrvin

    November 18, 2015 at 10:49 am

    @Tommy:

    Who is scared to drive through the south?

    You get one guess.

  25. 25.

    benw

    November 18, 2015 at 10:56 am

    @Matt McIrvin: Always bet on black!

  26. 26.

    Proudhon

    November 18, 2015 at 11:05 am

    You can reach Governor Baker of Massachusetts at 617-725-4005.

  27. 27.

    randy khan

    November 18, 2015 at 11:19 am

    @Gin & Tonic: While it’s technically true that he’s a descendant of immigrants, I kind of like the feeling of the idea that you’re an immigrant if your ancestors were immigrants. It’s kind of like how at Passover, everyone at the Seder is a fugitive Aramean.

  28. 28.

    Emily68

    November 18, 2015 at 11:54 am

    I live in teabag country–Washington’s 4th Congressional district. I just called my guy, Congressman Newhouse, and explained to the very nice man who answered the phone that being nasty to Syrian refugees was only going to empower ISIS. I also asked that the Congressman denounce those who are talking about closing mosques. Religious freedom is the American way. The man at the other end said he understood my position and he’d be happy to pass it along to Newhouse.

    I can’t imagine I’ll convince him, but at least he’ll know we aren’t all teabaggers.

  29. 29.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    November 18, 2015 at 12:48 pm

    @sparrow:

    If you hate hate hate making phone calls but have access to a fax machine, a good old-fashioned faxed letter still gets a lot of attention. Make sure to put your address on it so they know you’re a constituent. After I faxed a letter to Sen. Feinstein about the Iran deal, I got a mailed letter back (robosigned, but a letter).

  30. 30.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    November 18, 2015 at 12:59 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I agree with Randy Khan — I think it’s important to emphasize that we’re all immigrants, no matter when they arrived. Otherwise, it lets assholes claim that they’re Real Americans, unlike these johnny-come-latelies who only got here one or two generations ago.

    And I say this as someone whose paternal grandfather came over from Italy on the boat, but my maternal ancestors are descended from William Bradford, so I’ve literally got both kinds of immigrants in my DNA.

  31. 31.

    brantl

    November 18, 2015 at 1:23 pm

    Considering any Bush as the greater is to ignore historical fact. They ALL sucked. Including grand-pappy Prescott, the Nazi sympathizer who helped plan an aborted overthrow of our government, and got turned in by Smedley Butler. Google Smedley Butler, and the BBC, listen to the special that they did on this. Your eyes will pop out of your head.

  32. 32.

    brantl

    November 18, 2015 at 1:48 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    So not only is Ignatious a tool, he’s the wrong tool!

    He’s a wrong tool, there are many

  33. 33.

    Catherine D.

    November 18, 2015 at 4:25 pm

    I just called Chuck Shumer’s office, for what that’s worth. Probably slightly more than anything to our loathsome Congress critter Tom Reed. He just mailed me a hideous push poll, which I sent back with “Bite Me. I don’t do push polls” scrawled across the top.

  34. 34.

    a different chris

    November 18, 2015 at 9:20 pm

    @Xantar: [quote]To date, not one act of terrorism has been committed by a resettled Vietnamese refugee or their descendants.[/quote]
    It’s looking like that may not be true. Though, given the particulars of this case, it almost helps your argument – the whole ‘freedom fighters vs. terrorists’ naming controversy and whatnot.
    [url=http://www.democracynow.org/2015/11/11/terror_in_little_saigon_new_doc]DemocracyNOW[/url]
    [url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/terror-in-little-saigon/]PBS Frontline[/url]

  35. 35.

    a different chris

    November 19, 2015 at 4:24 am

    Well, I’ll just pretend I did that on purpose to show the value of a ‘Preview Post’ button.

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