Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

In my day, never was longer.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

The willow is too close to the house.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

We won’t go back.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

You are here: Home / Politics / @Actual_Citizens / Call To Action: One Tiny Thing You Can Do To Help Today (Open Thread)

Call To Action: One Tiny Thing You Can Do To Help Today (Open Thread)

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Hey BJ Peeps,

You guys totally came through the first two times, so let’s see if some of you can help out today.

I assume that most of you have seen or heard talk of the Join the Fight! project some of us are working on, or at least have heard about one part of the project – our Social Media Initiative.  If not, please click the link above.

Call To Action: One Tiny Thing You Can Do To Help Today

Big thanks to everyone who followed us @Actual_Citizens on twitter!  Extra thanks to anyone who not only followed us, but also liked us, retweeted one of our tweets, or quote tweeted us.  And a big thanks to everyone who let us know who was missing on our social media list; boy some of those omissions were kind of embarrassing!

Here’s the TINY ASK for today.  If you had 15-35 seconds to communicate what is most important to you about this election, what would you say?

35 seconds is about 75 words, give or take.  We’re not gonna count your words, so that’s just a rule of thumb.  

What would you say about what’s important to you and what’s at stake?  

You can be serious, sarcastic, snarky, angry, outraged, terrified, or gloriously happy with what Biden has accomplished, and anything in between.

Please let us know what you would say.

We want to take what is most important to you, what you think is most at stake in the election, and turn these into 15-35 second TikTok videos. 

This really is a totally Open thread.

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  1. 1.

    Fair Economist

    Voting is how we work together to solve big problems. We have some big problems right now. Make your plan to vote and get your friends to make theirs. We can make a difference.

  2. 2.

    Aimai

    Just watched the zelinsky video celebrating may 9th and I wished so hard the pro-rights population: women, lgbtq, multiracial, pro history people had a propaganda machine like the Ukrainians.

     

    I want to see a video push that shows us one by one leaving our chairs and our rooms and houses and coming out—flooding out—to join each other in the fucking fight of our lives, the fight for our lives. We are fighting for the right to privacy, the freedom to travel, the freedom of assembly, the right of free association, the right to speak the truth, the right to remember history, the right to choose our representatives. All of it. That is our fight. And we should be as aggressive and as unashamed as zelinsky was in his video. We will not back down. We will not compromise. We will not stop demanding our rights.

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    @Aimai: I , too, wish we had 1/10 of the fight Ukrainians do.  Maybe we do have it, and we are about to discover that?

    Yes, and the messaging!    We are trying to do our part on the messaging.

  6. 6.

    wonkie

    Are we going to reward the party that tried to end our democracy? Or are we going to punish them?

  7. 7.

    Omnes Omnibus

    We talk about being a country where everyone has rights. We talk about being a democracy.  We talk about fairness.  We talk about a lot.  Talk is cheap.  This fall, we can move forward to be the country we talk about or we can stay home and watch it all wither away.  I know what I am going to do.  What will you do?

  9. 9.

    Motivated Seller

    If you had 15-35 seconds to communicate what is most important to you about this election, what would you say?

    Sounds cheezy, but democracy in general, and voter suppression specifically.   I like the simplicity of, “Hold the House and add two Democratic Senators and we can fight back.”  The fact is that unless we stop the democratic backsliding NOW, we won’t be able to vote our way to a better nation, no matter what the count is.  And if voting no longer works, we’re in for a nasty ride.

  10. 10.

    Mai Naem mobile

    I mentioned this for the last election. Going to give it another try. It’s not any clever funny messaging I don’t know if its legal but I don’t see how it can’t be legal. We know the GOP will cause long lines at the polls. I wonder if we can get people who have the time to wait in line for people who have legitimately busy work/family schedules who don’t have hours to stand in line. . Using cell phones, messaging apps etc call the person when you’re within an hour of the front of the line and switch places. You’re not cutting in line. Its ridiculous to be doing this but you accomplish your goal.

  11. 11.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Ben Cisco: i really like that. I think many GOPrs would be happy if some people, especially those who are melanin gifted, didn’t count.

  12. 12.

    Nora

    They’ve demonstrated what they are.  Now it’s our turn to demonstrate who we are. We care about people’s rights. They care about their money. We care about taking care of everybody.  They care about their power over other people. We care about giving everybody a voice.  They care about shutting people up.

  13. 13.

    Lapassionara

    The Republicans want to eliminate Social Security and Medicare. We must not give them the power to do this! Vote blue in 22.

  16. 16.

    stacib

    Voting Rights Act.  The fear that people that look like me, who live in urban areas like me can lose their vote is terrifying.  Also too, how to convince people that in 2022, it’s really possible to actually lose your vote – even if nobody comes and actually snatches it out of your hand.  I’m super concerned that by the time people start to worry, it will be too late to do anything about it.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    The Battle of the 2020 Election is over. The Battle of the United States is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of American civilization. Upon it depends our own American life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Nation. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Republicans knows that they will have to break us in this election or lose the war. If we can stand up to them, all America may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, not just the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted religion. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the United States and its Outlying Territories lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.

  18. 18.

    SiubhanDuinne

    There are dozens — scores — of important rights at risk, but the foundational right is the right to vote.

  19. 19.

    Scout211

    This may not be want you are looking for but, similar to Aimai, I would like some of the focus to be on generating some sort of urgency in the voters who are 18-35 years old to join the fight and get active.

    Part of what has so many of us here feeling really discouraged and down is because we all spent our  teens, 20s and 30s fighting for every single right that is now being threatened. Where is the energy of the youth to take up this fight? We need to help light a fire under  them to join the fight .

    Grandmas can’t do it all anymore.  LOL

  20. 20.

    Ben Cisco

    I didn’t use all my time, and I also didn’t explain why I said what I said.

    For me, it’s this simple.

    Everyone counts, or no one does.

    Laws apply to everyone, or to no one.

    All votes matter, or none of them do.

    We do not do kings, potentates, dictators, or absolute rulers here.

    That’s it.

  22. 22.

    WaterGirl

    @Scout211:

    I would like some of the focus to be on generating some sort of urgency in the voters who are 18-35 years old to join the fight and get active.

    Can you suggest some words to use to generate the urgency?  I think “Grandmas can’t do it all anymore” could be the ending part of that.

  23. 23.

    Almost Retired

    @Scout211:  Great point, and stay tuned.  Balloon-Juice’s Joint the Fight effort has a project in the hopper to target the yutes.

    ETA:  It’s “Join the Fight,” although Joint the Fight might have a certain appeal for the younger demographic.

  26. 26.

    The Up and Up

    My Talk About Whatever train of thought went to gardening as I had a stack of seeds and I thought everyone took them but the Thyme remains. I considered a variation of the Styx song Too Much Time On My Hands. What this fight is concerns what kind of future we want to have. What is planted today can be reaped later. It will just take time and Thyme.

  28. 28.

    CaseyL

    “They might not count your vote – but if you don’t vote, they **definitely** won’t count you.”

  29. 29.

    Karen

    Everything is interconnected. It’s not just abortion. It’s birth control and women’s employment and LGBTQ rights and even interracial marriage. The reasoning that the right to abortion is not in the Constitution can be used for anything they don’t like. Something you care about with your soul isn’t in the Constitution and WILL be taken away from you if you don’t vote against the GOP.

  34. 34.

    schrodingers_cat

    @zhena gogolia: @WaterGirl: Churchill’s legacy in WWII should also include the Bengal Famine of 1942 which was a genocide by starvation. A result of policy decisions by the war cabinet lead by Churchill. A policy that killed over 50 million in British India during the Crown rule (1857-1947)

    Bengal famine of 1942-43 claimed between 2 million to 3 million lives.

  35. 35.

    debbie

    This country was founded so people could practice their beliefs without persecution. Now, some are using their beliefs to persecute others. Stop them before they begin to persecute you.

  37. 37.

    AJ

    “You’re either on Team Everybody or Team Screw Them I Got Mine. I’m on Team Everybody. Black, white, rich, poor, men, women, gay, straight. Everybody needs clean water, safe streets, a job, and freedom from violence. Vote Team Everybody.”

  38. 38.

    Robin Goodfellow

    One of the biggest problems in minority areas are the long lines for voting. Mostly caused by people who are unfamiliar with the issues and candidates spending the time to read every word on the ballot.

    I would like to see a “Know Before you Go” initiative that informs the electorate about what is on the ballot and what the ballot looks like. This way the lines move much quicker and people are not discouraged from voting.

  39. 39.

    gene108

    A bit wordy, but my best effort.

    The Republicans 11 Point Plan for if they retake Congress recklessly goes out of its way to hurt ordinary working Americans. Taxes will be raised on the bottom 50% of earners. Social Security and Medicare will go bankrupt. Government land, like our National Parks, and buildings will be sold to unaccountable Wall Street billionaires or shadowy companies. Democrats will not raise taxes on hardworking Americans, Democrats will fight to preserve and expand Social Security and Medicare. Democrats will not sell off the people’s interests to the highest bidder.

  40. 40.

    UncleEbeneezer

    America has never been “great.”  But in our finest moments we have pushed towards greatness with a fearless, multi-racial coalition dedicated to fighting for freedom, justice and equality for all, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexuality, class or country of origin.  The GOP wants to roll back these efforts and close the door on our future, creating a permanent (can’t think of the word- help!) of White Christian Supremacy and Patriarchy.  It’s time to stand up for everything that is good and right in America, to save our Democracy and our planet.  The only way to do that is to elect Democrats and defeat Republicans.

  41. 41.

    UncleEbeneezer

    For anyone who needs a little inspiration, I always look to this short speech from Harriet Tubman from Season 2 of the excellent tv series, Underground.

  43. 43.

    gene108

    @zhena gogolia:

    She hates Churchill with the fire of a thousand suns.

    He was stubborn about Nazi Germany. Otherwise, his outright racism would’ve made Woodrow Wilson blush.

  44. 44.

    hrprogressive

    The GOP will Terminate American Representative Democracy as You Know It if They Are Not Stopped.

    It really is that simple.

  45. 45.

    Sandia Blanca

    @Aimai: I really love this idea, can see how powerful it would be.

    As a baby boomer, I would like to see someone of my age group talking about how long ago it was that Roe was passed, and how unbelievable it is to think that the past 50 years of progress can be destroyed so quickly, against the will of the people.

    Along the same lines, a Grandma could discuss her own abortion long ago, and her fears that her granddaughter would now have no access to that medical care under these draconian laws.

  46. 46.

    AM in NC

    Republicans say they want to Take America Back, and they do.  Back to a time before Social Security and Medicare. Back to the days before workers could organize for safe working conditions and livable wages. Back to when birth control was illegal. Back to a time when voting was restricted to only certain people. Back when gay people had to live in the closet.  Democrats want to move America, all of America, forward – toward greater prosperity and freedom for everyone, not just the powerful few.

    -or-

    Fellow Americans, we now face a stark choice between representative democracy and, frankly, fascism. Whether it’s MAGA supporters refusing to accept the results of our elections and literally attacking our Congress, or establishment Republicans installing a Supreme Court that strips us of rights large majorities of Americans support, the Republican Party is attacking and altering our Republic. We must fight FOR America and against authoritarianism. We must vote for Democrats and against Republicans, at every level of government in every election.

    -or-

    First Republicans came for voting rights and I said, not this time, so I’m voting for Democrats.

    Then Republicans came for women’s freedoms, and I said, not on my watch, so I’m voting for Democrats

    Then Republicans came for Social Security and Medicare, and I said, no way in hell, so I’m voting for Democrats

    Then Republicans came for Planet Earth, and I said, I love my children and won’t let you destroy their future, so I’m voting for Democrats.

    The choice is clear, I won’t go back. I’m voting for Democrats, and voting for a better future, for ALL of us.

     

    I know I tend to be wordy, but those are the themes I’d hit.

  47. 47.

    HinTN

    @Motivated Seller: Not cheesy at all. I would sharpen the point as follows.

    Fundamentalists are coming for your rights. They do not believe anyone has a true religion unless it’s theirs. No matter how much or little you believe, if you do not believe just as they believe YOU ARE WRONG. Hold the House and add two Democratic Senators and we can fight back.

    YMMV

  50. 50.

    HinTN

    @Aimai: It truly is the fight of our fucking lives. I was in Washington protesting the Vietnam War. I missed the Women’s March but I was there for the Scientist’s March.

    I am retired. I can and will be there again. I have no more fucks to give.

  51. 51.

    RaflW

    As someone who came out as gay in Texas in 1990, I’m used to two steps forward, one step back, and then again another two steps ahead. It’s been more positive than negative in my lifetime.

    This moment, these years are the first in my four decades of voting where it really feels like it could be two steps back, then if we’re lucky, one step forward. To check that, to keep our eyes on the future that is possible, I will hold onto my sacred right to vote, and to fight for yours as well! We can do this. But we have to do it together.

    (107 words. Editor! Help.
    Thanks.)

  52. 52.

    sab

    @Omnes Omnibus: My dilemma is in every election when I actually worked (canvassed, phone banked, etc) our candidate lost. Perfect track record since 1972, except for Sherrod Brown. So I think I will stay home and write checks.

    ETA in retrospect that is not true. Only for national and state-wide. Local doorknocking has been more successful for me.

  55. 55.

    SpaceUnit

    This comment isn’t about messaging but I think it’s something that needs to be said.

    For the next two election cycles we are going to be inundated with claims by the MSM that Democrats are terribly unpopular with various demographics and average voters (complete with poll results!!).  It is important that none of us allow our fire and enthusiasm to be dampened by this.  Because I’m pretty sure it’s all going to be bullshit.

    I think the usual bothsides / whatabout strategy just isn’t getting as much traction in the Age of Trump.  It’s harder to play that game when the headlines are about riots to overturn elections and all-out assaults on reproductive rights, groomers and book-banning.  It looks ridiculous.  They need a new gimmick.

    So be prepared.  Every media outlet is going to be waving their surveys.  It’s going to be like that time when Oprah handed out a survey to everyone in her audience.  You get a survey!  And you get a survey!  Only these surveys are all going to say that Dems are sad and unpopular and sure to lose and should just go home and sulk in the basement.

    Remember that it’s bullshit.  Fix bayonets.

  56. 56.

    SpaceUnit

    Joe Biden won the presidency by a margin of seven million votes.

    Our corporate MSM wants us to believe that he was deep upside down in approval ratings just two months into his term.

    It’s bullshit.

  57. 57.

    Middlelee

    I want to see an historic Democratic voter turnout.
    I want to see Democrats elected in towns, cities, counties, states, Congress, and the Senate.
    I want to see the rabid minority sent home to cry and repent.
    I want to dilute the Roman Catholic majority on the Supreme Court.

  58. 58.

    phein63

    American’s fight for (or against) freedom here, on our land.  It’s not the military’s job to defend our freedom; it’s their job to defend our territory, so that we citizens can fight to protect and expand our freedoms.  If you’ve been saying “Thank you for your service,” now is the time for you to pay them back by doing your duty.

  60. 60.

    EarthWind&Fire (formerly bluegirlfromwyo)

    If the Supreme Court has the right to privacy, so do you. If a corporation is a person, so are you. If a corporate “person” deserves a tax break, so do you. The GOP doesn’t believe any of this about you. Vote Blue!

  61. 61.

    EarthWind&Fire (formerly bluegirlfromwyo)

    Defend America against enemies foreign and domestic. Vote Democratic up and down the ballot!

  63. 63.

    Miss Bee

    @Motivated Seller:

    I would say that our freedom of speech and our freedom of thought are bound together in our right to vote.

    Lift up your voice.   Get in the Streets.  Get out the Vote. 

  64. 64.

    blackdog

    Most important issue is locking in voting rights to the greatest extent possible.  The second most important issue is countering propaganda, disinformation, misinformation, noise censorship, and public manipulation. I have no idea how to address it, but if it isn’t addressed democracy will be relentlessly under assault and possibly break given enough time.

  66. 66.

    Glidwrith

    Image of a frothing rabid dog, has a name tag of FIBS.

    Fear. Innuendo. Bullying. Smear.

    There is nothing civil or civilized that the thugs calling themselves Republicans want to do to us. They’ve gone rabid, justifying in the name of their fears and hatred the enslavement and murder of women.

    Our children, who should be a gift, born when we can offer a future secured by food, shelter and love, they seek to turn into a burden, one they can take and sell for a profit.

    This will not stand. We will not be slaves. Our children are not chattel. We WILL secure a future for ourselves, our children and our country.

  68. 68.

    fancycwabs

    A significant percentage of this country admires and respects people because they’re powerful, rather than because they’re good. They say, “we want a leader who’s strong,” and delight in their own petty expressions of tyranny. We have got to push back against that with every fiber of our being.

    _____________

    Which is why I’m running a campaign for congress that has a very high probability of failure.

  71. 71.

    WaterGirl

    FYI, this is my last check on this thread.  If you have a great idea, please write it down somewhere and post it on the next “tiny thing” post.

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