Political Action

It’s kind hard to believe that we started this series just 10 weeks ago, in the before times.  This coronavirus pandemic has changed everything.

The original goal was a poll-free, spin-free, prognostication-free political thread, and the hope was that this would help provide inspiration, and encourage action as an alternative to anger, frustration and despair.  Circumstances are now wildly different, and the anger, frustration and despair may be coming out of different circumstances, but we still need inspiration – and action still beats the hell out of impotent rage.

Going forward, I’d kind of like to highlight a different opportunity on each post. Maybe one donation opportunity and/or one action opportunity each time?

I need each of you to take the lead by providing me with a short blurb for the donation opportunity and/or the action opportunity that is most important to you.  Please share in the comments, or send info to me by email – we can feature one in each post.

I’ll get us started today, with this from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

No one should have to risk their life to vote. That was true in the days of the civil rights movement, when thousands of Black Americans put their lives on the line to claim the voting rights they had been unjustly denied. And it is equally true today in the midst of a deadly pandemic that makes in-person voting a serious and unnecessary risk, especially for medically susceptible people and communities.

State officials of both parties across the nation have taken decisive steps to ensure voting is safe for all during this public health crisis — measures like expanding absentee voting, waiving onerous absentee ballot rules and increasing early voting opportunities.

Yet Alabama, so far, has done very little.

Alabamians cannot wait. They have the right to vote without placing themselves, their families and their communities in danger. That’s why, on Friday, we sued Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and other top officials over the state’s lack of safe and accessible voting processes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In the midst of a pandemic, Alabama can make our elections more secure, more efficient and more accessible to all eligible voters while still protecting public health and safety,” said Caren Short, senior staff attorney for the SPLC. “We are filing this lawsuit to ensure that Alabama voters are not forced to choose between their health and their vote.”

The federal lawsuit — filed in partnership with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP) — requests that a federal court instruct state officials to make absentee and in-person voting more accessible to protect the health and safety of Alabama voters.

The lawsuit also notes that these measures are particularly important for older voters, voters with disabilities and Black voters, who have been severely and disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Despite making up about one-fourth of the state’s population, Black people account for 45 percent of Alabama’s COVID-19-related deaths.

“No one should have to choose between their life or their vote,” said LDF Senior Counsel Deuel Ross. “[Alabama’s] burdensome voting requirements weigh heavily on Alabamians during all elections. But requiring voters to comply with these restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic needlessly endangers lives.”

For more, please read our press release about the filing or the full complaint.

If you are so inclined, there’s a donation button at the first link.

Playing to Win: Day 10 (Your Life or Your Vote, Alabama)Post + Comments (26)

In case you missed the introduction to the series in February, here’s the first post:  Playing to Win: An Introduction

It’s kind hard to believe that we started this series less than 7 weeks ago, in the before times.  In the span of 7 weeks, our whole world has changed.  Campaigns have changed, candidates have changed, organizing has changed, and  the state of the presidential campaign changed when Bernie suspended his campaign.  Though we are apparently still bickering and re-litigating grievances from 2016/2020.

In the meantime, here’s a quick summary of where we were when this started:

A couple of our jackals requested a daily political “action” thread, so how about if we try it for a bit and see how that goes?  If you guys think it’s useful, we can keep it up, and if it ends up being more “seemed like a good idea at the time,” then we can let it go.

The goal is a poll-free, spin-free, prognostication-free, media-free, what’s-wrong-with-the-other-candidate-free-zone – a political thread where the focus is on ACTION:  What can be done to help our candidates, and what are we doing to help them, every day?

The hope is that this will help provide inspiration, and encourage action, as an alternative to anger, frustration and despair.

You can find the whole series here:  Playng to Win

Note for the day:

Let’s use this thread today as a jumping off point to talk about ways we can move forward to help Democratic campaigns in this new world where traditional face-to-face communication is no longer an option.  (As well as anything you would normally talk about in this thread.

Going forward, I’d kind of like to highlight a different opportunity in the Note for the Day on each post. Maybe one donation opportunity and one action opportunity each time?  Good idea, or not?

I would need each of you to take the lead by providing me with a short blurb for the donation opportunity and/or the action opportunity that is nearest and dearest to you.  If you share that in the comments, or send it to me by email, I can feature one in each post.

If you like this idea, let me know in the comments.  If not, we’ll drop it and focus on… I don’t know yet, you tell me!

Playing to Win: Day 9 (Wednesday, April 15)Post + Comments (38)

We started this series a lifetime ago on Thursday, February 20, exactly one month ago today.

With all the new developments, immediate concerns are more pressing than working on campaigns.  I know that the elections in November are still worth our time and energy – they have to be if we want to survive as a nation.  I know that campaigns will figure out ways to continue activities without canvassing, without rallies, without offices brimming with activity.

I know that we will all figure out how to keep working toward a Democratic President, a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate, and Democratic statehouses – even as we are sheltering in place.

What I don’t know is whether we press pause on these posts for a few weeks, as we all get our lives figured out in the new normal, or whether perhaps you still want a post once a week as a place to congregate as we each break through the immediacy of figuring out our new lives and are ready to get back to work.

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Playing to Win: Continue On or Press Pause?Post + Comments (40)