Dear Group,
The General Election on Tuesday, November 6, is in just seventy-seven days. It is the last chance we have, as citizens and voters, to slow or stop Donald Trump’s consolidation of autocratic power. If he succeeds with Mitch McConnell in the outright theft of yet another seat on the Supreme Court AND the Republican/Libertarians retain majorities in both houses of Congress, however slim, Trump will have his small, oligarchic hands on the levers of all branches of government. The vaunted “checks and balances” we learned about in junior high fall away. As Devin Nunes said right here at the Spokane Club with McMorris Rodgers nodding along with him, without the Republican majority in the House, “All this goes away,” including their ability to threaten the Mueller investigation by impeaching Rosenstein.
We in eastern Washington have a key role to play.in this struggle. McMorris Rodgers, with her toothy smile, mom persona, and her veneer of supposed Christian values is a supreme enabler of her “positive disruptor,” Mr. Trump. For the very first time in her political career starting fresh out of the Fundamentalist Baptist Pensacola Christian College she is facing a formidable electoral challenger in Lisa Brown. Lisa Brown has the charisma, the mom credentials, the education, and the life outside of politics that exceed everything McMorris Rodgers pretends to offer.
We are blessed in Washington State with a government that encourages voter participation, a government that has not gerrymandered its voting districts to a fare-thee-well in favor of Republican majorities they way they are computer-engineered by Republican controlled state governments elsewhere.
We have a Primary Election behind us that gives us hope but offers no comfort in complacency. Winning in November depends on sustained efforts to reach Democratic voters, to convince the undecided, and to mobilize them all to vote.
Do not wake up on some morning following the General Election on November 6 after they’ve finally counted all the ballots and lament, “If only I had…” because then it will be too late.
There is not just one thing you can do. There are many, but the single most effective thing an individual can do is have meaningful conversations with people they don’t know. Canvassing is a great way to make those happen, though good conversations can happen anywhere.
Here in eastern Washington we are blessed with a good solid, intelligent, civic-minded Democrat running for almost every office on the ballot. Lisa Brown’s candidacy will help each of them, and the work each of them puts in will help Lisa Brown. My point is this: pay attention to your local candidates, meet them, get to know them, support them with canvassing and with money. It all helps.
Last Wednesday ninety-two unpaid local volunteers showed up for voter contact training with the Lisa Brown campaign at Youth For Christ on N. Ash St. Hook up with the Lisa Brown Campaign or with the Wa-Democrats (see links below in “Calendar”) Commit to a day a week. Join a group. Canvass with a friend. Go out with the group afterward. Compare notes. Have bite to eat. Make new friends. Politics is a social endeavor.
Check out the canvassing links in Calendar below. Join the Indivisible canvass next Monday.
Keep to the high ground,
Jerry