What Kind of Country Do We Want?

Vote Forward reports a cascade of 17.8 million letters sent to prospective Democratic voters on October 17 as part of its effort to get out the vote. That operation required the help of thousands of volunteers. Now Vote Forward is looking for help calling or texting prospective voters during the short time left before Election Day. It seeks volunteers willing to make even one call. Every vote is important. Contact at hello@votefwd.org.

Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, and other organizations formed to protect our environment are sponsoring efforts to turn out the vote. Many organizations dedicated to protecting the environment are opposed to Trump, and have various programs to defeat him. No entity working for environmental protect supports Trump.

According to Daily Kos, Protect The Results is a coalition of more than a hundred organizations and hundreds of thousands of people committed to working together ”to protect our democracy.” Use your browser to get to the Protect the Results website, where you will have the opportunity to participate. 

There is a deterrent effect in this kind of preparation — if We the People make it clear we won’t allow Trump to steal the election or ignore the results, he will be less likely to try. Adding your name as a volunteer, along with many others, may be decisive.

According to many serious reports, we are in the midst of a strong effort by Republicans at all levels to suppress the vote in which We the People are engaged, and will continue to be engaged until early November. How do we get to the truth? Local investigative journalism is one way. Our free press is at its best revealing what is occurring “on the inside”. What does our local supervisor of elections (operating under whatever title) say? What do we see happening in our area? This is an area we need to make a special effort to understand because most of us are unfamiliar with the process surrounding voting, and thus may be susceptible to being misled.

Common Cause and several other organizations formed a coalition called the Voter Protection Project in 2019. It is frankly anti-Trump, seeks donations, and offers several opportunities to get involved personally, ie. visiting polling places, and from home using phones or tablets. It was formed in 2019, and is part of the groundswell we need to sweep away Trump and his corrupt regime. This sort of participation will help make it clear to everyone that We the People demand the election be fair and its results observed according to law.

Vote Forward is one of several organizations seeking volunteers to write letters to prospective voters to encourage them to cast their ballots. The process is simple. Vote Forward emails volunteers a short draft letter, with the addressee’s name and address, and the volunteer simply prints the letter, adds a sentence or two stating the reason voting is important, ie. “because we — We the People — must be sure that our government works for us.” Then the volunteer hand addresses the envelope, using the volunteer’s name and the return address of Vote Forward, puts a stamp on the letter, and mails it. Completing five letters is easily accomplished in half an hour. According to vote forward, such campaigns increase voting by 1% to 3% — which may sway the election in a tight race. We’ll follow up as we learn more.

This website was created to help grow the groundswell necessary to defeat Trump and begin the restoration of our society in accordance with our basic values, and in the interest of We the People. We are not an organization in any formal sense, and we do not endorse any specific organization. Instead, we refer those interested in joining the groundswell to organizations which propose to offer such opportunities. Daily Kos is one such organization, and has recently made this announcement: “There are too many volunteer opportunities for us to email you about. That is why we have Mobilize America.” We are glad to see the groundswell grow. Our website hopes to help keep up the momentum.

Mobilize America leads to phone banks and letter writing campaigns for voter mobilization efforts, local demonstrations, marches, meetings and other activities designed to return our government to working for us, and for upholding our proclaimed values. Other entities which represent themselves as dedicated to defeating Trump and restoring decency to our government include Common Cause, People For The American Way, Fight For Progress and Indivisible Team. We will mention others as we notice them, and invite our visitors to find a way, through one of these organizations, through the Democratic Party, or through another route, to help in this effort.

Watch Dateline: Saigon - available on kanopy. 

The press is not the enemy of the people. Responsible journalism gives We the People information we need to make the decisions.  When a president spews lies, attempts to divide We the People with hateful rhetoric, and ignores a virulent virus threatening our health, we can look to our Free Press, in print, on the radio, on television and on the internet, to investigate the situation and report the facts.

We the People can see the truth, we can discriminate between partisan pap and honest presentation, we can come to our own conclusions and chart our own course if we get valid information.  The Free Press - honest, candid, and accurate - has been democracy’s guardian for our country’s lifetime.  Many great journalists and media organizations are serving us well.  None are better than our national treasure, Public Broadcasting.  The Free Press is the great friend of We the People.  We must protect it.

Many organizations working to protect our environment, including Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Earth Justice, and the Natural Resources Defense Council decry the damage Trump has done and offer opportunities to counter it.  Others work to protect our voting rights; they includeThe League of Women Voters, VoteVets, Common Cause, Brennan Center for Justice, and Voter Action Project.

Many people holding traditionally conservative views recognize Trump as an imposter, a phony, a fraud, and a lifelong failure. They have organized to prevent Trump from extending his term in office. They are true patriots.  The Lincoln Project, and Republican Voters Against Trump are among those doing good work.

Congress and the judiciary have allowed Trump to proceed on his destructive journey without meaningful restraint. Our democracy is in danger, and only We the People can save it.

Donald Trump is following well-trodden paths leading to autocracy — 

* creating confusion and turmoil
* attempting to divide We the People
* lying when he finds it convenient

* refusing to let us see what he is doing
* replacing dedicated and experienced public servants with subservient stooges

Given another four years, Trump will make us prisoners of our own government. We cannot let that happen.

Republicans in Congress are sycophants, complicit in enabling Trump's destructive actions and indifferent to the injury he is causing to We the People. The Supreme Court occasionally frowns on his actions but allows procedural delays to prevent timely decisions, and refuses to require him to observe the law.