SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY
ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS
SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:
Thank you for all that you are doing to stop Trump from rolling out his fascist plan. We need vote by mail, HEROES Act to pass intact — without any reduction in payroll taxes or weakening of liability laws for employers — and the withdrawal of paramilitary police in Portland.
CALL SENATOR MERKLEY
CALL SENATOR WYDEN
ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR HOUSE REPS
Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here.
SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Blumenauer and Bonamici: Thank you for all that you are doing to stop Trump from rolling out his anti-democratic plan. We need you to work for the Post Office and vote by mail, for the House version of the HEROES Act to pass intact, and for the withdrawal of paramilitary police in Portland.
Schrader, DeFazio: We need you to stand up to Trump’s anti-democratic program to weaken and delegitimize elections, ruin working people’s finances, and force paramilitary troops on American cities. Fight for the House version of the HEROES Act to be passed intact. Vote to force Trump to withdraw paramilitary police. Demand that the Post Office and vote by mail be protected.
Walden: Your party is a disgrace. But you can redeem yourself. Come out publicly for passing the House version of the HEROES Act intact. Demand that the Post Office and vote by mail be protected. And vote to end paramilitary occupation of American cities.
CALL SUZANNE BONAMICI (OR-01)
CALL GREG WALDEN (OR-02)
CALL BLUMENAUER (OR-03)
CALL PETER DEFAZIO (OR-04)
CALL KURT SCHRADER (OR-05)
ACTION THREE: DUMP TRUMP. FLIP THE SENATE. LEARN ABOUT RACISM.
— Keep learning about racism — how is baked into our country’s design and how it works today. Read the articles in the Sources section of today’s action alert.
— Get involved in the elections.
Indivisible Oregon is working with Swing Left and its smart Super State Strategy to defeat Trump and the GOP and transform our government. We have adopted Arizona where we can flip the White House, the Senate, and the state houses key to rolling back Republican gerrymandering—all at the same time. Join us to write letters and soon to phonebank. Action is the antidote to anxiety (and despair)!
- Our hosted letter writing events on Zoom every Saturday — sign up at https://swingleft.org/group/indivisible-oregon
- Write letters to voters from home, whenever it’s convenient for you. Register with votefwd.org and get started.
- Host your own virtual letter-writing party through Swing Left. It’s easy and fun.
BACKGROUND:
We have written often about the HEROES Act. The House version of the bill must pass intact. At the same time, we must stop Trump’s fascist takeovers of American cities.
We see through his plan to make the elections about law and order when the police are the greatest instigators of violence and the most assiduous practitioners of lawlessness and disorder. We see him trying to turn Black and Brown people into the enemy. We must show up on the front lines and we must get out the vote.
In Portland, The Portland Police Bureau and their lack of de-escalation skills were the first cause that gave Trump such a juice target for testing deployment of brownshirts. As one writer said, “No amount of spin can undo that the weeks of gassing protesters and arresting journalists BEFORE Trump got here…” (Greg McKelvey)
Read the history of the protests below, and then ask yourself why there were 50 days of tear-gassing, pepper-spraying, flash-banging and beating 200-300 protestors and journalists. The police are still gassing protesters despite a court order, and still cooperating with DHS despite orders from their commissioner. Defunding the police starts to make sense.
SOURCES:
Background on Portland’s occupation:
Greg McKelvey: https://twitter.com/gregorymckelvey/status/1284007847173386240?s=21. And https://www.revolt.tv/2020/7/21/21332826/portland-protests-truth
Defunding the police:
Multnomah Commissioner on gassing: https://twitter.com/SMeieran/status/1285831588056412162?s=20
Riot Ribs, feeding the protestors, reports on police treatment:
