7-26-2021 Newsletter

 

“You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all of the world’s problems at once but don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” – Michelle Obama America needs every pro-democracy activist now, including you. INCO's leadership team urges you to do what you can for a cause you care about.  DEADLINE FOR VOTING RIGHTS Please contact Senators Merkley and Wyden, even if you've called before. Thank them for their support of S.1 and urge them to continue to push for its passage. Your calls matter! The Senate needs to pass S.1, the For the People Act soon so we have time for its provisions to go into effect before the 2022 midterms.  Pro-democracy groups around the country, including Indivisible, are keeping up the pressure. BE OUR GUEST What's on your mind? Share your perspective, information, and/or opinion in INCO's monthly column in Hipfish Monthly, to appear in the September issue. Hipfish has hosted INCO's column for several years, and we've covered a range of topics - climate change, running for office, election campaigns, healthcare, Oregon issues, etc. We'd love to hear from you! Let Laurie know by August 4 if you're interested in writing a column. Write a column of 500-600 words due to INCO by August 17. Contact Laurie at incoregon@gmail.com for details. REDISTRICTING: WHO DECIDES? Register for Indivisible's Redistricting Hearing Training on Wednesday, July 28 at 3pm ET/12pm PT. As states prepare to redistrict voting maps, how much do you really know about that process and the gerrymandering that often goes along with it? Take our 10-question Redistricting Quiz and see where your knowledge lands. Then, register for our Redistricting Hearing Training so that you can be informed about what resources are at your disposal on how redistricting works state by state. We'll cover the most effective ways to participate in the redistricting process, including best practices for attending public hearings, participating in official online comment periods, and developing a community of interest. DRAMA VS. DECISIONS Trying to sort out what Congress is doing about investigating the insurrection, passing infrastructure, and doing the nation's business? Robert Hubbell separates the GOP's political theater from key decisions Congress needs to make. Check out his 7-22-21 newsletter. HAPPENINGS  SUMMER HIATUS - INCO South County Community Group and INCO North County Community Group are not meeting during the summer. They'll resume meetings in September. See the article in the newsletter for details.    Write To Voters. Special elections and issue campaigns need you year-round. INCO encourages you to sign up to write to voters at www.postcardstovoters.org or for general Get Out the Vote campaigns, sign up at Vote Forward. For supplies or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com. INSIGHTS "Patriotism is animated by love, nationalism by hatred. To confuse the one for the other is to pretend that hate is love and fear is courage." -- Jill Lepore, THIS AMERICA - THE CASE FOR THE NATION Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com.  Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org. Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website or here. INCO Weekly Newsletter  July 26, 2021

7-19-2021 Newsletter

 

INCO continues to work for dignity and democracy, as we did at our rally on July 28, 2018.

"You are the frontline of defense for government by and for the people." -- Senator Jeff Merkley, when asked what Indivisibles and other activists can do for our democracy, COINversation, 7-14-21 "The 2022 midterms have begun. We need to act accordingly. If you were active in 2018 or 2020, reprise those actions! If you are new to political activism or sat on the sidelines in prior elections, there is no time like the present to become involved. The events of January 6th demonstrate that none of us can afford to be a bystander any longer. Do your part, in whatever way you can."  —Robert Hubbell, Today’s Edition, 7-12-21

DEADLINE FOR VOTING RIGHTS Please contact Senators Merkley and Wyden, even if you've called before. Thank them for their support of S.1 and urge them to continue to push for its passage. Your calls matter! The Senate needs to pass S.1, the For the People Act soon so we have time for its provisions to go into effect before the 2022 midterms.  Pro-democracy groups around the country, including Indivisible, are keeping up the pressure.

WHY YOUR INDIVISIBLE WORK MATTERS " A source of grievance for Trump’s base is that the world is slipping away from their control and will continue to do so as their numbers shrink. That dynamic may fuel anger and violence over the short term, but it will also inevitably ensure their defeat. We don’t have to win every battle; we need only win enough of them to keep the flame alive until we can achieve victory. We can do that." -- Robert Hubbell, Today's Edition, 7-14-21 "With the blessing of the Roberts court, legislatures in Republican-run states are rushing to impose new voting restrictions, particularly on non-White voters. A tally by the Brennan Center finds that, as of June 21, 17 states had enacted 28 new laws restricting the ability to vote since the start of this year. "At the same time, 10 states have enacted, and 26 states are weighing, restrictions on classroom discussions of racism and sexism, according to an Education Week count. Ostensibly, these restrictions combat critical race theory, an academic notion turned into a boogeyman by Republican politicians and sympathetic groups." -- Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 7-13-21

COULD THIS HAPPEN IN OREGON? "Though this year’s proliferation of bills restricting ballot access in red states has commanded national attention, it represents just one stream in a torrent of conservative legislation poised to remake the country .... Across these states and others, Republican legislators and governors have operated as if they were programming a prime-time lineup at Fox News. They have focused far less on the small-government, limited-spending, and anti-tax policies that once defined the GOP than on an array of hot-button social issues, such as abortion, guns, and limits on public protest, that reflect the cultural and racial priorities of Trump’s base." -- Ronald Brownstein, The Atlantic, June 3, 2021 It's time each of us starts looking for candidates for school board, county commissioner, and state senator. Clatsop County voters have elected very conservative candidates in the last few elections. We must stop the slide to the right.

HAPPENINGS  SUMMER HIATUS - INCO South County Community Group and INCO North County Community Group are not meeting during the summer. They'll resume meetings in September. See the article in the newsletter for details.    Write To Voters. Special elections and issue campaigns need you year-round. INCO encourages you to sign up to write to voters at www.postcardstovoters.org or for general Get Out the Vote campaigns, sign up at Vote Forward. For supplies or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com.

INSIGHTS "Activism is my rent for living on the planet." -- Alice Walker, author and activist

Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com.  Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org. Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website or here. INCO Weekly Newsletter  July 19, 2021

7-12-2021 Newsletter

 

Register here.  Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/234789105126645 You can submit questions upon registering or during the event.  After the event: Where people can find videos, quotes & graphics to share. DEADLINE FOR VOTING RIGHTS The Senate needs to pass S.1, the For the People Act by the end of the month so we have time for its provisions to go into effect before the 2022 midterms.  Pro-democracy groups around the country, including Indivisible, are keeping up the pressure. Please contact Senators Merkley and Wyden, even if you've called before. Thank them for their support of S.1 and urge them to continue to push for its passage. Your calls matter! There are three fronts remaining in the fight for democracy reform, per Indivisible co-founder, Ezra Levin. He highlights three questions in the legislative fight to come for S.1: What legislative substance will Democratic senators agree to? What type of filibuster reform will Democratic senators agree to? When will this agreement come? The US Supreme Court recently upheld Arizona's new restrictive voting laws, so it's more important than ever that we push Congress to pass the For the People Act and HR4 #VotingRightsAct.  SUMMER BREAK FOR COMMUNITY GROUPS INCO's North and South County Community Groups are taking a well-deserved summer break. Their July and August meetings are CANCELLED. They will meet again in September with renewed energy and enthusiasm. We look forward to seeing you then. Right now Oregon's legislative session is done, we have 3 terrific Members of Congress, and our county and state are reopening to travel, reunions, get-togethers, and other delights. As you know, there is still lots to pay attention to politically. Let's stay in touch about issues and events that might need INCO's immediate attention. We encourage you to stay active by writing to voters; information is in Happenings, below. Please keep reading the weekly INCO newsletter and contact us at incoregon@gmail.com with your concerns or questions.  WHY YOUR INDIVISIBLE WORK MATTERS "Approaching Tuesday’s six-month anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection, the liberal watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington tallied contributions corporate PACs have made to the 147 insurrectionists in Congress — those who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, even after the Trump mob’s deadly attack on the Capitol." -- Dana Milbank, Washington Post, 7-6-21 "And now, of the 700 Republicans who have filed paperwork to run for Congress next year, at least a third of them have backed the idea that Trump won the 2020 election. In American history, the attempt to overturn our election procedures for one man, based on a lie, is unprecedented." -- Heather Cox Richardson, historian; Letters from An American, 7-6-21 "Ominously, this election cycle is not about moving the Republican Party in a more conservative or more moderate direction or about reshaping its policy views. It is about packing the party with conspiracy theorists and liars and people itching to advance Mr. Trump’s belligerent, apocalyptic, reality-resistant brand of politics. Some three dozen QAnon-friendly Republican congressional candidates are in the mix, according to Media Matters’s latest count." -- Michelle Cottle, New York Times, 7-8-21 BIDEN'S INVISIBLE IDEOLOGY "Biden, by contrast, insisted that the way to win was not to play (Trump's game)." -- Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 7-10-21 Here's a fascinating take on Biden's governance, based on his belief that there is a surprisingly large area of agreement in American life. HAPPENINGS  SUMMER HIATUS - INCO South County Community Group and INCO North County Community Group are not meeting during the summer. They'll resume meetings in September. See the article in the newsletter for details.    Write To Voters. Special elections and issue campaigns need you year-round. INCO encourages you to sign up to write to voters at www.postcardstovoters.org or for general Get Out the Vote campaigns, sign up at Vote Forward. For supplies or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com. INSIGHTS "An activist is someone who cannot help but fight for something. That person is not usually motivated by a need for power or money or fame, but in fact is driven slightly mad by some injustice, some cruelty, some unfairness, so much so that he or she is compelled by some internal moral engine to act to make it better.”     --Eve Ensler, playwright Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com.  Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org. Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website or here. INCO Weekly Newsletter  July 12, 2021

7-5-2021 Newsletter

 

The July 4 parade in Cannon Beach in 2017.   VOTING RIGHTS IN AMERICA "At this point, our most dangerous foes are apathy and defeatism. Don’t give in to those urges. Instead, be part of the solution by modeling behavior to others that will inspire and motivate them. It’s on us. Let’s get to work." -- Robert Hubbell, Today's Edition Newsletter, 7-1-21   Common Cause/Oregon assesses wins and losses for democracy in this session of the Oregon legislature. Historian Heather Cox Richardson provides an excellent summary of voting rights in the US, Letters From An American, 7-1-21   Register here. You can submit questions upon registering or during the event.  SUCCESSES FOR COIN AND OREGON COIN took positions on 57 bills in the just-ended Oregon legislative session. 28 of those we supported passed, and all 3 of those we opposed failed, so our overall success rate was 54%. You can see all of the results here.  Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the 2021 session was the failure of both parties to enact any meaningful Campaign Finance Reform bills. COIN pushed hard to get the Legislature to pass bills setting limits on contributions, creating a small donor matching program, and requiring transparency into the campaign finance process. We’re not giving up, however. We'll keep you updated about possible ballot measures. We passed good election reform and governance bills and defeated bad ones, setting an example for other states (and the US Supreme Court.) This chart shows the outcome: THANK YOU to all the stellar volunteers on the COIN legislative team. They kept up with all 57 measures we tracked and made recommendations about. Thanks also to all of you who contacted your legislators to push them to vote in accordance with our recommendations. WHO GETS TO VOTE? Given the US Supreme Court's recent upholding of Arizona's new restrictive voting laws, it's more important than ever that we push Congress to pass S.1 the For the People Act, and HR4 #VotingRightsAct.  Indivisible is partnering with pro-democracy groups around the country to get this legislation passed with the Deadline for Democracy initiative. Click here to see how you can help. Please thank Senators Wyden and Merkley and Congresswoman Bonamici for their work to pass S.1. Contact info is here.   INSIDE THE INSURRECTION A six-month NY Times investigation has synchronized and mapped out thousands of videos and police radio communications from the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. The Times's video provides the most complete picture to date of what happened — and why. It might be behind a paywall. It's worth checking out if you can. Who were the insurrectionists? Research from the University of Chicago reveals surprises. The US is changing rapidly, and most of the insurrectionists fear and dislike the changes they see. Find out more in PBS video and this Washington Post article. Contact Speaker Pelosi here to support the House's investigation of the insurrection. HAPPENINGS VIRTUAL  Tuesday, July 13 - INCO South County Community Group Zoom meeting, 6:30 - 8 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Monday, July 12 for your Zoom link. Saturday,  July 17 - INCO North County Community Group Zoom meeting, 11 a.m - noon. Contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link if you haven't attended a previous meeting. Write To Voters. Special elections and issue campaigns need you year-round. INCO encourages you to sign up to write to voters at www.postcardstovoters.org or for general Get Out the Vote campaigns, sign up at Vote Forward. For supplies or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com. INSIGHTS "Americans care about history because the stakes are high. This is a country founded not on blood-and-soil nationalism but ideas.... For Americans, the country’s history is not the accumulation of past events, but rather the product of active choices that highlight the country’s meaning and message." --Fareed Zakariah, Washington Post, 7-2-21 Comments, news, and photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com.  Resources and other information at www.incoregon.org and www.indivisible.org. Encourage others to sign up for the INCO newsletter at our website or here. INCO Weekly Newsletter  July 5, 2021