Monday, August 9, 2021

8-9-2021 Newsletter

 

" ... this is the future of the Republic. This is whether or not we have a representative democracy .... How often do you get to participate in a fight like that? How rare is it that the future of the republic will be determined by what advocates do around the country right now?"
-- Ezra Levin, Indivisible co-founder and co-leader, COINversation, August 3, 2021
Democracy Can’t Wait: National Day of Action
Tuesday, August 10 at 7 pm
 
Join COIN LIVE on Zoom and Facebook as we rally in support of democracy on August 10, 2021 at 7 p.m. PDT! We will connect with our member groups’ rallies happening around the state or show videos and photos and get recaps of rallies that took place earlier! 

The Democracy Can’t Wait rallies to take place across the country on August 10 will call on the Senate to protect voting rights and help ensure fair redistricting by passing the For The People Act and Voting Rights Act. We have been calling and writing our Senators in support of this critical legislation. It is time to join with Indivisibles across the country in a National Day of Action so that our message is unmistakeable: The Senate must protect voting rights. 


REGISTER here.
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/events/1006609590150232/
FOR THE PEOPLE ACT DEADLINE 
"A recent Pew poll shows that more than two thirds of Republican voters don’t think voting is a right and believe it can be limited."
-- Heather Cox Richardson, historian, 
Letters from an American, August 6, 2021


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 to allow 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.
Lady Liberty and INCO activists get ready for our first Astoria Regatta Grand Land Parade, August 12, 2017.
 MONEY AND ELECTIONS
Oregon Honest Elections and Oregon Progressive Party are gathering names of people interested in working on a statewide November, 2022 ballot initiative for campaign finance reform since the Oregon legislature did nothing on this issue. The initiative will be filed with the Secretary of State's office soon.

You can make campaign finance reform happen.
 Sign up to help here.
AMERICA'S WEALTH GAP AND DEMOCRACY
"The United States is an exceptional nation in many ways — including its immense gap between the very wealthy and everyone else. The wealthiest one-tenth of Americans own almost four-fifths of the nation’s wealth. The bottom 60 percent of the population hold only 2.4 percent. It’s not that way in other developed nations."
-- Fred Hiatt, The Washington Post, August 8, 2021

Democracies are threatened by such extreme wealth gaps. For why this matters and how to fix it, check out this 
Washington Post series.
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. 
 
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
"We may discover, in other words, that sometimes bad things happen simply because no one realizes they’re going to.”  
-- Megan McArdle, 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  August 9, 2021