4-25-2022 Newsletter

 

BE INSPIRED BY VOICES OF CONSCIENCE AND OUTRAGE "Standing up to bullies and saving democracy"  Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner remind us about the weakness of bullies and about our ability to speak out against the bullying hypocrisy of today's GOP.  They provide links to 3 short videos of lawmakers Mallory McMorrow, Ian Mackey, and Brian Schatz defending democracy and decency. Worth reading and watching. --Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner, "Steady" on Substack, April 24, 2022

DEFEND DEMOCRACY:  BE A VOTER Final date to register to vote is midnight, Tuesday, April 26. The primary election is May 17. Update your registration by Tuesday, April 26 if you've changed your name, address, or political party affiliation.  OPB is interviewing candidates for governor, asking each of them the same questions.  Read the interviews with the two leading Democratic candidates, Tobias Read and Tina Kotek. The other interviews can be found in this list:  https://www.opb.org/politics/   On the May 17 ballot: candidates for governor, Clatsop County Commissioners, State Senate District 16, State House District 32. Check out candidates in this virtual forum recently hosted by Clatsop County Democrats.   INCO endorsed Pam Wev for re-election as Clatsop County Commissioner, District 3. Get more info at www.wevforcommissioner.com and on Facebook at Re-elect Pamela Wev. INCO's newsletter will be providing info and links to help you be an informed voter for the May 17 primary election. Look for it every Monday after 6 a.m. Send your suggestions for links to Laurie at incoregon@gmail.com. Your ballot will arrive soon. Make a plan to vote.

COIN and Indivisibles throughout Oregon are doing great work. Check out the notes from the April 20 COIN meeting. We think you'll be impressed and inspired.

Donate to INCO in April, and Indivisible national will MATCH your contribution up to $500, for a total of $1000 to INCO.   Your contribution to INCO this month will promote informed voting and support a vigorous campaign and election season to elect progressives to office in 2022. Use this link  so Indivisible will double your contribution, up to a total of $500.    Only donations given through this ActBlue site will be doubled by Indivisible.  Thank you for supporting INCO.

OUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE "High-coercion authoritarian systems are low-information systems — so they often drive blind more than they realize. And even when the truth filters up, or reality in the form of a more powerful foe or Mother Nature slams them in the face so hard it can’t be ignored, their leaders find it hard to change course because their claims to the right to be presidents-for-life rest on their claims to infallibility. And that is why Russia and China are both now struggling. "I am worried sick about our own democratic system. But as long as we can still vote out incompetent leaders and maintain information ecosystems that will expose systemic lying and defy censorship, we can adapt in an age of rapid change — and that is the single most important competitive advantage a country can have today." --Tom Friedman, "China and Russia Are Giving Authoritarianism a Bad Name," New York Times, April 18, 2022

HOW IDEAS AND PEOPLE CHANGE "Making a difference is not just about charismatic leaders and huge protests. As these books show, social and political shifts are usually the result of sustained, unseen work." Ever wonder how people started to perceive things like germs and the injustice of slavery and then act on those new perceptions? The Atlantic magazine presents brief synopses of several thought-provoking books worth reading about how people learn to see the world in new ways.

TRUTH, POWER, AND HISTORY “The chances of factual truth surviving the onslaught of power are very slim indeed; it is always in danger of being maneuvered out of the world not only for a time but, potentially, forever. Facts and events are infinitely more fragile things than axioms, discoveries, theories—even the most wildly speculative ones—produced by the human mind; they occur in the field of the ever-changing affairs of men, in whose flux there is nothing more permanent than the admittedly relative permanence of the human mind’s structure. Once they are lost, no rational effort will ever bring them back.” -- Hannah Arendt, historian, quoted in "The Photo Book That Captured How the Soviet Regime Made the Truth Disappear," by Masha Gessen, The New Yorker, July 15, 2018

YOUR STEPS TO SAVE DEMOCRACY Write To Voters - Elections and issue campaigns need you year-round. INCO encourages you to sign up to write to voters at www.postcardstovoters.org. For general Get Out the Vote letter campaigns, sign up at Vote Forward. For prepped postcards, stamps, or information, contact incoregon@gmail.com. Write a Letter to the Editor (LTE) - LTEs in the Astorian can inform voters and promote voting. You don't have to be an expert, just someone who cares about an issue. Write a few sentences or more, up to 250 words. Send to editor@dailyastorian.com, along with your name, address, and phone. The primary election is May 17. Update your registration with your new name or address. Final date to register to vote is midnight, Tuesday, April 26. On the ballot: candidates for governor, Clatsop County Commissioners, State Senate District 16, State House District 32. Check out candidates in this virtual forum recently hosted by Clatsop County Democrats. Be a voter! Support Pam: INCO endorsed Pam Wev for re-election as Clatsop County Commissioner. To display a yard sign to re-elect Pam, sign up here. Donate or volunteer at her website.

HAPPENINGS  Tuesday, May 10 - INCO South County Community Group Zoom meeting, 6:30 pm - 8 pm. Please RSVP to Kathleenannmacdonald@yahoo.com thru Monday, May 9 for your Zoom link. Saturday, May 21 - INCO Astoria-North County Community Group Zoom meeting, 11 am - noon. If you are new to this group, contact incoregon@gmail.com by May 20 to get the Zoom link. INCO Warrenton Community Group Zoom meeting. TBA. Contact incoregon@gmail.com for more information. Every Friday - INCO Write to Voters (WTV), via Zoom, 3-4 pm. Informal chat while we write letters and postcards to voters. If you are new to this event, contact incoregon@gmail.com to get the Zoom link.

INSIGHTS  “What is the body? Endurance. What is love? Gratitude. What is hidden in our chests? Laughter. What else? Compassion.”  -- Rumi, 13th-century Persian poet and Islamic scholar

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. Look for the INCO column in Hipfish Monthly. We're on Facebook, too. INCO Weekly Newsletter  April 25, 2022