11-27-23 Newsletter

WE ARE ACTUALLY CONSERVATIVES, TOO "When my Republican colleagues say, “Raskin, you’re a liberal,” I say: You’re damn right I’m a liberal – the heart of that word is liberty. "When they say, “you’re a progressive,” I say: You’re damn right I’m a progressive – the heart of that word is progress. "But these days, my favorite thing to call myself is a conservative, because I want to conserve the land, the air, the water, the climate system, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, women’s reproductive freedoms, the right to vote, and our imperiled political democracy." — US Representative Jamie Raskin, campaign email, 11-9-23 MORE REASONS WHY WE MUST DEFEAT TRUMP "ALL HANDS ON DECK" "... now is not the moment to ignore Donald Trump’s rants and threats. He has a history of saying the quiet part out loud, of letting us know just how bad his intentions are. It’s incumbent upon us to listen. I understand the folks who think we shouldn’t share his hate-filled diatribes, but if we do not, it’s easy for people to push him aside as a crazy uncle, not as the serious threat he is to the future of our country. ".... This coming election is going to be an all hands on deck event. Trump and other MAGA anti-democracy candidates will have to be beaten at the polls, and then likely again in the courts, and perhaps in our communities. As we head into the holidays, let's start thinking about how each of us can take personal responsibility for the future." -- Joyce Vance, Civil Discourse newsletter, November 24, 2023 INCO INSIGHTS "Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them."   -- Sir Karl Popper, philosopher Indivisible defends democracy by opposing authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption. 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   November 27, 2023 Website Email Facebook Copyright © 2023 INDIVISIBLE North Coast Oregon, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or signed up at a community group meeting. Our mailing address is: *|766 Lexington Avenue, Astoria, OR 97103:HTML|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

 

11-20-23 Newsletter

 

THANKSGIVING Thank you for everything you do to make our country better - possibly even more than you thought you could do. Thank you for speaking out and standing up for democratic values. Thank you for supporting INCO with your work, good cheer, and hope.    Our best wishes for your Thanksgiving holiday! INCO Leadership Team: Laurie Caplan, Cheryl Conway, Mary Beth Cottle, Eric Halperin, Carmen Hammersmith, Bebe Michel, Ken Potter  STAR VOTING Score Then Automatic Runoff We all know that every vote matters, but how much does how we vote matter? Thanks to the leadership and examples shared at a local INCO gathering several years ago, I began to write letters to encourage voting. I have written the sentence, “your vote, based on your personal values and ideals, matters!” many, many times. Voter participation IS critical, but I have learned that the way we currently vote, where we must “choose one” has discouraging and disenfranchising flaws.  The good news is that activists have come up with a plan that I like even more than ranked choice voting. STAR voting allows you to vote your conscience and express your full, honest degree of support, for each candidate without worrying about strategic voting, splitting the vote or having to vote for the “lesser evil”.  It was developed using the science of election reform, in part to address the limitations of an older model, ranked choice voting.  I believe that voting reform is critical to engaging more voters.  With STAR voting, every vote represents your personal values & ideals in more effective & transparent ways.   Thanks to INCO for sharing this recent podcast so you can learn more. Check out the website at Starvoting.us -- Lynn McConnell, INCO activist   WHAT BIDEN'S DONE    CREATING MORE JOBS:  14 million jobs added STRONGER ECONOMY:  Strongest economic recovery in the G7 since the pandemic U.S. MANUFACTURING:  Bringing semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S. CANCELING STUDENT DEBT:  Canceled $127 billion in student loan debt for nearly 3.6 million Americans IMPROVING OUR INFRASTRUCTURE:  Passed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law SUPPORTING VETERANS:  PACT Act for veterans and their survivors GUN SAFETY:  Most significant gun safety law in decades CLIMATE ACTION:  Passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which takes historic climate action REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS:  Executive orders protecting reproductive rights STRENGTHENED GLOBAL ALLIANCES: Strengthened U.S. alliances and partnerships around the world LOWERING COSTS: Lowered prescription drug and health care costs -- Mary Hardt, reader's comment, Letters from an American, November 14, 2023 GLORIFYING VIOLENCE "Historians such as Ruth Ben-Ghiat warn that the proud display and embrace of violence cannot be simply dismissed as bravado or, as Trump likes to say, “locker room talk.” The purpose behind the praise and encouragement of violence is to open the door to greater acts of political terror and ultimately the use of force to seize the levers of government. "The American public is already numb to shootings on a near daily basis, but the open glorification of weapons of mass murder by our leaders is something new to our politics. When congressional leaders post holiday photos of their families wielding rifles and guns, and when they wear AR-15 pins on their lapels in the halls of Congress, this is not simply to “own the libs” or even to reinforce some kind of tribalism. It is an express validation of achieving and maintaining political power through the use of force, with deadly weapons if necessary." -- Jay Kuo, Status Kuo newsletter, November 15, 2023 IGNORE THE BAIT  "Trump and his supporters might be inane in many ways, but they are deadly serious about their intentions to take power and destroy democracy. Their cavorting and capering is part of who they are, but it is also bait, a temptation to distraction and an invitation to sink to their level. "....But none of this should drag us into acting like children ourselves. Trump and his supporters might be inane in many ways, but they are deadly serious about their intentions to take power and destroy democracy. "....Saving democracy sometimes requires flags and marches and dramatic gestures. For most of us, however, democracy is preserved one day, and one conversation, at a time." -- Tom Nichols, The Atlantic newsletter, November 17, 2023 INCO INSIGHTS  "In a time of destruction, create something."   -- Maxine Hong Kingston, memoirist and novelist Indivisible defends democracy by opposing authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption. 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   November 20, 2023 Website Email Facebook Copyright © 2023 INDIVISIBLE North Coast Oregon, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or signed up at a community group meeting. Our mailing address is: *|766 Lexington Avenue, Astoria, OR 97103:HTML|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

11-13-23 Newsletter

 

WOMEN WORTH WATCHING AND READING Joyce Vance, attorney, MSNBC commentator   TRUMP TELLS US WHAT HE WILL DO IF ELECTED  "Last night Democrats saw what happens when they run on the issues. When they run on who they are, instead of running away from it, they win. "Now Democrats need to take on an issue many would rather avoid: Donald Trump and the future of democracy if he’s re-elected. .... "We all know the story about Ben Franklin emerging from the Constitutional Convention and telling a woman who asked what type of government they’d created, “a Republic, if you can keep it.” The 2024 election is the moment where we find out if we can. If Trump wins in 2024, we lose the Republic. That’s not drama, and that’s not overstatement. That’s what Trump is promising.... "He is a malignant threat to democracy, and that has to be taken seriously. The singular challenge of the next election will be keeping the Republic in the face of Trump’s plans to take hold of power in a way that suggests he will never relinquish it." Attorney and activist Joyce Vance details in her Civil Discourse newsletter what Trump has promised, as well as how he, his accomplices, and the Heritage Foundation plan to end our democracy. INCO URGES YOU TO READ VANCE'S ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE. PATRIOTISM, IDEALISM -- AND BETRAYAL Cassidy Hutchinson describes how her beliefs in public service and democracy were challenged as she worked as assistant to Trump's chief of staff. Hutchinson testified at the June 28, 2022 public hearings of the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.  Larry Diamond and Ruth Ben Ghiat DEMAGOGUES AND DICTATORS IN OUR MIDST  Acclaimed historian Ruth Ben Ghiat warns us about the "strong men" personalities, violence, and corruption seen in authoritarian regimes. Donald Trump fits the profile.  She's in conversation with Larry Diamond, an American political sociologist and scholar in the field of democracy studies. WARNING: TRUMP IS WANNABE DICTATOR "In private, the former president [Trump] has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate former Trump officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office, according to people who have talked to him and spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Trump has also talked of prosecuting officials at the FBI and Justice Department, a person familiar with the matter said."   -Headline and article excerpt, Washington Post, November 9, 2023 "The New York Times reported on statements made by former president Trump, at political rallies and in interviews, that he intends to take an extremist position on immigration. This would be like his first term, but on steroids: conducting sweeping raids, rounding up the undocumented, detaining them in camps, deporting people by the millions, eliminating due process hearings, ending humanitarian waivers, canceling the visas of foreign students who protested against Israel, restricting legal migration, reinstating the Muslim ban, and refusing asylum claims on grounds migrants allegedly carry infectious diseases. He even plans to end birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented parents. "If Congress refuses to fund these operations, Trump plans to divert funds from the military budget to accomplish his goals. Leading the charge is white supremacist Stephen Miller, the architect behind Trump’s immigration policies in his first term, including family separation." -- Jay Kuo, Status Kuo newsletter, November 12, 2023 "Trump isn’t hiding his intentions. There is no excuse for minimizing the threat he poses. What’s at stake in the upcoming election is the continuity of America’s precarious experiment in democracy." -- Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner, Steady newsletter, November 12, 2023 Jessica Craven   "WE CAN WIN AND WIN AND WIN." Acclaimed political analyst and activist Jessica Craven energized Indivisibles at the COINversation on November 7. She reminded us that "our policies are popular" so we need to lean in to what we support and make sure voters know about Biden's and Democratic accomplishments. CELEBRATE NOVEMBER 7 DEMOCRATIC VICTORIES "To every single one of you who wrote postcards, sent letters, volunteered to talk to voters, gave money, or simply reached out to friends and family about these elections THANK YOU. This victory—and the giant refutation of GOP policies it represents—is yours. Celebrate it. Own it. Crow about it!" -- Jessica Craven, Chop Wood, Carry Water, November 8, 2023 "... what is sticking with me most this morning is how much our success is coming from the bottom up, the “Democratic grassroots” (we need a better term - I prefer proud patriots), regular people who’ve decided they are going to do everything they can to ensure that our freedoms and democracy don’t slip away.... In a time of enormous challenge for our country, Americans of every stripe are standing up, answering the call and fighting hard. And we are winning my friends, we are winning and I am so proud to be in this fight with all of you." -- Simon Rosenberg, Hopium newsletter, November 8, 2023 INCO INSIGHTS “There are only two kinds of madness one should guard against. One is the belief that we can do everything. The other is the belief that we can do nothing.”   — Andre Brink, “A Dry White Season” Indivisible defends democracy by opposing authoritarianism, bigotry, and corruption. 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   November 13, 2023 Website Email Twitter Copyright © 2023 INDIVISIBLE North Coast Oregon, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website or signed up at a community group meeting. Our mailing address is: *|766 Lexington Avenue, Astoria, OR 97103:HTML|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.