"Sister District is officially launching their 2024 State Bridges program next week! The State Bridges program activates Sister District volunteers (like me!) to fundraise for grassroots organizations in swing states who are leading year-round power-building work. This year, they're supporting eight organizations in four battleground states: AZ, PA, MI & WI." -- Jessica Craven, Chop Wood, Carry Water, January 5, 2024
Please consider working with one of these campaigns for Democratic victories and MAGA defeats. The organizations Craven mentions are:
"THE AMERICAN ELECTORATE IS CONSISTENTLY ANTI-MAGA"
"There are more good people willing to defend the Constitution than members of the mob trying to bend it to their will. The good people who rallied to its defense on January 6 have prevailed in most political battles since January 6—and have every reason to believe they will do so in the future.
"We must continue our resistance with the spirit of January 6 in our hearts and minds. Democracy is at stake—it always is. The only thing that has changed is that opponents of democracy have emerged from the shadows, setting their shame aside because their leader is shameless. But those who seek to protect and preserve democracy have the good fortune of being led by a good and decent man." -- Robert Hubbell, Today's Edition newsletter, January 6, 2024
"What’s been lost — or if not lost then obscured — in the constant attention to Trump’s voters, supporters and followers is that the overall American electorate is consistently anti-MAGA. Trump lost the popular vote in 2016. The MAGA-fied Republican Party lost the House of Representatives in 2018. Trump lost the White House and the Republican Party lost the Senate in 2020. In 2022, Trump-like or Trump-lite candidates lost competitive statewide elections in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania. Republicans vastly underperformed expectations in the House, winning back the chamber with a razor-thin margin, and Democrats secured governorships in Kansas, Michigan and Wisconsin, among other states. Democrats overperformed again the following year, in Kentucky and Virginia.
“'Since 2016,” wrote Michael Podhorzer, a former political director for the A.F.L.-C.I.O., in a post for his newsletter last summer, “Republicans have lost 23 of the 27 elections in the five states everyone agrees Democratic hopes in the Electoral College and the Senate depend on.''” -- Jamelle Bouie, New York Times, January 6 2024
TWENTY LESSONS FOR US
As much as we'd like to ignore Trump, MAGA, and other threats to our freedoms, that really won't save us. Instead, INCO encourages you to stay alert and informed during this crucial election year. INCO suggests you start with this short, eloquent book by historian Timothy Snyder, ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Check out this quick summaryin Snyder's January 6 Substack newsletter.
"We are capable, as a nation, of defeating authoritarian forces who seek to wreck our democracy, splinter our nation, and control the bodies and lives of others, including millions of women. We have succeeded before—and this time, it is still possible to achieve victory at the ballot box and not the battlefield. But it is a victory we must see through, and no one can sit on the sidelines." -- Jay Kuo, The Status Kuo newsletter, January 7, 2023
A SACRED PLEDGE
“Today, I make this sacred pledge to you,” he said. “The defense, protection, and preservation of American democracy will remain, as it has been, the central cause of my presidency.”
“America, as we begin this election year, we must be clear,” Biden said. “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.” “The alternative to democracy is dictatorship—the rule of one, not the rule of ‘We the People.’” -- Excerpts from President Joe Biden' speech when he launched his reelection campaign January 5 at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. The entire speech is here.
INCO INSIGHTS
“I just want to urge you all, have a good time while you are fighting for freedom. First of all, we don’t always win, and it might get to be the only fun you’ll ever have. And second of all, it’s a better way to live.” -- Molly Ivins, journalist and political commentator
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 January 8, 2024