Tuesday, March 26 * 4:30 - 5:30 311 SW 1st Street, Kelso, WA - Cowlitz County Courthouse
HEAR CANDIDATES AT CLATSOP DEMOCRATS MEETING Monday, March 25 at 6 pm, via Zoom
The guest speakers this month are James Manning, Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, and Tessa Scheller, candidate for Clatsop County Commissioner.
Register here in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Hear from candidates Maxine Dexter, Susheela Jayapal, and Eddy Morales. To register for the 2024 COINversations and submit questions in advance, use this link.
WRITETOVOTERS TUESDAYS • 3 - 4:30 pm WineKraft, 77 11th Street, Astoria On the RiverWalk, just inside the east end of the building, up the ramp on your left No purchase necessary.
INCO provides postcards, pens, stamps, and Wite-Out. We'll help you get started if you're new to writing voters.
Last week INCO folks wrote postcards to Arizona voters supporting Ruben Gallego's run for US Senate and to Oregonians about the record of US Representative Lori Chavez DeRemer (OR-5) as she runs for re-election. Despite claiming to be a "moderate," she supports MAGA and extreme right-wing legislation at least 95% of the time. Her Democratic opponent will be chosen in May's primary election.
DON'T DISAPPOINT GEORGE WASHINGTON
To the Editor: My humble suggestion to those exhausted from their efforts in opposing Donald Trump and now possibly even apathetic: Please remember Gen. George Washington and his suffering troops during the Revolutionary War, the suffragists and the civil rights movement. Thank heavens none of these ordinary Americans gave in to what must have been their own deep mental, physical and financial exhaustion, first to win independence and then to keep expanding our democracy.
Given recent events, please think, too, of Aleksei Navalny and his determination to keep pressing for a democratic Russia through those long years of psychological and physical torture, only to end with his murder.
Donald Trump has made this our own moment to step forward to work to save our own democracy. We can’t let down all those who came before us who created the rights we enjoy today by letting Mr. Trump have his way in destroying our values and our society.
Mary C. Helf Flourtown, Pa. -- Letters to the Editor, New York Times, February 22, 2024
DEMOCRATS: EVERY VOTER SHOULD GET TO VOTE
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed three election bills into law. The laws make it easier to register to vote, help prevent delays in statewide election certification and allow counties to pilot new programs for signature verification. Meanwhile, Republican governors and state legislators continue to support and pass measures to restrict voting, disqualify voters, and ensure gerrymandering.
REPUBLICAN VOTERS ARE REJECTING TRUMP
"Trump’s performance in the Republican primaries so far has been abysmal. In three of the primaries, 40 percent of the voters in his own party didn’t vote for him. In the fourth, about 30 percent didn’t want him. Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, and significant numbers of Republican voters have rejected him every chance they’ve gotten. This can’t be emphasized enough. Those were Republican votes he didn’t get.
“….That means Donald Trump is beatable. It won’t be easy, it will be closer than it should be, but he is not going to get as large a number of the popular vote as he got last time.
“…. We know there are more of us than there are of them. What we’ve got to do is turn out and vote.” — Lucian K. Truscott Newsletter, February 29, 2024
BELIEVE THEM
"Trump is broke. He is weaker than before. He’s flailing. That makes him more dangerous to our democracy, not less. We keep saying it, over and over: When Trump and MAGA tell you what they are going to do, believe them." -- The Lincoln Project, March 20, 2024
THE GOP - MAGA AGENDA: PROJECT 2025
"Yesterday the far-right Republican Study Committee (RSC), which includes about two thirds of all House Republicans, released a 2025 budget plan to stand against Biden’s 2025 budget wish list. The RSC plan calls for dramatic cuts to business regulation, Social Security, Medicaid, and so on, and dismisses Biden’s plan for higher taxes on the wealthy, calling instead for more than $5 trillion in tax cuts. It calls the provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that permits the government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over prices “socialist price controls.”
"Biden responded to the RSC budget, saying: “'My budget represents a different future. One where the days of trickle-down economics are over and the wealthy and biggest corporations no longer get all the breaks. A future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms, not take them away. A future where the middle class finally has a fair shot, and we protect Social Security so the working people who built this country can retire with dignity. I see a future for all Americans and I will never stop fighting for that future.'
"....Just as it was in the 1850s, the right-wing emphasis on religion and opposition to a modern multicultural America today is deeply entwined with preserving an economic power structure that has benefited a small minority. That emphasis is growing stronger in the face of the administration’s effort to restore a level economic playing field."
"Nine-tenths of wisdom consists in being wise in time." --Theodore Roosevelt
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 March 25, 2024
"Folks, it’s an incredibly noisy news environment. The potential for overwhelm is huge. So please, remember to breathe. To take breaks for human contact. To eat enough. To dwell on good news where you find it. To observe social media pauses. To seek out news filtered, as Robert Hubbell puts it, “through a lens of hope.”
"And when in doubt remember to take action.
"The second we’re in action the noise recedes. We recall our purpose. We’re in the solution. Our shoulders drop, our face relaxes, and our backs tend to straighten. Our anxiety recedes.
"Our determination strengthens.
"And as a result we are fueled to more action. Which soothes us more. And takes us further. And—you guessed it!—changes the course of history.
"So that someday, thanks in part to our hard work, we get back to a better news cycle." -- Jessica Craven; Chop Wood, Carry Water, March 12, 2024
WRITETOVOTERS TUESDAYS • 3 - 4:30 pm WineKraft - NEW LOCATION: 77 11th Street, Astoria On the RiverWalk, just inside the east end of the building, up the ramp on your left No purchase necessary.
INCO provides postcards, pens, and stamps. We'll help you get started if you're new to writing voters.
INCO just mailed our first 200 postcards to voters in Florida and Arizona. Enjoy the satisfaction of doing something positive to defend our freedoms and defeat MAGA!
HOME NOT-QUITE ALONE
If you want to write to voters on your schedule and at your own place, google "Democratic postcard campaigns" to find one you like. You might find others mentioned in political emails and texts you receive. The important thing is to do one of many other actions to save our democracy.
TAPS OR REVEILLE?
"When the election is over on November 5, 2024, will we be hearing Taps being played for the passing of our Democracy or will we be hearing Reveille for the re-awaking and survival of our Democracy?
"Let’s keep calm, work hard, and vote BLUE all the way through for the House, the Senate and the Presidency. Just remember and practice this important advice:
'“You can’t wring your hands and roll up your sleeves at the same time.” -- Patricia Nell Scott Schroeder (July 30, 1940 – March 13, 2023), Colorado's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives 1973-1997
"Together we can make it happen!" -- Susan Highfield, PA; Substack comment
INCO INSIGHTS
"You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements." -- Norman Douglas, British author
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 March 18, 2024
"I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while. And when you get to my age certain things become clearer than ever before.
"I know the American story. Again and again I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation. Between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future.
"My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy.
"....I believe in you the American people. You’re the reason I’ve never been more optimistic about our future! So let’s build that future together! Let’s remember who we are!
"We are the United States of America. There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together!" -- President Joe Biden, State of the Union speech, March 7, 2024
SENATOR RON WYDEN TOWN HALL Sunday, March 17 • 1 pm Astoria High School, 1001 West Marine Drive How will he know what you want if you don't tell him?
WRITETOVOTERS TUESDAYS • 3 - 4:30 pm WineKraft - NEW LOCATION: 77 11th Street, Astoria On the RiverWalk, just inside the east end of the building, up the ramp on your left No purchase necessary.
INCO provides postcards, pens, and stamps. We'll help you get started if you're new to writing voters. Questions? incoregon@gmail.com
Join other enthusiastic activists for democracy!
IF YOU DON'T RUN, WHO WILL? County Commissioner Filing Deadline is TOMORROW, March 12
Voters will elect two commissioners on May 21, one for District 2 (Clatsop Plains, Gearhart, part of Seaside), and one for District 4 (east Astoria to the county line). If you want a less conservative, more progressive county commission, consider running if you live in one of those districts.
IF POSTCARDS AREN'T YOUR THING.... Vote Forward’s first letter writing campaigns of the year are live! Head to votefwd.org to download letters and start writing to voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin today. You'll be adding a few sentences to letters ready for you to print and then store until the October mailing date.
Vote Forward has two types of letter writing campaigns: Social and Political. If you’d like to write to Democratic-leaning voters, make sure to select one of the Political campaigns.. Easy - and a great way to reach potential voters!
If you're interested in INCO providing envelopes and postage, please contact incoregon@gmail.com.
INCO INSIGHTS
"It is useless to close the gates against ideas; they overleap them." -- Prince Klemons von Metternich, Austrian statesman, died 1859
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 March 11, 2024