Jingle Jingle: We won't stop calling in 2021

What a Way to End the Year

Thank you to everyone who showed up for our last IMV meeting of 2021 on Dec. 12! We met Senya Bekui, the new lead organizer for Citizen Action CNY.  He shared this inspiring video (co-starring our very own good friend, Shana Dahlin!) in his most recent email.  IMV encourages everyone to become a sustaining member of Citizen Action and/or make an end of the year gift to this critical group that fights in our state and region for social, economic, climate, and racial justice.  Seriously, click on the video, because the justice agenda it lays envisions is one IMV shares.

We also got the scoop on our local 2021 election results data from Bill Thickstun and started looking ahead to 2022.  We even met Democratic candidate Josh Riley, who is determined to challenge Claudia "no care" Tenney in #NY22 in 2022.

We ended the meeting with a reminder about the power of our calling on climate, the care economy (Build Back Better) and safeguards on voting and elections.  Most of us make calls to our elected officials but wish we would make those calls more regularly.   Check out this handy document to make calls today, and keep it up in the weeks to come.  

But that wasn't all!  IMV showed up in a big way for the big #NY22 and #NY24 Dems Deliver event on Tuesday.  Anthony Brindisi moderated an excellent conversation about issues in our region and the congressional leadership we need in the future, and we got to know five outstanding candidates challenging the current failed Republican incumbents.  

We don't know what's going to happen in re-districting, but we do know that we don't have to return these Republicans to the House in 2023.  For now there are three things we can do:

1) Donate early to the campaigns of these brave and bold Democratic candidates for Congress.  Make it a recurring monthly donation so your candidate of choice can build a strong campaign. 
2)  Get ready to petition to get candidates on the ballot for 2022. This will happen fast and it WILL be cold and snowy.  Prep now with boots, gloves, hat, coat, snow tires, and ice scraper. 
3) Rev up to start talking to voters.  We win one call at a time, one door at a time.  
 

Letters to the Editor to Save Democracy

Check out this terrific letter from Dick Meili, convener of IMV's LTE group, published this week in the Rome Sentinel.   We need more letters and we need them fast.  The word is that Leader Schumer has given up on passing Build Back Better before the end of the year because Manchin and Sinema are being jerks.  Instead (and recognizing that we are close to losing the Senate and the House and more because of Republican election subversion in states across the country), he is turning to voting and democracy legislation. 

There's time to write letters now.  Need some talking points?  Check out this short page, which works well for LtEs and for calling Sen. Schumer and Sen Gillibrand to demand they pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.  Letters to the Editor build support in our communities for common sense legislation that protects voting rights and preserves our American commitment to having voters pick their representatives, not the other way around.  
 

Join the Welcome Wagon Team

Friends, Sarah Reeske has a plan for connecting to newly registered Democrats in Oneida and Herkimer counties.  It's called Welcome Wagon, and you can read about it here. There are a bunch of bite-sized roles that need to be filled so welcome newly registered Democrats and invite them to engage with IMV and local politics.  If you're willing to get involved, raise your hand by emailing IndivisibleMV@gmail.com.  
 

"The Answer to Despair Isn't Hope; It's Power"

Last week Ezra Levin sent out an email to mark the five year anniversary of the Indivisible Guide google doc that he wrote with Leah Greenberg and a few other former congressional staffers following the 2016 election, and tweeted out to a few folks desperate for practical tools to impact a struggling democratic system in the face of peril.  This is what Ezra wrote in response to a piece published by Michelle Goldberg a few weeks ago called The Problem of Political Despair:"

"In the five years we’ve been organizing for democracy, here’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned: political despair doesn’t come from the challenges we face -- it comes from feeling powerless to do anything about the challenges we face. The central task for all of us organizing within Indivisible is not to convince folks that things are OK; or that winning is as simple as signing a petition; or even that everyone should feel hopeful. The central task for a pro-democracy organizer is to identify what folks can actually do, and then give them a sense of their power to affect real-world change." 

Will we pass the Build Back Better bill before the end of the year? Will we amend the filibuster and pass the Freedom to Vote Act? Will pro-democracy forces survive the midterms? Will we avert a coup in 2024? Will we safeguard our republic thereafter? Will we overcome the challenges of gerrymandering, voter suppression, election subversion, and political violence? 

I’m not here to tell you the future, and you shouldn’t trust anybody who claims to know how this will turn out.  But five years into this movement for democracy, I know that there are still more of us than there are of them. I know that we can still be the light. And I believe that an engaged group of leaders throughout the country can influence the course of our democracy -- because I’ve seen it happen these past five years. I’ve seen an entire national political system bend to the will of an organized and fired-up constituency with a clear demand -- again and again and again."

Indivisible Mohawk Valley: WE CAN'T STOP NOW.

We learned that our calls to elected officials add up, and working together, we can push legislators to veto bills or pass legislation.  Keep calling.  Keep calling every day.   Call Sen. Schumer.  Call Sen. Gillibrand.  Call President Biden.  After New Year's, we'll be calling our state legislators in Albany too.  Here is your call list with phone numbers and messages to deliver.  Call "again and again and again." 

This will be your last email from IMV until 2022. But you can keep joining CAFE Friday every week to stay connected, and start making your plans to get involved in electoral and issue politics in 2022.Your commitment and activism are appreciated and needed more than ever in the year ahead.

May your holidays be filled with love and light, peace and joy!

Follow us on Twitter using @indivisiblemv and of course our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.