Last week, we shared the news that 40 senior Democratic operatives had met in DC to launch a coordinated attack against No Labels, and our effort to get ballot access in states nationwide.
Now the attack has begun and you should know what it looks like. It reveals the depths that some in Washington will go to protect their power, and the hollowness of their claims that they are “protecting democracy.”
Give me a break. They are protecting their turf, and here’s how they do it.
- No Labels staffers and vendors got calls this week from senior Democrats implying or saying directly they will never find work in Washington again if they don’t abandon this effort.
- We learned anonymous donors have pledged millions to a campaign that will fund legal challenges and investigations into No Labels.
- Several non-profits – which are legally prohibited from advocating for specific political candidates – are now explicitly working to support a specific candidate: President Biden.
- In several instances, unethical journalists or our detractors simply made things up. They linked us to donors who have never supported us. They claimed we have already chosen candidates for a No Labels ticket (we haven’t) or that we are working to harm President Biden or help former President Trump (we never have and never will work to help or hurt either).
Let’s be really clear about what is happening here.
No Labels may never nominate a presidential ticket. If we do, it will only be because Americans have an overwhelming desire for it when we have our convention in April 2024.
We don’t support or stand against any candidate.
The one thing we are doing is getting ballot access in states across the country to create the possibility Americans may have another choice for president if they don’t like what our two major parties offer up.
And this is intolerable to the powers that be in Washington. This they say is “dangerous” to democracy. But what they really mean is they think it’s dangerous for Americans to think for themselves. They think it’s dangerous that we might break free from the brain dead tribalism that grips our politics and demands we hate and fear our neighbors. They think it’s dangerous we might wake up and say, “You know what, I don’t like what you’re selling me and I’m not buying it.”
In the process of trying to destroy us, No Labels’ detractors are showing the country exactly why we’re needed. Talk to almost any person you know and ask them if they think America would be better off if we had more voices, choices and ideas in our politics. Most everyone would say yes. Competition makes everyone better in sports, in business and in life. The absence of real competition is why our political system is stuck in such a rut.
Thus far, much of the opposition to No Labels’ 2024 insurance project has come from the Democratic side, although we will no doubt get more opposition from Republican special interests as we get on the ballot in more red states.
If the power brokers in the Democratic or Republican party don’t want No Labels to nominate a presidential ticket in 2024, they have an easy way to get us to stand down:
Put forward candidates and ideas that America’s common sense majority like and support.
Do that and the opening for an independent ticket evaporates and No Labels will just double down on the important work we’ve done for over 13 years to bring together Democrats and Republicans in Congress and across America to solve our big problems.
In the meantime, we’ll continue working to get ballot access and put out ideas we know Americans can rally around (be on the lookout for our Common Sense policy agenda, coming out this summer).
We’ll continue working to ensure America’s common sense majority has a voice.
If you support the movement of the commonsense majority please chip in $20 to No Labels 2024 today.
