Hello Indivisibles!

Spring is in the air, vaccines are in peoples' arms, and Donald Trump is
out of office. Forget T.S. Eliot -- April is the coolest month. You know
the drill -- this is the monthly newsletter from us co-founders of
Indivisible, Leah and Ezra. Get in touch directly on Twitter if you’d like
-- [ [link removed] ]@leahgreenb and [ [link removed] ]@ezralevin. We got hundreds of responses to our
question last month about state-level GOP voter suppression. For this
month we want to check in on how the post-Trump era is going: the good,
the bad, the ugly, and the hopeful.

How we see the post-Trump era shaping up

When Dems won the two seats in Georgia, that threw American politics into
a brand new paradigm: the Democratic trifecta. We had been preparing for
that moment, and immediately released a new Guide. [ [link removed] ]Indivisible: A
Practical Guide to Fixing Our Democracy. The new guide is about how to use
a trifecta to deliver on a bold Democratic agenda and specifically on the
structural reforms we need to protect our democracy. It draws on lessons
learned from the first two years of the Obama administration -- the last
time Democrats held a trifecta. 

We were both Capitol Hill staffers during the last Dem trifecta, so this
was a therapeutic exercise. Because frankly, the experience of being a
young congressional staffer in 2009-2011 was incredibly frustrating. We
watched as a Dem trifecta passed a recovery package that was too small. We
watched as precious months were lost to fruitless negotiations with Mitch
McConnell and other GOP bad-faith negotiators. We watched as congressional
leadership watered-down crucial legislation in desperate attempts to
appease conservatives. And we watched as a rising right-wing movement
unnerved Democrats and Republicans alike. Ultimately, the Tea Party surge
of 2010 wiped out House Democrats (including Leah’s boss, Tom Perriello),
and ended the window for potential transformative change. And we’ve all
seen what came after that.

So it was very, very, very important to us -- and to Indivisibles across
the country -- that we do not repeat the choices that blunted economic
recovery and led us to the 2010 wipeout. That’s why we had two top
demands: 

First, go big, go fast, get it right. Deliver on an agenda that meets the
scope of the crises we face, and do it fast. Don’t get bogged down in the
hopeless mirage of McConnell-backed “bipartisanship” that will never
actually materialize. 

Second, prioritize fixing our democracy. Our democracy isn’t saved just
because Trump’s out of office. We need federal action to secure the
freedom to vote, to protect our elections, and to fight back against the
ways Republicans have rigged the rules to stay in power. If we don’t get
these reforms now, we won’t have another chance.

A couple of months into this new era, we’re taking this time to check in
on how it’s going.

The Good: Democrats have been...doing stuff! And it’s really good stuff!

The American Rescue Plan is a huge deal. It’s $1.9 trillion of REALLY.
GOOD. STUFF. Expanded unemployment insurance. Survival checks. Vaccine
distribution funding. Money to states and localities. A child tax credit.
It’s a massive transfer of wealth to low- and middle-income families and
it’s going to have an enormous impact on inequality and child poverty.

Was it perfect? No! We wanted a $15 minimum wage, immigrant inclusion, and
student debt cancellation. We’re going to keep fighting for the pieces we
didn’t get. We’re going to demand that the upcoming recovery package go
even bigger, and incorporate the transformative action we need for
climate, for economic and racial justice, and for good jobs (a good
analysis of that [ [link removed] ]here). 

But we need to celebrate when something good happens -- and the American
Rescue Plan will do an enormous amount of good. 

And we should celebrate what happened here: Democrats went big, and they
went fast. They didn’t fall for the bipartisanship trap. And that’s a huge
deal. It’s all too easy to imagine an alternate 2021 where the relief
package negotiations are still dragging on as Democrats desperately cut
the plan in half in a vain attempt to get McConnell or other hold-out
Republicans on board. Or a few conservative Democratic senators or members
of Congress could have flat-out decided to kill the bill. It’s a credit to
everyone involved -- President Biden and his team, Democratic leadership,
and the Democratic caucus -- that this passed. And special credit goes to
the House Progressive Caucus, whose organizing helped to prevent the bill
from getting watered down in the final stages (good backstory on that
[ [link removed] ]here).

Above all, it’s a credit to the movements that made this window of
opportunity happen, whose electoral organizing delivered a Democratic
trifecta, and whose vision of a just society helped to reshape what was
possible politically. None of this happens without a movement behind it.

The Bad: Remember how we said, first, fix our democracy? Well, it’s April
and we’ve still got a long way to go. The For the People Act has passed
the House -- itself a big victory. But we’re facing a tough fight in the
Senate, where we need every vote -- and we’ll need to overcome a
Republican filibuster. The John Lewis Voting Rights Act and D.C. statehood
have yet to pass the House. There is a growing movement to transform our
nation into a full-fledged democracy by admitting the Douglass
Commonwealth to the Union (good article on that [ [link removed] ]here), and we expect to
see significant action on this front around D.C.’s emancipation day on
April 16th, a District-wide holiday recognizing the abolition of slavery
in D.C., predating the Emancipation Proclamation. 

But the weeks and months are ticking by -- there are only so many days
left on the legislative calendar to admit the Douglass Commonwealth and
pass the democracy saving-reforms. In the middle of a packed recovery
agenda, it’s crucial that these bills do not get lost. The fate of our
democracy depends on it. That brings us to...

The Ugly: Republican legislators are very, very busy in the states rushing
through an avalanche of voter suppression bills. We wrote to you about
this last month, and since then Georgia Republicans passed a voter
suppression bill that’s being described as “Jim Crow in new clothes” (see
[ [link removed] ]here). We asked about what you were seeing on the ground in your own
states and got hundreds and hundreds of downright scary responses. 

* Arizona: We can’t list all the incoming from Arizona, but suffice it
to say it was overwhelming: Yuma County Indivisible, Indivisible
Sedona, Phoenix, Prescott, Cottonwood, Northern Arizona, Southern
Arizona. We heard from the entire state, and it is quite ugly:
reducing voting hours, restricting mail-in voting, scaling back early
voting, and giving the legislature the power to ignore the people’s
will and choose its own presidential electors. Message: if you thought
Georgia’s voter suppression was bad, just wait for Arizona.
* Florida: Again, an overwhelming response from all over the state.
Indivisible Martin, Palm Beach Indivisible, Indivisible Clay,
Southwest Florida, Safety Harbor Indivisible, Indivisible Gainesville,
Indivisible Action of Southwest Florida, and more all wrote in. As in
Arizona and Georgia, the state GOP is playing a similar tune:
constricting mail-in and early voting, limiting the use of drop boxes,
and making it easier to amend the state constitution! 
* Pennsylvania: Again, everywhere. Pennsylvania has a Democratic
governor but a Republican legislature -- and those GOP electeds are
busy. Hershey Indivisible, Chester County, Indivisible NW
Philadelphia, Indivisible Bucky County, Upper Darby Indivisible, and
more wrote in about what the GOP is cooking up: restricting mail-in
voting, slowing down official vote counts, and removing drop boxes,
among other anti-democratic ploys.

This is sadly just a very small selection -- we heard from Indivisibles in
just about every state in the Union. From Indivisible Duluth to
Indivisible TX-10, to Norris Area Indivisible (Tennessee), to Boise
Indivisible One -- we cannot call out everyone but we read every single
one. This reporting out from Indivisibles on the ground matches what we
hear from our friends at the nonpartisan Brennan Center -- they’ve put
together an ongoing tracker of state-level voter suppression bills that
are advancing at a “furious pace” ([ [link removed] ]here).

The horizon is grim. If we don’t take action, state Republicans are on a
path to gerrymander and voter-suppress themselves into a congressional
majority in 2022. If we lose the House majority, that’s the end of any
legislative progress. If we lose the governorships of key swing states,
we’re in an even grimmer place heading into 2024. 

This is scary. But it’s not a fait accompli. We can stop them. And that’s
what we’re going to do:

The Hopeful: we see, as we talk to Indivisible groups nationwide, that the
movement to resist Trump has transformed into a movement for inclusive
democracy. [ [link removed] ]California Indivisibles have spent this month pushing
Senator Feinstein to drop her opposition to the filibuster to pass H.R. 1
-- and they’ve gotten [ [link removed] ]results. Arizona Indivisibles have been
repeatedly filling up Senator Sinema’s mailboxes with calls to end the
filibuster and fight for democracy. And folks all over the country have
taken up the 51-star flag in support of the Douglas Commonwealth ([ [link removed] ]see
Indivisibles in Anchorage here!), which for too long has been a fight that
D.C. activists have had to carry alone. 

This has always been an uphill battle. But it’s winnable. We can save our
democracy. We can deliver a transformative progressive agenda. We can cast
Trump, McConnell, and their fascist allies into the dustbin of history. 

But it doesn’t happen without a movement. 

Last month we asked you what you were seeing on the ground. This month
we’re asking what you’re doing on the ground. The following is a simple
one-click response, but if you have time to provide more details, clicking
an answer will take you to a page where you can tell us more -- and we
will use those responses in our next newsletter and beyond to try to give
more folks more ideas about how to be part of this pro-democracy effort.

Our question for you: What are you doing in the next month to help save
our democracy?

🌸 [ [link removed] ]I’m calling my Senator to support D.C. statehood, For the People
Act, and the John Lewis VRA

🌸 [ [link removed] ]I’m bringing a 51-star flag to my Senator’s district office

🌸 [ [link removed] ]I’m participating in an event with my local Indivisible group

🌸 [ [link removed] ]I’m writing a letter to the editor in support of the Douglass
Commonwealth and democracy reforms

🌸 [ [link removed] ]I’m going to do something else 

We can’t wait to read about what you’re doing on the ground, and we can’t
wait to use those stories to inspire even more people to join us in this
fight. Until next month,

In solidarity,
Ezra and Leah
Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors, Indivisible

 

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