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Indivisibles, 

I’m sure you’ve seen the news -- and I’m not here to wallow, but I am here
to reflect on what this means for our democracy and where we go from here.
In case you haven’t seen, 48 Senate Democrats sided with us to reform the
filibuster and pass the Freedom to Vote: John R Lewis Act. Sinema and
Manchin sided with Mitch McConnell to block the effort. 

First things first: Kyrsten Sinema betrayed her constituents and our
democracy. Joe Manchin betrayed his constituents and our democracy.
Elected Republicans everywhere betrayed their constituents and our
democracy. Ignore whatever spin comes from their press releases and media
appearances in the aftermath of this debacle -- history will not be kind
to these enablers of racism and authoritarianism.  

What we accomplished. But you left it all on the field. The Indivisible
movement did what it has been building to do for years. We started this
campaign with people laughing at us for talking about the filibuster and
with deep uncertainty that a potential future Democratic trifecta would
prioritize democracy reform at all. After winning the trifecta last year,
our plan was simple: convince the political system that this was urgent
and bring all possible pressure to bear on the holdouts. 

Where did we end up? Early on, we saw Elizabeth Warren and other senators
come out swinging. Then we saw senators like Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker,
and Alex Padilla become champions for the cause. We tried to convince
President Biden to prioritize it, and while it took some time, he started
fighting for it last year. Former President Obama endorsed his plan.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set up a high-stakes vote to set the
stage for the showdown. What was a sideshow four years ago became the main
event tonight. 

That happened because you demanded it -- step after step after step.
Congress DID prioritize democracy -- it became HR 1, which became the
Freedom to Vote Act: John Lewis VRA. Senate Holdouts DID switch sides to
become filibuster reform advocates. Joe Biden DID get in the fight and
start swinging. The Democratic Party DID bring its full force to bear on
Sinema and Manchin.

The consequences of this betrayal are real. But it turns out this wasn’t
enough. And with the developments of the past 48 hours, I’m convinced that
nothing would have moved Manchin and Sinema to side with us. We left no
stone unturned. We responded to every question and concern. We rewrote
legislation repeatedly. We corrected historical inaccuracies. We offered
concession after concession. We showed up in force in their states time
and time again. Hell, this past weekend Martin Luther King, Jr’s family
marched in Phoenix with Indivisibles and pro-voting advocates from across
the state. We succeeded in bringing every possible ounce of pressure we
could. 

It turned out this wasn't enough. We took on a tough fight with less than
even odds of success, and we came damn close. But close wasn't enough, and
that’s devastating. 

This isn’t a game. We weren’t fighting to score political points. We
weren’t fighting to help one political party over another. We were
fighting to safeguard our democracy, and to protect the sacred right to
vote. And so this loss comes with real consequences. 

As a result of Sinema and Manchin’s betrayal, the opportunity for
substantial democracy reform is likely over for this congress. We now head
into the midterms with GOP voter suppression bills uncontested, with
devastating consequences for Black and brown communities. And we will head
into the 2023-2024 period with the real threat of election subversion, and
even a new potential coup, hanging over our heads the whole time. The
likelihood of a future in America defined by major constitutional crises,
democratic breakdown, and right-wing political violence is higher today
than it was yesterday. This is the political reality we all live in now
thanks to Sinema, Manchin, and all Senate Republicans.

So what does that mean for Indivisible going forward? What do we believe
about this new political reality?

What we at Indivisible believe. In short, we believe in local constituent
power; in using this Democratic trifecta while we have it; in
accountability; in elections; and in democracy.

* Constituent Power. We still believe that the rising authoritarian
threat is a danger to us all. We still believe that there are more of
us than there are of them. We still believe that the only way we will
succeed in defeating the fascists is through organized constituent
power. And we still believe that locally-led, nationally supported
groups are a unique contribution to the development of this power. We
believe in the power of the Indivisible movement because we’ve seen it
with our own eyes.
* This Democratic Trifecta. We also believe that we still have a
Democratic trifecta (it's true!), and we expect Congress to return to
BBB and finish it up by March. Passing a multi-trillion dollar package
will do good for many millions of people and the Earth. And we’ll be
working with Indivisibles to convince the Biden Administration to move
aggressively on executive actions to deliver on as many of his
campaign promises as possible.
* Accountability for those who betrayed us. Earlier this week we asked
Arizona Indivisibles if they would want Sinema primaried in the event
she betrayed them on this democracy vote. A stunning 94%
enthusiastically said they would. Kyrsten Sinema turned her back on
her constituents; no single Democratic senator -- Manchin included --
was as detrimental to this cause as she was. We're already working on
plans to make sure that she doesn't hold any office after this term.
We look forward to sharing them soon. My main goal isn’t fundraising
right now, but if you want to support that effort, you can [ [link removed] ]donate
here. 
* Elections. More generally, we still believe in elections. We want to
elect diverse, progressive Democrats. If we are to ever have hope in
passing structural reforms to safeguard our democracy in the future,
we desperately need a larger and better Democratic House and Senate.
We contacted tens of millions of voters to Get Out the Vote in 2020.
We will need to do more this year.
* Democracy. The unfortunate reality is that substantial democracy
reform is likely no longer possible in this congress. It pains me to
write those words, but it would pain me more to lie or offer up false
hope. Yes, there is a longshot possibility that we’ll see traction for
a small-scale reform of the Electoral Count Act, but getting that done
will require support from a Republican Party that remains controlled
by Trump and his anti-democracy forces. Even if it were to succeed, it
would do little to roll back the GOP attacks on democracy at the state
level. So that means we have to do longer-term planning for how our
movement can support election integrity–and work to prevent election
subversion–in the lead up to 2024 in the absence of federal
legislation to safeguard our democracy.

So what now? This fight for a real democracy has been part of America
since its founding. Nor is using the filibuster to block pro-democracy,
pro-civil rights legislation anything new. After the Civil War, southern
segregations popularized and weaponized the filibuster to prevent the
Senate from taking up democracy legislation. The 1964 Civil Rights bill
overcame a weeks-long filibuster, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act faced its
own filibuster threats as well. Those bills were decades in the making --
the end successful result of decades of failed attempts.

So what can we do after losing a hard fight? Here are the options:

* We can give up.
* We can keep building power.

That’s it. End of list. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let the
fascists win in a forfeit. 

On January 24th at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT, we’re pulling together pro-democracy
supporters from across the country to strategize about next steps. If you
would like to be part of that conversation, please [ [link removed] ]sign up to join
Monday’s Movement call here. And if you have any thoughts to share ahead
of time, please reply to this email with them (yes, to “no-reply” we do
read it!), or feel free to reach out to me directly on Twitter at
[ [link removed] ]@ezralevin (I really try to respond!). 

I’m sorry that we lost tonight, but I am so damn proud that we fought.
I’ve said time and time again: we’re not fighting for our democracy
because we know we’ll win. We’re fighting for it because we know we have
to win. And we will win.

In solidarity,
Ezra
Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Indivisible

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