John,

Tonight we say farewell to 2019 and turn our thoughts to the new and pivotal year that lays before us. As we celebrate the turning of the calendar, and the hope and possibility that every new year offers, we should reflect back on all that we’ve accomplished and remember that with new opportunities come new challenges as well. Luckily, we proved in 2019 that together we are up to any task when our liberty is on the line.

At Stand Up Republic, we’ll remember the last year not for the many difficult moments, but for the important work that we as a community were able to accomplish. Some of those accomplishments include:

• SUR’s second annual ‘Hill Days’ event, bringing citizen advocates from across the country to Washington, DC to lobby their representatives for secure elections and accountable government.

• Campaigns against unfit political candidates. Including efforts that severely weakened Dan Bishop in a typically safe district, and a campaign now running against Jim Jordan for his role in spreading conspiracies and putting politics ahead of his state.

• The second National Summit for Democracy, bringing academics, activists, and advocates for American democracy together for a 2-day working summit to address the threats to our self-government.

• Organizing and advocating for electoral reforms at the national, state and local level, helping enact key reforms like ranked-choice voting in New York City and fair districts in the North Carolina state legislature.

• The launch of www.DefusingDis.info, a platform for essays and ideas about the threat of disinformation and ways to fight back.

• Combating xenophobic policies and presidential abuses of power. From barbaric family separation policies and emergency powers abuses, to obstructing Congress and Justice, we’ve demanded the president be held accountable, culminating in his impeachment.
   
• Growing our nation-wide community of cross-partisan advocates who put our liberty and democracy above partisan self-interest.

Taken together, these accomplishments are a broad-based effort to address some of the most critical issues plaguing our democracy and our society. They’re also ongoing efforts. No one act can protect our right to self-government or secure forever our liberty. Instead, it requires constant work, innovation, and determination. 

That’s why we have to carry that work forward into 2020. The year ahead is especially critical, and there is much to do. No matter how difficult or daunting the year before us seems, we can - by working together - rise to the moment and secure our future for the better.

First and foremost, next year is an opportunity for America to choose a new direction, and a new government - from President to Congress - that will respect our American ideals, norms and institutions. Doing so will require not just hard work, but passion and compassion, as we seek to persuade our fellow citizens that their liberty and basic rights are more important than their party's power. The future of our great experiment in human freedom is at stake.

We will also watch as our country goes through one of the most difficult and sober processes enshrined in our Constitution: impeachment. The fight for a fair and full Senate trial is already raging in Congress, but we have to do our part to ensure that the chamber gives full weight to the evidence known and yet to be discovered, and carries out its solemn duties with integrity. 

More broadly, we must confront partisan polarization. The divide between our political parties seems like an unbridgeable gulf; one that’s growing wider by the day. We can’t let partisanship tear apart a country that, when more unified, is capable of the greatest achievements the world has ever known. That means reorienting or even reinventing our political parties. 

The Republican Party in particular has moved away from many core American principles, leaving countless citizens who once identified with them politically homeless. Their abandonment of our fundamental values is not only a tragedy, it threatens to unravel a philosophical approach to self-governance that is important in guiding and stabilizing our country. Meanwhile, ideological extremism threatens to do the very same to the Democratic Party. All Americans - Republican, Democrat, Independent, or otherwise - should fight for parties that put country before their narrow interests maintaining or obtaining power at any cost.

Lastly, America is suffering from a growing epidemic of racial, political and religious violence. There is nothing more abhorrent to a free society than violence against anyone based on who they are or what they believe. In 2020, we must commit ourselves to the dignity and shared rights of all Americans, fighting back against increasingly pervasive bigotry, xenophobia and hate. 

These missions are a tall order. And we cannot accomplish them by ourselves. We must reach out across political, ethnic, religious, social and any other lines, to build a coalition of pro-democracy voters. We must work within our communities to build a stronger, more unified country. And we must stop at nothing to secure liberty and justice for all.

No matter what trials and tribulations we face in the year to come, that’s where we must keep our focus. And if we keep our faith in freedom - if we trust in our power as citizens - we can prevail. That is our calling for the new year.

Evan and Mindy