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Making it happen: Week 14
This week, letter-writing volunteers Pennie Burns, Nancy Clement, Amy Nowatzki, and Kathy Pickering added 150 voter engagement letters to our GROWING pile that will be sent out in late October. Woohoo! Gold stars on collars!
Thank you to Claire Culbertson for her generous donation to purchase stamps for the letter-writing project. We could use more donations just like hers. Woohoo! Gold star on collar!
More on Protect the Results
You’ll recall we noted in this section several weeks ago the undercurrent of anxiety in the country about the possibility that Donald Trump will dispute the outcome of the 2020 if/when he loses. Responses are being planned already - at the grassroots level by Indivisible National and other pro-democracy groups, and at the national level by the Transition Integrity Project and [hopefully/probably] others.
A recent article in Atlantic Monthly talks about the Transition Integrity Project “an informal bipartisan group…that is looking to ensure the election and potential transition go smoothly. More than 60 people are involved, including former governors and Cabinet secretaries. They’re planning to meet on Zoom in the next few weeks and hold “tabletop” exercises meant to think through various scenarios.”
Our electoral tradition depends on the two candidates involved cooperating in the case of a contested election, i.e. one candidate being willing to fold in order to preserve the integrity of the system and avoid national chaos. This would be a move based on goodwill and interest in the greater good, neither of which have burdened Mr. Trump’s actions so far. Al Gore did just this is 2000, when the Supreme court failed to uphold a needed recount in Florida, and George Bush narrowly “won” the presidential election.
Author and professor Lawrence Douglas has just published Will He Go?, a book that lays out possible outcomes from a contested election, including courts being unable to resolve the dispute. He notes that “in 2020, we have no Al Gore to save us from a complete electoral meltdown and the unrest and violence it could unleash.”
The threat and possible consequences of a disputed national election are very real and very frightening. But having informed minds working together four months in advance allows for putting together an intelligent gameplan.
It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the many frightening things happening in current U.S. politics. A more satisfying and grounded approach is to keep our heads down and WORK at the things on the plate in front of us (see Call to Action above, and ICG’s 2020 Action Menu). And read what Mr. Rogers has to say (below). Often.
QUOTE
When I was a boy and would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people is this world.
– Fred Rogers
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We’re all-in for CHANGE in 2020. Our volunteers have written 10,000 (!!!) SwingLeft letters to register/engage voters in the 12 “Super States." We need an additional $3000 for postage to get these letters in the mail. Please help if you can.
