These used to be called the dog days of summer. I grew up in DC, where August weather is horrendous, and everyone who can get out of the city in August does get out of the city in August.
The tradition of a congressional recess at this time goes back a long way. For generations everyone just took it for granted that “nothing happened” in August, and assumed political news would be slow. Political reporters, pundits and lobbyists alike took their vacations at this time. Back in 2002, WH spokesman Andy Card famously said: "You don't introduce new products in August."
That is no longer the case.
The August recess is not “time off”. Activists know that the right effort in August gives you a big jump on the Fall, and this is true every year. We are always either preparing for Fall elections or preparing for Spring primaries.
So if you have any time to spare, use this next month to your advantage and make it a time of organizing and connecting with like minded people.
If you don’t have any time to spare, make time. We are in a fight for our lives and the future of our democracy. It is important that we have everybody’s help. And our opponents are definitely doing this, so if we slack off, we are giving the red team a big advantage.
There are a lot of hot button issues on everyone’s mind, but it is almost impossible to achieve progress on any of them while DJT is in the White House and #MoscowMitch is Majority Leader in the Senate.
If you live in Kentucky, that’s a whole separate diary that someone from KY will have to write.
Everyone else should focus on keeping the pressure on with respect to the impeachment inquiry.
If your Congressional representatives in the House have come out in favor of impeachment:
(1) Express your support. Offices do keep track of constituent communications on this issue. They usually hear more often from people who are angry than from people who are pleased. Call the DC office and the local office(s) nearest you. Write the DC office and the local office(s) nearest you. (Calling and writing are better than faxing or emailing. Faxes and emails are easier to ignore.) You don’t have to write much. Your message can be only a sentence or two. Even a postcard is good enough, and a postcard will be read by many of the people who handle it along the way, spreading your views further. THANK THEM for doing their constitutional duty to hold this president accountable. Thank them for their leadership in being early supporters of an impeachment inquiry.
(2) Contact all your friends and relatives whose reps have NOT publicly expressed support for impeachment, and all your friends and relatives in red states. Tell them what you did, and send them the information below.
(3) Connect with like minded people in your area. Every Congressional district has at least one Indivisible group. If there isn’t one near you, start a new one. Connect connect connect. You are not alone. Tell others they are not alone. We are all in this together. Let the Big Blue Wave in 2018 be an encouragement to you. We outnumber them.
(4) Find out when your rep is giving a town hall or making a personal appearance. Show up with signs and chants of support for impeachment (make sure to include THANK YOU signs). If there are no public appearances scheduled, just go to the most visible local office and do it on the sidewalk there. Your goal is to get noticed by local media—local radio, local and regional papers, local and regional television—with the message “[name of local area] people show their support for impeachment.” Someone you know knows someone who knows someone who has a connection that will help you get local coverage.
(5) Stay informed. Find out who the person is in your circle of friends who keeps up with political developments and have frequent discussions with them. If there is no one like that in your circle, you can become that person. You might be surprised at how quickly news can spread from a contact list as small as ten or 12 names. The most important thing you can do for that group is check the sources of information floating around. As people pick up weird rumors from social media, you can be the debunker they turn to to find out what is accurate. Be the skeptic who looks for confirmation of everything that seems too good to be true. You will quickly discover which sources vet and doublecheck their news and which ones expect you to believe whatever they say without reliable supporting background information. Sharing that as widely as possible is the best inoculation against the misinformation and disinformation bad actors will spread as the election gets closer.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If your Reps have NOT come out in favor of impeachment, or if your Reps are Republicon:
(1) Express your disagreement. Offices do keep track of constituent communications on this issue. They will be bombarded by messages from people opposed to impeachment. Call the DC office and the local office(s) nearest you. Write the DC office and the local office(s) nearest you. (Calling and writing are better than faxing or emailing. Faxes and emails are easier to ignore.) You don’t have to write much. Your message can be only a sentence or two. Even a postcard is good enough, and a postcard will be read by many of the people who handle it along the way, spreading your views further. EXPLAIN why it is important to hold this president accountable, and that your donations and votes will depend on their response. Tell them you demand to know exactly how much DJT and his family are personally profiting from the Presidency, and whether the money they have been receiving from foreign governments legally constitutes bribery. Mention whatever other issues you like, but the emoluments angle is one of the hardest for them to refute.
(2) Contact all your friends and relatives whose reps have NOT publicly expressed support for impeachment, and all your friends and relatives in red states. Tell them what you did, and ask them to do the same.
(3) Connect with like minded people in your area. Every Congressional district has at least one Indivisible group. If there isn’t one near you, start a new one. Connect connect connect. You are not alone. Tell others they are not alone. We are all in this together. Let the Big Blue Wave in 2018 be an encouragement to you. We outnumber them.
(4) Find out when your rep is giving a town hall or making a personal appearance. Show up with signs and chants supporting an impeachment inquiry NOW. If there are no public appearances scheduled, just go to the most visible local office and do it on the sidewalk there. Your goal is to get noticed by local media—local radio, local and regional papers, local and regional television—with the message “[name of local area] people show their support for impeachment.” Someone you know knows someone who knows someone who has a connection that will help you get local coverage.
(5) Stay informed. Find out who the person is in your circle of friends who keeps up with political developments and have frequent discussions with them. If there is no one like that in your circle, you can become that person. You might be surprised at how quickly news can spread from a contact list as small as ten or 12 names. The most important thing you can do for that group is check the sources of information floating around. As people pick up weird rumors from social media, you can be the debunker they turn to to find out what is accurate. Be the skeptic who looks for confirmation of everything that seems too good to be true. You will quickly discover which sources vet and doublecheck their news and which ones expect you to believe whatever they say without reliable supporting background information. Sharing that as widely as possible is the best inoculation against the misinformation and disinformation bad actors will spread as the election gets closer.
Right now while interest is high in the wake of the debates is the very best time to get the word started. People who aren’t paying close attention will get quickly distracted again by summer activities. Everything you do, no matter how small, to begin now, is one less thing we’ll have to do later.
There is no time to waste.
in this world, it still takes love
talking bout change just ain’t enough
we gotta show what we’re made of
these times are gonna get rough
get the word started
right now
everybody