Text A Friend Today to Save Voting Rights

So many of us feel it. We feel fear. We feel doubt. Division. We don’t know what will come next. But what we do know is that a minority of hate is trying to destroy democracy, deprive us of our rights, even our lives. So, it is especially important that we do whatever we can to support the passage of voting rights legislation. Without voting rights, all our other rights and privileges can be taken from us.

 

But to think we alone can do much can be both isolating and oppressive. What we can do is join with others. Text, call, share with friends and family. Talk about our fears, the need to feel we can do something. Discuss what we can say. Arrange a time to do it. And then call, text, email Senators to suspend the filibuster or change Senate rules so the Voting Rights Protection Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act can be passed.

 

The discussion in the Senate will continue today. Especially, call Senators Manchin (202-224-3954) and Sinema (202-224-4521, or—602-598-7327, 520-639-7080). Also, call Republican Lisa Murkowski (202-224-6665). She’s a longshot but she has, in the past, spoken about protecting voting. Just tell the Senators about your fears and how crucial it is to support voting rights legislation. Or something like: “Our nation is on fire with hate and division. Our democracy is threatened by violence from inside this nation, from a minority of hate. Please protect our rights by suspending the filibuster and supporting the 2 voting rights bills in the Senate.” Call twice just for fun.

 

What better use for texting is there than saving our rights, and possibly our future?

January 6th. Light a Candle, Carry a Sign, Call Congress.

January 6th. Another day of infamy. Another day that must never be forgotten or allowed to be repeated. A day that, if we act, today and tomorrow⎼ If we find within ourselves the way to make political and social action a normal part of our day, then we can stop the theft of our rights and destruction of our world. We can end the pandemic. Even small things, signs on our cars, phone calls to Congress, letters, giving aid or support to others, talking honestly with neighbors and friends, wearing masks. Doing something helps us feel we can do something. Join with thousands of others who today will light a candle and carry it in a demonstration or put it in their window.

 

Then call Congress to end the filibuster and pass the Voting Rights Protection Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. Then Build Back Better. Help put out the flames of hate and global warming. Today.

Putting Out the Flames: A Frightening Letter to Awaken the Conscience of Senators

 

A reader of my blogs shared with me a frightening letter. He felt something must be done, or that he must do something. He wrote by hand, to two Senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, and sent the correspondence to the Senator’s offices. He also sent copies to a few media outlets hoping to motivate thousands of similar letters. Making a phone call, he thought, was ok. But a handwritten one is so old school and personal.

 

Here is the letter:

Dear Senators Sinema and Manchin,

Please vote for the voting rights bills now in Congress. Donald Trump is supported by people who call themselves Nazis. They praise Adolf Hitler and glorify war. If Trump wins again he will declare himself dictator, ending democracy forever. We must assume this because they will kill people we love.  

Senators Manchin and Sinema, when they start killing Democrats and minorities, the Republicans will let you join their party. You and your loved ones will be safe. For the love of my family and millions of families worldwide, please pass the voting rights bills.

Thank you,

 

His letter certainly expresses the fear he is feeling, not only for himself and his family, but for all of us. He sent it to awaken the conscience of these Senators, so they’d finally help put out the flames that are burning this nation and our world ⎼ or so they’d at least stop fueling the fires with their opposition to crucial legislation.

 

There is no doubt our nation and world are on fire. We know this, or many of us do. I think secretly we all know this. It’s hard to miss the fires that burned forests and homes in much of the western part of our nation this year and the recent past. It’s hard to miss sidewalks and roads that melted this past summer, record droughts, record windstorms and tornadoes that struck just a few weeks ago. Unless maybe we think they will only happen to someone else. They happen to all of us, one way or another, one disaster or another.

 

It is hard to miss the hate that too often walks our streets, or even our schools and workplaces. People shot or attacked. For being Black, Brown, Asian, HGBTQ, Jewish, Muslim, Native American ⎼ or a woman. They attack women who just want a choice as to what happens with their own body, or who want healthcare and rights equal to men. In Texas, the GOP passed a bill that could lead to mob violence against women and those who support them….

 

*To read the whole article, please click on this link to The Good Men Project.