All in for Democracy (1/30/21)
Thursday night, over 100 members of the Markers For Democracy-Downtown Nasty Women-Wednesday Group and Team Min communities as well as new friends gathered on Zoom to hear from David Pepper, former Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party and author of Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind The Lines. If you missed David's talk, here is a link to the recording.
For those of us who have been using the hashtag #StateLegislaturesMatter for several years, David's talk and his book confirmed what we already knew: State legislatures are the biggest threat to our democracy, and the work that we are doing, through our giving circle, is crucial to saving our democracy. But even for us, reading or hearing the details of Republican corruption and gerrymandering to create districts where state legislators never need to answer to their constituents was chilling.
However, David's message was not all negative.
He cheered groups like ours which have made commitments to flip state legislatures from red to blue even in the face of gerrymandering and voter suppression laws. And he exhorted all of us to make saving democracy a part of our daily lives. Whether you are writing postcards to voters, text banking, phone banking, or participating in voter registration drives, you are already engaged in democracy as a daily practice. We encourage you to reach out now and involve your friends and family, who are dismayed at news stories about the anti-democratic forces at work in this country but haven't figured out a way to participate in this critical work of saving democracy. Invite them to a morning postcarding session or evening event. Offer to spend some time showing them how easy it is to write postcards and that you can do it while watching football or Netflix (except when there are subtitles) or listening to a podcast. As the weather gets warmer, COVID case numbers go down, and restrictions ease, think about participating in an in-person voter registration drive and/or encourage businesses, theaters, and schools to host a voter registration drive. These may seem like small acts but if we all make them a part of our daily lives, we can make a difference in the midterms and in the long-term health of democracy in this country.