Accidental Activists (8/7/22)
Since the shocking morning in November 2016 when the results arrived that we had not elected as expected the first woman president, a dark cloud has hovered over many of our lives. After that devastating day, we experienced fear, sadness, rage, hopelessness, and a whole host of emotions. Markers For Democracy was born out of those feelings almost four years ago to the day. Most of us were not politically active prior to the 2016 election and each has a personal story and moment when we decided to act in the last five years. Recently, it was described to me (h/t Jenny CC) that many of us are "accidental activists". We are people who prior to 2016 never saw ourselves in those terms but are now actively engaged in big and small ways to save our democracy and to better people’s daily lives.
Over the last few years, there have been some hard-earned happy moments. The blue wave of 2018, Biden’s victory in 2020, and winning both Senate seats in Georgia in 2021 were certainly among the most vivid. This week added another bright spot on the canvas of our emotions and a reminder of why we do the work we do. On a 105-degree day, people lined up to vote to save women’s reproductive healthcare rights. The people of Kansas showed up in a big way and sent a message to the entire country.
The proposed Constitutional amendment was defeated 58.8% to 41.2% — more than a 17% margin. It did not just fail to pass. It was resoundingly rejected in a red state. Many of us cried when we heard the results.
A broad coalition of organizations and stakeholders came together to make this happen and we should be proud that we were a part of it. Through Postcards To Voters we linked hands with thousands of other volunteers from around the country to send over 200,000 postcards urging democrats to vote no on the constitutional amendment. It is amazing what can happen when people vote. Organizing works!
Some of you have asked about the Op-Ed in the New York Times which cherry-picked negative studies about postcarding. There are countless positive studies the authors chose to ignore. Jessica Craven and Robert Hubbell have written extensively this week in their newsletters in response, but we just saw what galvanized activism can do in Kansas. Additionally, there is no study that can measure what postcarding has provided to all of the “accidental activists” that make up our almost 1200 group membership. We have built a growing community of caring and supportive members who have seen each other through all the dark days in the last four years. We have written over 250,000 postcards to get out the vote in critical races up and down the ballot all over the country. We formed a giving circle that has pooled resources to support state legislative candidates in AZ, PA, and VA. This year (our 4th) we have already raised over $130,000 for PA and AZ and we are not stopping. We have hosted over 300 candidates and speakers and easily raised over 1 million dollars to support their campaigns and activism. To the authors of that Op-Ed, we say, see what two friends getting together to write postcards to voters can turn into. Your study did not measure that. Be proud of the work we are doing and the work we will continue to do. Revel in the joyous results for the people in Kansas and the message the voters sent to the GOP. Celebrate the good news and let those emotions propel us to keep up the fight and galvanize us for getting out the vote in the midterms.