Petition your electors!

If we’re ever going to get rid of an electoral college that counts Wyoming votes as worth 4 times as much as a California vote, then it’s going to be this way. The Democrats being fired up over an  unfair loss and a second Republican president that the popular vote did not choose is a unique circumstance that we cannot waste.

Fortunately, somebody made a website: AskTheElectors.org in which you can petition your electors in the electoral college to vote their conscience as is their right per the constitution. Ultimately, we need to dismantle the electoral college entirely, but this would be an excellent first step and maybe even keep Trump out of office. It’s a hail mary. Let’s get to it.

They make it very simple! Just click “voice your opinion” and fill in your name and city. There is an empty box inside which you can compose your own message, but if you’re feeling tongue-tied, I’ve got some text for you to copy-paste right here. (They fill in the Dear, and the Sincerely, pleasantries for you)

Suggested wording 1:

When the electoral college was designed, it had good intentions and bad intentions. The founding fathers knew that democracy is vulnerable to being taken over by demagogues and they wanted a firewall in place to stop that from happening. But they also wanted the coasts not to have the right to vote away the agricultural areas’ “right” to keep slaves. Because I live in a (highly populous coastal state/low population state), my vote counts (significantly less/significantly more) than my fellow Americans in other areas. I do not believe that it is right or fair that Clinton should lose the presidency even with an overwhelming lead in the popular vote. This December 19th, when you cast your vote, please consider using your constitutional right to vote your conscience and show your support for the majority of Americans who voted for Clinton.

Suggested wording 2:

As you may have seen in the news, there is credible reason to believe that the election has been tampered with by foreign interests. In every swing state that Clinton was predicted to win by several points, Trump took a lead by exactly 1%. Clinton leads the popular vote by 1.7 million and counting. As an American who is conscious of foreign threats, I am counting on you in the electoral college to vote in the interests of the majority of Americans and refuse to cast your vote for Donald Trump.

Suggested wording 3:

In the time since the election was declared in favor of Donald Trump, a number of troubling facts have come to light. First, Trump has business interests in many foreign countries that have political interests at odds with the United States which we were unable to vet before the election due to his refusal to release his tax returns. Second, Trump is soliciting business deals using his influence as president elect of the United States. Third, the popular vote count has come out overwhelmingly in favor of Hillary Clinton. I am highly concerned as a voter that Americans’ voices are not being heard equally and that the country’s interest may be in peril as a result. We are counting on you, the electoral college members, to be the firewall we need and vote your conscience against Donald Trump on December 19th.

They can’t ignore us! Jammed phone lines mean we’re being heard.

Washington Post released an article yesterday about the mayhem caused by the overwhelming civic engagement inspired by posts on Facebook and around the web. The House oversight committee has not yet committed to any sort of action on this, but the more we keep it going the less they’ll be able to resist.

EASY – Paul Ryan phone survey on Affordable Care Act

Paul Ryan is doing a phone survey about the ACA, which he wants to replace with his Patients’ Choice Act. It is extremely easy to participate. Simply call the number listed below, press 2 to “express your opinion on the Affordable Care Act,” listen to a short message about the alternative plan Paul Ryan wants and then press 1 to say you support ACA. It is VERY easy.

(202) 225-0600

 

The Patients’ Choice Act has a lot of selling points that they like to push. One of the earlier drafts in 2013 would keep the bit of the ACA that didn’t allow insurers to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Of course, they were also saying “as long as you don’t have a lapse in coverage”… which is exactly what “pre-existing” means, so they’re probably blowing a lot of smoke up everyone’s asses.

The new PCA is vague, perhaps intentionally so. Even Paul Ryan’s website just has a bunch of discussion about how great it is without any detail as to what exactly it is. What we know for sure is that Paul Ryan has championed rolling back Medicare and Medicaid and forcing many who currently receive those services to private insurers, which as most of us know, are prohibitively expensive to almost everyone.

An oft-repeated Republican talking point is “Affordable care act isn’t affordable!” and believe it or not, most Democrats agree. We simply don’t agree with the Republican “solutions” like opening the marketplace for competition between states. The reasoning goes: you can get cheaper coverage from a company that operates out of, say, Georgia, which is a state that has fewer regulations than states with more expensive (read: regulated) insurance plans like California. What does fewer regulations mean? It means health insurance companies have more “freedom” to deny claims or refuse to cover things based on, well, whatever. Fewer regulations means they can make more changes that save money. For them. Not you. They can decide the treatment you want is experimental more often, or in my wife’s case, they can just decide they don’t cover transgender care and/or occasionally just remove doctors who provide such care from their networks.

So you can get crappier coverage for less. Essentially it’s the Wal-Mart vs. Publix (or Albertsons, or whatever you’ve got in your area) choice except it’s with your life. It’s like when Wal-Mart doesn’t carry diet vanilla cream soda and Publix does but for 1.00 more except the diet vanilla cream soda is breast cancer and the difference in price is $8,000 a year and you can already barely make your car payment so you choose not to buy the breast cancer coverage and you save money! Until you get breast cancer. Because health conditions are not like soda. You don’t get to choose which ones you get. Everything they tell you about choice is a fucking illusion designed to give insurers permission to let you die. Ta-da! Free market. Good for things like salmon colored pants; bad for things like health care.

Irony of ironies, those in favor of this sort of change are people in red states which already have the fewest regulations on their health insurance companies so if the market opens between states, the ones who voted for this are unlikely to see any actual reduction in price as a result of competition. They’re just currently feeling the most pain from healthcare prices because southern states are where wages are lowest in the country. Chances are that what would actually happen is low income people in states like NY and CA which have more regulations would end up buying cheaper coverage from places like Florida and screwing themselves out of the better protections they once had, thereby pricing NY and CA insurers out of the market and making sure that the only remaining care plans are unregulated pieces of absolute shit. So, take the survey. It’s better than doing nothing!

TIME SENSITIVE – Call the House Oversight Committee and implore them to look into Trump’s overseas business connections

This must be done as soon as possible. The committee will go on vacation next week for Thanksgiving and will make their decision as soon as they return. Since there is no time to wait for a stamped letter to show up at anyone’s office, I recommend that anyone who can immediately call the staffers on the phone. Staffers do pay attention to how many calls they get on an issue.

(202) 225-5074

Suggested scripts for the tongue-tied:

“Hello, my name is ____ and I’m calling from (city, state). I am a voter and I would like to send the message to the House Oversight Committee that I am highly concerned about president-elect Trump’s foreign business interests. During the campaign, he did not release any tax information and could not be appropriately vetted by the public for conflicts of interest. The House Oversight Committee is our last hope to do so.”

Alternatively, check here for members of the House Oversight Committee in whose districts you vote and make the message more pointed:

“Hello, my name is ____ and I’m calling from (your representative’s) hometown (city, state) and I would like my representative to know that as a member of the House Oversight Committee, I expect them to vet Mr. Trump’s overseas business dealings for conflict of interest before he enters office in January.”

Success – Georgia state legislator drops hijab ban

I had actually been planning to make this the next letter I composed, but it looks like letters, calls, emails, and petitions sent to Rep. Spencer convinced him that the public would absolutely not be having it. Get a load of the quote, though:

“While this bill does not contain language that specifically targets any group, I am mindful of the perception that it has created.”

Yeah, okay guy.

Here’s the Huffington Post article

To express concern over lack of spending in Louisiana Senate Runoff

My name

My street Address

My email address

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am a long time registered Democrat writing to express my concern over the apparent lack of investment in the Louisiana senate runoff this December as expressed in recent articles on Politico, Bloomberg, The Times-Picayune, and The Town Talk.

Trump and other Republicans on the ballot dealt a devastating blow to our party and the years of progress we’ve made, but they have not yet overrun the senate. As of now, they only have a small majority. A win for Louisiana Democrat candidate Foster Campbell could mean the difference between a successful or unsuccessful filibuster. With the Republican party’s stated goals of undoing the Affordable Care Act and passing the First Amendment Defense Act, it couldn’t be more important for us to have as many Democrats as possible in the senate.

It is true that Republicans showed up to vote in record numbers on November 8th and that Trump won by a strong majority in Louisiana, but the December runoff election does not have Trump on the ticket and as such, may not draw nearly as strong a Republican crowd. Just last year, Democrats in Louisiana elected the south’s only Democratic governor, John Bel Edwards. A win or loss for Foster Campbell could simply be the difference of money spent on advertising and ground campaigns geared toward making Louisiana Democrats feel empowered to make a change and stop the worst of Trump’s policies from coming to fruition.

For these reasons, I ask that you (Option A: please employ whatever power you wield to push funding and advertising for the Louisiana senate runoff race) (Option B: please use your considerable influence as [profession] to draw attention to this race by extending a public endorsement of Foster Campbell in this race).

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

My Name

Suggested recipients and mailing addresses:

Democratic National Committee
430 South Capitol St. SE
Washington, DC 20003

Louisiana Democratic Party
PO Box 4385
Baton Rouge, LA 70821

The Southern Poverty Law Center

400 Washington Avenue

Montgomery, AL 36104

Office of the Governor
PO Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804

Congressman Cedric Richmond

240 Cannon HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Though I have not listed them here, any of the Democrats in Louisiana’s state government or influential citizens in Louisiana would be good to contact.

Referenced Articles:

The Town Talk: Louisiana elections offer lessons for politicians

The Times-Picayune: Can a Democrat win a congressional race in north Louisiana?

Politico: Rep Boustany endorses Kennedy in Louisiana Senate runoff

Bloomberg: Democrats Can’t Write Off Last Senate Race