RESISTANCE RESOLUTIONS
Happy New Year! Volunteer Fair! BlueVoterGuide.org Party!
HAPPY NEW YEAR! We are so grateful to be friends with super activist Jess Craven, whose daily newsletter Chop Wood, Carry Water gives you easy, effective political actions to effect positive change. (Meet her in person at our upcoming Blue Voter Guide party – details below!) This week her message was so damn inspiring, we repost an excerpt here with her gracious permission:
This will, in many ways, be an exceedingly difficult year. It will be seismic. It will be historic. I am cautiously optimistic, however, that it may be a surprising one, too. There will be ups and harrowing downs, but we are, at this point, so seasoned, so strong, and so organized that I feel certain we will be able to rise to the occasion and deliver unexpectedly good results.
We kind of have to.
So here are my 2024 New Year’s resolutions—at least where politics are concerned. Please feel free to adopt as many of them as seem useful to you.
1. I will do everything that I am able to do to help save democracy. Notice I say everything, because this, if there ever was one, is the year to leave it all on the field. But I add “that I am able” because we must all work within our own limits. Some will be able to do more, some less. It’s OK. Let’s all just do as much as we humanly can, while being honest about what that is.
2. I will spread good news relentlessly. Part of how we’ll win is by spreading the word about all the great things Democrats—and Biden—have accomplished. We know what they are. Many, many Americans don’t. Every one of us must now become an Ambassador for Biden and the Democratic party. (Also, keeping morale up is going to be key. This will help.)
3. I will ask everyone I talk to if they are registered to vote, and help them register if they aren’t. Whether they’re my barista, Lyft driver, babysitter, or dentist—if they’re not obviously a Trump supporter I will tell them “your voice matters!” and I will make sure they are ready to vote.
4. I will repeat the words “A vote for a third-party candidate is a vote for Trump” everywhere I can, as loudly as I can, as often as I can. Again, we understand this. Less informed voters may not.
5. I will ignore polls. Like, IGNORE THEM. They. Have. No. Purpose. Whether they are “good” or “bad” our work remains the same. They are also deeply unreliable and heavily manipulated. So why look at them?
6. I will stay in the day and do what I can. Obsessing about what will happen in November, or next month, or even next week is pointless. I will ask, every day, “What can I do to be helpful to our cause today?” And I will do that.
7. I will remember to eat, to sleep, and to recreate. I will stay in touch with friends and nurture my relationships. I will take breaks from the news and be in nature. I will meditate. I will exercise. None of this is so I can be a “self-help”poster child. All of it is to make me a more effective tool for helping to save democracy.
8. I will “go where it’s warm.” In other words, I will seek out calm, determined, and generally hopeful sources of information. They must, of course, also be factual, but they should not be fear-mongering, cynical, or hysterical. I will gravitate towards those who aren’t just dwelling on the problem, but are proposing solutions.
9. I will remember, and repeat often to friends and family, that “the many are more powerful than the money.” This is not just wishful thinking. We have seen it over and over again. Remembering it is key.
10. I will write the following and post it on my bathroom mirror: “The object in this mirror is stronger than it appears.” Then I will remember it. We can do this. We must do this. And we will.
That’s it. Now let’s get to work.
– Jess Craven, Chop Wood, Carry Water
Here are two things (among the many, many options) to do coming up this next week and beyond:
#1 - Wednesday, January 10, 5p PT. The 1st Volunteer Fair of 2024! Find out all of the ways you can help register Democrats in swing states with our partners The Union and Demcast.
#2 - Thursday, January 11, 3p PT Text Arcade to NY-03 Santos is out, but we need to make sure a Democrat wins this important Special Election (you chip in $25 and send 1400 texts. Super effective. Cheaper than postcarding (1400 would be $1302-ish!)