Weekly Call To Action - May 1, 2022

​Quote of the Week:

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. – Henry David Thoreau​

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​Take Three Actions Now:

Democrats Urgently Need a Coherent Message

​This week Vice President Harris and President Biden are touring the country trying to explain their accomplishments while Republicans dominate the news cycle with their cultural grievance war. This approach is clearly not working. Democrats are losing because they do not have a simple, clear message that sticks. If they do not accomplish this now, it will be too late to recover before the election.

Democrats need to take a page from Mallory McMorrow. She responds to bad faith, hateful GOP attacks but reframes the conversation, gives an inclusive & inspiring message, reclaims her faith and identity, and shames them in the process. 

Background:

• Two Democratic progressives plot new ways to fight back against Republican gains
• Don’t let Mallory McMorrow fight bigotry alone

Action 1: Contact our Members of Congress and urge them to insist that the Democrats clarify and drive home their message now.

Option A: Contact your representative by telephone or email. 

• Senator Patty Murray, Phone: 253-572-3636 or Contact Form 
• Senator Maria Cantwell, Phone: 253-572-2281 or Contact Form 

• Marilyn Strickland, Phone: 202-225-9740 or Contact Form 
  • Email all three MOCs at once using Democracy.io. 

Script: My name is _________ and my zip code is _________. I am contacting Senator/Representative _________to use the power of her office to urge the White House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Chairman of the National Democratic Party Jamie Harrison to craft a unified, simple, clear message that sticks. Democrats are losing badly the messaging war because their message is uncoordinated, too complicated, and infrequent. Starting now, it needs to be simple, unified, and ongoing until the next election. 

I’m a Democrat because we stand for fairness, empowering working families, and protecting democracy and our environment. In contrast, Republicans want to control who counts in our country, protect the wealthy, and destroy our civil rights, and ignore the dire consequences of climate change.

That message needs to be unified and repeated over and over because it is the truth. Simple and easy to remember is what wins elections.

Option B: Take this action with one click in Take Action Network (TAN) Win the Political Messaging War!

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​Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap

​A public health emergency (PHE) was initially declared in late January 2020, and is currently scheduled to expire in mid-July 2022. 

When the PHE ends, states will resume their regular Medicaid processes and will have up to 14 months to review whether more than 80 million current enrollees remain eligible. It’s an enormous task that could cause as many as 15 million people to lose Medicaid coverage.

Background:

• What Happens When COVID-19 Emergency Declarations End? Implications for Coverage, Costs, and Access
• Congress Needs to Act Now to Reduce Coverage Losses When Public Health Emergency Ends 

Feel free to modify our sample script to make it personal to you.

Action 2: Contact our Members of Congress

Option A: Contact your representative by telephone or email. 

• Senator Patty Murray, Phone: 253-572-3636 or Contact Form 
• Senator Maria Cantwell, Phone: 253-572-2281 or Contact Form 

• Marilyn Strickland, Phone: 202-225-9740 or Contact Form 
  • Email all three MOCs at once using Democracy.io. 

Script: I am asking you to help protect as many people as possible from becoming uninsured and experiencing gaps in accessing health care at the end of the public health emergency in July.

Congress should permanently close the Medicaid coverage gap, permanently extend enhanced premium tax credits, and provide stable Medicaid coverage to children and postpartum people as part of any final economic legislative agreement.

Sincerely,
[NAME], [CITY, ZIP]

Option B: Take this action with one click in Take Action Network (TAN) Close the Medicaid Coverage Gap.

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​Make the Rich Pay Their Fair Share in Taxes

Congratulations on surviving another tax day! While ordinary Americans like us paid about 29.8% of our pretax earnings in Federal taxes, the richest Americans paid a laughable 'true tax rate' of 3.4%.
Meanwhile, the IRS, as much as we hate them, is begging for an additional $8 billion/year in funding to help them hire new civil servants who will be able to help them clear their backlog of delayed tax refunds for Americans who depend on that extra bit of cash, and step up enforcement of our tax laws on the rich. Between 1995 and 2020, the IRS criminal division went from employing 3,797 investigators to only 2,005, a staggering 47% decrease.
​
Unfortunately (and predictably), congressional Republicans are "staunchly opposed" to providing the IRS with the funding it needs to properly police the tax-cheating mega-rich, which means it falls on Democrats to find a way to wrangle this funding into law.
​
Background

• NYT: "Treasury makes a plea for more I.R.S. funding on Tax Day"
• Washington Post: "The IRS is underfunded, but it needs more than cash to stop tax cheats"
• The Guardian: "Richest 25 Americans reportedly paid ‘true tax rate’ of 3.4% as wealth rocketed"
• "The U.S. Tax Burden on Labor"

Action 3: Tell our MoCs to fight to properly fund the IRS

Option A: Contact your representative by telephone or email.

• Senator Patty Murray, Phone: 253-572-3636 or Contact Form 
• Senator Maria Cantwell, Phone: 253-572-2281 or Contact Form 

• Marilyn Strickland, Phone: 202-225-9740 or Contact Form 
  • Email all three MOCs at once using Democracy.io. 

 
Script: Hi, my name is _____________, and I live in _____________. I just finished paying my Federal taxes. Unlike the mega-rich, I did the right thing and paid my fair share in taxes. Now, I expect that you will do the right thing and fight to increase the IRS's funding by $8 billion/year so that they can clear the backlog of tax refunds to Americans who depend on that money and hire more criminal investigators to force the wealthiest to pay their fair share, too.
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Option B: Take this action with one click in Take Action Network (TAN) Make the Rich Pay Their Fair Share in Taxes ​

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Thank You Note

Thank You Olympia Indivisible Members

Hopefully today you had a chance to meet and greet each other as well as walk at St Martin’s University for the walk part of the hunger walk. 

Olympia Indivisible thanks you as do The Community Kitchen & The Thurston County Food Bank for your generous donation to the 2022 Thurston County Hunger Walk, an annual fundraiser to help get food to those in need. 

Our team, which is each of you, contributed $2,760 as of this morning. The total for the Fundraiser so far is $35,607. During the upcoming week you can still contribute. For those with a bit of competitive spirit, we came in third for the most donations contributed. Go Team!

Action: Please visit our OI Hunger Walk Team Donation Site to make a donation on behalf of OI. ​

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​Have You Scheduled These Events?

​Action Cafe 
Cooks Out of Town

There is a note on the door of the Café

The Café is Closed until May 16. The Chef is away making music, but will return with new and exciting recipes. See you then. 
​
Sign up here for the May 16 Cafe. ​

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Defend Democracy
Protect the Vote
​
Meet with Mary Hall, Thurston County Auditor  

The Lacey and Olympia chapters of Indivisible thought that with all the talk of voter fraud, non-secured voting methods and growing mistrust in the election process that clarification was essential. 
 
On May 21, 2022 at 9:45 AM on the Panorama campus we will present the award-winning elections administrator Thurston County Auditor, Mary Hall as guest speaker. We have requested that she speak on topics such as:

Voting Process
Many of us are elbow deep in GOTV activities in those states where voter suppression and election disinformation are rampant and would appreciate learning from Auditor Hall about the effort she has led to protect and secure our Washington State voting process. 

Cyber Security
In 2018, she secured financial resources and partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to expand our county’s cyber-security. The partnership is ongoing and today includes a State Auditors Audit and mandatory county wide cyber-security training.  

Misinformation and Disinformation
We have also asked for words on the effects that misinformation and disinformation have created for her staff and how we as citizens might be able to help alleviate the resulting discomfort and fear.

Auditors’ Offices Facilities
Much of the fallout from Election 2020 is a direct link to the growing distrust of the election process. She will further educate us how Auditors’ Offices should be designed to protect both voter access and the ballots cast. 
 
Action: Please join us at 1751 Circle Lane SE, Lacey where a member will meet you at the colorful Chihuly glass fountain in the front of Panorama Hall. There is ample parking in 2 lots adjacent to the right of the traffic circle.

For everyone’s health we will require masks to be worn. Following the presentation there will be opportunity for conversation and light morning
refreshments.​