Thoughts on Impeachment Eve

Posted by Etta Worthington from a speech at an Impeachment Eve Rally in Western Springs, IL

Like many of you, I woke up on November 9, 2016 and I was sick. I didn’t want to get out of bed. I wanted to stick my head in the sand or hibernate for 4 years.

 Like many of you I got my pussy hat and hiked on downtown and joined the women’s march in early 2017 and became part of a national, even international demonstration against Trump.

And like many of you, I got emails about how we were going to resist Trump, even before he took office. And I said yes, I wanted to resist Trump and so I invited 30 strangers into my living room to talk about this. And three and a half  years later we are still meeting.

Like many of you I have made phone calls to legislators, I have visited legislators’ offices, I have gone to town halls. I have gone to who knows how many demonstrations.

In short, resisting Trump has taken over my life.

Did he turn out to be as bad as I had feared? No. He’s been worse. Much worse.

These are dark days for our republic. These are scary days. Just like the solstice which is coming this week. These are the darkest days. The longest dark days.

Ah, but there is a break.  I want to say that tonight represents that turning point or tipping point. Tonight, with the demonstrations happening all over the country. And with the vote that will happen tomorrow.

But maybe I shouldn’t say that tonight is the turning point because I think in truth we are only here because of what happened in November of 2018.  If the Democrats had not gotten control of the house, we would not be here celebrating and demanding Impeachment. If the Democrats had not taken control of the House we would not have a strong voice to proclaim to our legislators, to our fellow countrymen and women, and to the world, that in this United States of America, no one is above the law. Not even the President.

And so, tonight I am celebrating. I am celebrating all the people across this nation that spent hours in 2018 canvassing for candidates, phone banking for candidates, text banking for candidates, donating money to campaigns. I am celebrating that and all those people, including you, who have made this night and the vote tomorrow, possible.

But these are still long dark days. I’m not seeing much sun.  But I want to say there will be a little more sun tomorrow because tomorrow our Representatives are going to stand up to be counted and will vote to indict the President of Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Congress.

But the Senate, you say. The Senate won’t remove him from office. So what good is this?  Won’t it make him stronger?

I can’t predict the future, but I can and do have hope. This action that will take place tomorrow is a major wound.  We should be renewed, energized.  Look what we the people have done.

And there’s so much more to do.  Even tonight, call your Representative and underscore that yes, you support their voting yes on impeachment. Or use ResistBot and send a message that way. Let’s make sure Lipinski, And Davis, and Garcia—any of the districts that are represented here tonight—let’s make sure their voice mail boxes, emails, and faxes are overwhelmed with messages favoring impeachment.

And then let’s think about next steps. What do we need to do about the Senate trial? Our Senators in Illinois will be impartial jurors. Will look at the evidence and make decisions on whether Trump should be removed from office or not.

What can we do? Well, we can call Democratic voters in 13 key Red states and ask them to call their Senators and demand a fair and transparent trial.  Indivisible National has made it easy. There’s a phone banking system you can access through your phone and computer. You can sign up for shifts to phone bank.

We can plan to do more demonstrating. Maybe some of us need to go to Washington in January when the trial is on. Maybe we should call for a national strike.

Whether or not Trump is removed from office, we can and must commit ourselves to doing 3 things:

• make sure the Democrats especially progressive Democrats keep power in the House of Representatives

• make sure that the Democrats take control of the Senate, and that includes ditching Moscow Mitch. And hey, let’s throw in Lindsay Graham there as well/

• and then we must do everything we can to make sure Trump, if he is not removed from office, or Pence, if he is, will NOT be returning to Washington. We must make sure we have a Democrat for president.

There’s so much each of us can do between now and next November.

We can make sure people are registered to vote.

We can canvass for candidates. An example we’ve heard from tonight. Marie Newman needs our help to make it to Washington this time.

We can canvass in other states as well. My group has plans to both register people in Wisconsin and canvass for Democrats in Wisconsin.

We can phone bank. We can text bank.

And write postcards.  Even if you are unable to do some of the other things, you can write postcards to voters.  My group currently meets twice a month to do that and will be ramping to have three postcarding events a month.

From the policy people from Indivisible, I’ve heard the strategy is this: we aren’t going to try and change the minds of Trump voters. Instead we need to focus on three groups of Democrat-leaning people, specifically people of color, young people, and college-educated white woman. We need to focus on getting these folks out to vote.

So tonight, we celebrate what is, not the first, but the second big step to reclaiming our democracy.  And tonight you have the chance to commit yourself to working from now to next November to make sure we have a new face in the White House, and new faces in the Senate.  Will you do that?

I can’t hear very well so I am going to ask again, will you commit to work hard to make sure we have a positive result in November?

I don’t want to wake up the morning after the election and be unhappy with the results and think, I could have done more. How about you?

Did You Hear What Daniel Said?

posted by Etta Worthington

Maybe you didn't make it to the last Western Front Indivisible meeting. 

Maybe you haven't had a chance to hear Daniel Epstein talk.  What? You don't know who he is? Well, he's a young, progressive lawyer running for Illinois Supreme Court Justice. He's running from Cook County (so you can only vote for him if you live in the county). 

I know that I was not the only one who was fascinated learning about the Illinois Supreme Court and ways that it functions that aren't in the best interest of criminal justice. I think everyone at the meeting was. (Amazing what we don't know about how things work.)

We went away knowing that Daniel Epstein wants to change things. And that he's happy to talk about the changes that are needed.

WFI members Dave Kozar and Buzz Hunter sat down with Epstein and talked with him. 

Listen to this podcast, and if you want more information about Epstein, visit his website.

If you are interested in hearing more from him, I plan to have a meet and greet for him in January. Also Karin Evans is planning one. Email us at westernfrontindivisible@gmail.com if you would like an invitation to those events.

Small things? No.  Our democracy must work well at every level.  This is important.

Impeachment Plus Two

posted by Etta Worthington

When is the Impeachment vote going to happen?  It's a question we'd all like to know the answer to. I was on a phone call last night from Indivisible National, and here is what their top policy people are projecting. The impeachment vote with most likely come the week of December 16th.


But what day?  Well, there's something else happening that week that may inform when the impeachment comes up for a vote.  Remember back in September when we were talking about the DeFund Hate campaign? Well, at that time, the Congress didn't successfully vote on a bill to fund the government for the next year, but instead did a continuing resolution that went to November 21. And in November there was another continuing resolution passed for 30 days, which means that government funding ends on December 20th.

So, this last week before Christmas is going to be a big week. Somehow, in these five days, two important things need to pass through the House of Representatives.  One is the vote to impeach President Trump. The other is to keep the government running.

We could have another government shutdown, right before Christmas. Even if a funding bill is passed, whether to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, or another continuing resolution of funding for perhaps 60 days--either way, Trump could decide not to sign the bill. (We all know he is spiteful and unpredictable.)

And in this last week before Christmas, the House needs to vote on and pass Articles of Impeachment. It is highly unlikely that both things will be voted on in the same day. So, possibly the funding bill will come down to the wire and  be voted on the day of December 20th. In that case, the impeachment vote might likely be on Wednesday or Thursday of that week.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US?
There are things to do for both of these impending pieces of legislation. First, the government funding bill. We need to put continued pressure on our Representatives to not give Trump the money he wants for his wall, to not increase funding for ICE and CBP (Border Patrol), and to not allow for Trump to take money from other agencies to fund his border activities.
So, that means a call to your Rep.

AND, you can get ready for Impeachment Eve rallies.  We will undoubtedly have at least 48 hours notice of when the vote on impeachment will take place. Indivisible and other progressive allies are calling for a nationwide action the night before the vote.  Please consider making time to go our to an Impeachment Eve Rally.  There will of course be one in downtown Chicago at Federal Plaza. This makes sense if you work downtown.

But there are a number of events in suburban communities and we are joining with Indivisible Western Springs. They plan a rally on the sidewalk at Hillgrove & Lawn (north side of Metra tracks). People are encouraged to bring signs and flags and noisemakers. Please plan to attend. You can find out locations for other events here.


ONE MORE THING
There's another bill that Speaker Pelosi must certainly wants to get passed before the Christmas recess. That is H.R. 3, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019. Click here to learn more about key provisions of the bill that should be improved before it reaches the floor of the House of Representatives. Call your member of Congress and tell them: improve H.R. 3 by including people without insurance coverage, negotiating more drugs, and protecting patients from high launch prices and price spikes! 

I know the holiday season is a busy one, but these three things on the table are critical. Please talk to your Representatives about all three.  If you need to know what number to call, click here.