Save Democracy While We Still Have It
We have two weeks.
BEFORE READING: If you haven’t already, vote early by mail/drop box or in-person NOW if it’s an option where you live. Do not wait - make a plan!
Take a moment to imagine Trump back in the White House (sorry not sorry).
Think about everything you’d do to try to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Whatever you’d do under Trump 2.0, simply living in it, let alone trying to resist it, will be a lot scarier and take more time out of your daily life than what I’m asking you to do right now: help me get out the vote.
You don’t need to be an expert, make this your full-time job, or think that this election will solve everything.
But you do need to remember how bad things could get if you don’t show up.
Isn’t texting from your computer or writing letters to voters swing states/districts while listening to your favorite music a smaller commitment than fleeing the country?
Isn’t calling voters a better alternative than the government tracking your or your loved one’s ovulation patterns?
Is spending a day (or a few) knocking on doors to make sure Democrats turn out now a much better option than a public schools being defunded, the military being used against literally all of us anti-MAGA folks, over 11 million people deported, and anyone with a net worth under $100 million certain to pay more in taxes?
Why wait for a doomsday scenario to jolt into action? That’s why I’m asking (begging) you to step up now and do just a little bit more.
Democracy’s much easier to save while it still exists.
Bad news: democracy is a group project.
Good news: democracy is a group project, the kind of project where not one single action will save it or lead to its downfall, but a whole bunch of the collective kind.
While there’s no silver bullet, here are things to do between now and Nov.5:
Write Vote Forward letters before 10/29. Batches start with as few as 5 letters to voters in swing states/districts of your choice. You can make an impact in as as little as 15 minutes!
Live in LA and lack of access to a printer being the only thing stopping you? Email me and I’ll print letters for you.
Text Voters with Vote Save America or Grassroots Dems HQ (Option 1, Option 2)
Call Swing States & Districts with Knock for Democracy, Indivisible, Vote Save America, Grassroots Dems HQ, or LA Election Project (or any other org of your choice on Mobilize).
GDHQ has a 20 Dials/20 Minutes a Day Challenge - that’s it!
Knock on Doors in swing states/districts with Swing Left, GDHQ, and JDCA
If you travel by bus from CA to AZ or NV (AZ *really* needs more people), hotel accommodations are covered!
Donate to critical down-ballot races via Swing Left and Oath in the home stretch.
Not seeing something that works for your situation? Email me for help.
If you’re working multiple jobs to keep a roof over your head and/or you’re struggling to simply keep life afloat while caring for small children or a sick loved one, just vote ASAP and the rest of us will take on the work of GOTV.
To those of you already doing a lot of GOTV work: thank you. I see you. You’re freaking rock stars. Keep it up without burning out, which is hard to do (let me know your tips once you’ve figured it out).
Most of you reading this sit somewhere in the middle, where I know you’re all very busy and have stressful commitments.
You heard Michelle Obama when she told us to do something. You maybe even posted about it on social media.
Well, now’s the time to do something!
“Do something” =/= following the news, freaking out over the latest polls (which have been notoriously wrong), aggressively following the latest news online, thinking that enough voters will be turned off by Trump’s…everything…in order to tilt things in our favor. None of that is lifting a finger for turnout.
Do yourself a favor and channel that time and anxiety into action. Or try to. This election will be determined by a margin of effort. It’s all out in field. Do you think campaigns ask for help in all the ways above to waste our time?
Fortunately, the Democrats’ ground game is superior to the GOP’s, but we have to participate in order for it to work.
So please, don’t be that a-hole who screws up the group project because you thought your classmates who studied harder or found the subject more exciting would carry your weight!
Fortunately, your part isn’t a heavy lift. Remember, democracy survives thanks to millions of small actions, not one big grandiose move (that’s what Trump supporters believe in, because they want an authoritarian dictator).
I’ve written over 500 Vote Forward letters and hundreds more postcards. I’ve texted thousands of voters. I got many of you to generously support campaigns and PACs. I’m going to canvass for my friend Will Rollins to flip a Red-to-Blue Coachella Valley district the weekend before Election Day. And I plan to do more.
But I’m not asking you to do it all. That’d be crazy! I’m just asking you to do your fair share.
Just pick an activity to try once. If you like it, do it a few more times before November 5 if you can. And even if you don’t, you can rest assured that you did your part.
We’ve had nine years of Trump in our lives, but we finally have a chance to put an end to this madness once and for all. Just taking a few minutes to do your part of this group project is your part of kicking Trump to the curb.
America needs you now. Hell, *I* need you. Let’s go win this thing, together.
Jobs
HIAS: Major Gifts Officer (3 open positions, Remote, strongly need more CA candidates!) IT Officer, Refugee Program Associate, Program Assistant Manager, Administrative Associate (Tel Aviv), Refugee Communication Manager, Program Assistant Manager, System Solution Champion (Vienna) Refugee Program Assistant Manager, Program Assistant Manager (Zagreb), Gender and GBV Officer, Partnership and Policy Specialist (Nairobi), Budget & Fiscal Compliance Coordinator, U.S. (Silver Spring, NYC), Country Director - The Caribbean (Santo Domingo)
NIF: Development & Program Coordinator, SoCal (Remote, in SoCal), Development Associate, National Outreach (Remote)
JCPA: Strategic Community Relations Associate (NYC)
Team Rubicon: Chief Advancement Officer (Remote, LA, DC, Atlanta, NYC, Chicago, or Dallas preferred)
Civicorps: Development Specialist (Oakland)
Partnership for LA Schools: Coordinator of Curriculum Systems Advising, Manager of Major Gifts, Manager of Finance & Business Affairs
Esperanza: Case Management Supervisor (LA)
AJC: Community Director (Detroit), Assistant Director (Boston)
ADL: Litigation Case Manager, Associate Director, Research and Evaluation (Remote), Senior Vice President, Strategy and Impact (Remote, DC or NY preferred), Assistant Regional Director, Incident Response and Law Enforcement Initiatives (Chicago), IT Infrastructure Engineer (NYC)
Secure Community Network: Program Advisor/Evaluator (Remote), Cybersecurity Engineer, CFO (Chicago)
JIAS Toronto: Program Manager
LAFLA: Multiple Positions
NCJW LA: Workforce Initiative Trainer
HUC: Alumni Engagement Associate (NYC)
Shalom Hartman Institute: Director of NY and DC Engagement, Program Associate/Coordinator - Midwest (Detroit)
Hillel International: Sr. Dir. of Evaluation & Impact (Remote)