by Sean Raycraft
In the labor movement, we have a saying. It goes something like this: “A bad boss is the best organizer”. By that measure, President Trump is the best organizer I have ever seen. Wednesday night 400 plus people packed the Veterans memorial for an organizing meeting for Indivisible Yolo. The meeting was one hour in length, and laid out what the Indivisible Guide is all about, and where they are going from here. The social media training was particularly fun for everyone involved. What was really exciting, beyond the turnout, was the sheer energy in the room. For someone who lives and breathes activism, this was close to heaven.
For those of you who do not know about the Indivisible movement, I will try to lay it out as concisely as humanly possible. The Indivisible Guide is essentially a plan to resist the Trump agenda learning from the tactics employed by the Tea Party movement in 2009. The Tea Party was remarkably effective in obstructing the agenda of President Obama, a popular president with a popular agenda, when Democrats held significant majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Now, progressives face a similar situation. Republicans have significant majorities in the House and the Senate, and of course we have President Trump. However, President Trump is highly unpopular in the country as a whole, where Obama had very high approval ratings.
So, what is Indivisible Yolo doing locally? After all, don’t we have a Democratic member of congress in district 3 and two Democratic Senators representing California? Well, the group is pushing our representatives to be leaders in resisting the Trump agenda. Last week, Congressman Garamendi held a town hall meeting at the Veterans Memorial Theater with similar standing room only. Yolo Indivisible leader and force of nature Emily Hill wrote this great recap of the event, you can read it here.
https://www.davisvanguard.org/
While the reactions from the Garamendi town hall were mixed, I think there have been some encouraging responses from the Congressman’s office in the last week. For starters, the Congressman has promised to do weekly video updates where he describes what the Republican majority in Congress is doing. In the video released Thursday, Garamendi outlined how the Republican majority are gutting the endangered species act, allowing the killing of wolf pups in dens. He also talked about how Republicans in Congress eliminating voluntary retirement account contributions, and how for some reason, Republicans think its a good idea for people deemed mentally incapacitated should now have full and free access to buy guns. The Congressman’s office also released a public statement calling for a full investigation of the Trump Administration’s communications with Moscow. You can read it here:
http://garamendi.house.gov/
So you may be asking why is all of this relevant to Indivisible Yolo? Well, I think the pressure and energy at the grass roots has helped steel the Congressman’s resolve to better represent his constituents. As a grass roots activist, it warms my heart to see so many people getting involved, and more importantly having a political impact on a national level. If people want to get more involved, like the Indivisible Yolo Facebook page, found here
https://www.facebook.com/
You can also download the Indivisible Guide Here to learn more
https://www.indivisibleguide.
Sean Raycraft is a lifelong Davis Resident and Shop Steward with UFCW 8.
For those of you who do not know about the Indivisible movement, I will try to lay it out as concisely as humanly possible. The Indivisible Guide is essentially a plan to resist the Trump agenda learning from the tactics employed by the Tea Party movement in 2009. The Tea Party was remarkably effective in obstructing the agenda of President Obama, a popular president with a popular agenda, when Democrats held significant majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Now, progressives face a similar situation. Republicans have significant majorities in the House and the Senate, and of course we have President Trump. However, President Trump is highly unpopular in the country as a whole, where Obama had very high approval ratings.
So, what is Indivisible Yolo doing locally? After all, don’t we have a Democratic member of congress in district 3 and two Democratic Senators representing California? Well, the group is pushing our representatives to be leaders in resisting the Trump agenda. Last week, Congressman Garamendi held a town hall meeting at the Veterans Memorial Theater with similar standing room only. Yolo Indivisible leader and force of nature Emily Hill wrote this great recap of the event, you can read it here.
https://www.davisvanguard.org/
While the reactions from the Garamendi town hall were mixed, I think there have been some encouraging responses from the Congressman’s office in the last week. For starters, the Congressman has promised to do weekly video updates where he describes what the Republican majority in Congress is doing. In the video released Thursday, Garamendi outlined how the Republican majority are gutting the endangered species act, allowing the killing of wolf pups in dens. He also talked about how Republicans in Congress eliminating voluntary retirement account contributions, and how for some reason, Republicans think its a good idea for people deemed mentally incapacitated should now have full and free access to buy guns. The Congressman’s office also released a public statement calling for a full investigation of the Trump Administration’s communications with Moscow. You can read it here:
http://garamendi.house.gov/
So you may be asking why is all of this relevant to Indivisible Yolo? Well, I think the pressure and energy at the grass roots has helped steel the Congressman’s resolve to better represent his constituents. As a grass roots activist, it warms my heart to see so many people getting involved, and more importantly having a political impact on a national level. If people want to get more involved, like the Indivisible Yolo Facebook page, found here
https://www.facebook.com/
You can also download the Indivisible Guide Here to learn more
https://www.indivisibleguide.
Sean Raycraft is a lifelong Davis Resident and Shop Steward with UFCW 8.
Thanks Sean for highlighting these events. I have not felt such energy in opposition to government action since the Viet Nam war. It gives me hope to see so many of our citizens who have the will to resist the attacks on productive members of our community ( immigrants), our environment, science, our educational system and health care.
Indivisible Yolo is a great group for those who want to focus on our own representatives. For those who wish to become involved on a broader scale in regions which are not already represented by progressives or at the national level, I recommend learning more about :
1)Moms Rising which has taken immediate action on health care issues and like Indivisible focuses on concrete actions. Most recently they have compiled a series of individual experiences, like mine, from all 50 states in which people were helped, and in sometimes had lives saved by the access to health care provided by the ACA for distribution to legislators.
2. Sister District which will be focusing on how we in California can best help elect progressive candidates in districts across the country.
http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/19/190259/2649954-6188002925-huh.j.jpg
Well, it’s pretty self explanatory. When your boss is a horrible human being, forces you to work OT, makes you do humiliating work, steals your wages, cuts your hours etc, suddenly those workers have an interest in fighting back against the boss. One way workers fight the boss is by joining a union, and in order to succeed at doing so, the workers must be motivated. Since our turd boss is the one driving the workers to unionize, he becomes the best union organizer. So, in this analogy, Trump has been remarkably effective in motivating people to fight his agenda.
I am likewise thrilled to see so many people energized. I hope that people continue to stay engaged. It’s going to be a long, hard fight with a lot of setbacks along the way. But let us take energy from each other and support each other. Thanks to Indivisible Yolo for leading the way.