I have pinned this post so it doesn't move off. Will add new and other info as I come across it.
Pledging to register as a Muslim if the government forces through a registry or signing online petitions protesting Planned Parenthood defunding is a good thing to show you stand with others, but that should only be the first step in the fight to protect our rights as US citizens and human beings.
The next step to take is to find out who your representatives in Congress are and then start hammering them with phone calls, emails and actual physical letters on a daily basis. We NEED to have our voices heard and congress critters only pay attention to direct contact from their constituents.
Here is a list of some sites that will help. VoteSpotters will show how your congress critter voted on something and you can let them know what you think of their vote via email or calling. Countable shows all the up coming issues and bills. Again you can email or call. The 65 has sample scripts to help you with your phone calls if you (like me) have problems thinking what to say:
Countable.us
VoteSpotter
The 65
US Senators on Muslim Ban shows how your congress critter is reacting to Trumps Muslim ban. Hopefully it will be regularly updated to show who has broken their silence and who hasn't.
Join groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), donate money if you can. Even a couple dollars will go a long way if thousands donate a couple dollars each. If you can't afford to donate, boost their signals by sharing tweets and Facebook posts on your feeds.
Participate in peaceful protest marches if you can. Don't feel guilty if you can not make one due to life circumstances or have mobility issues. If you have mobility issues contact march organizers to see if they are accessible for everyone. If not, see what they need that you can help with. Having a group of people who can help organize and get the word out helps a great deal.
It may all seem very overwhelming, here is a very good article on out to join in the protests, but not wear yourself out or burn out: How to #StayOutraged Without Losing Your Mind: Self-Care Lessons for the Resistance
Check out these article for ideas and tips:
99 ways to fight Trump
How to Get Through to Your Member of Congress When Their Phones Are Slammed (added 2/7/17)
ETA: This is being passed around on Facebook and contains a lot of good advice:
Boosting this post that is floating around:
A starting point.
FOR THOSE OF YOU LOOKING TO TURN YOUR ANGER INTO ACTION,
Here's some advice from a high-level staffer for a Senator.
There are two things that all of us should be doing all the time right now, and they're by far the most important things.
--> You should NOT be bothering with online petitions or emailing.
1. TOWNHALLS AND OFFICE VISITS
The best thing you can do to be heard and get your congressperson to pay attention is to have face-to-face time - if they have townhalls, go to them. Go to their local offices. If you're in DC, try to find a way to go to an event of theirs. Go to the "mobile offices" that their staff hold periodically (all these times are located on each congressperson's website). When you go, ask questions. A lot of them. And push for answers. The louder and more vocal and present you can be at those the better.
2. CALLS
Those in-person events don't happen every day so the absolute most important thing that people should be doing every day is calling.
You should make 6 calls a day: 2 each (DC office and your local office) to your 2 Senators & your 1 Representative.
The staffer was very clear that any sort of online contact basically gets immediately ignored, and letters pretty much get thrown in the trash (unless you have a particularly strong emotional story - but even then it's not worth the time it took you to craft that letter).
Calls are what all the congresspeople pay attention to. Every single day, the Senior Staff and the Senator get a report of the 3 most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices (in DC and local offices), and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. They're also sorted by zip code and area code. She said that Republican callers generally outnumber Democrat callers 4-1, and when it's a particular issue that single-issue-voters pay attention to (like gun reform, or planned parenthood funding, etc...), it's often closer to 11-1, and that's recently pushed Republican congressmen on the fence to vote with the Republicans. In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats haven't.
So, when you call:
A) When calling the DC office, ask for the Staff member in charge of whatever you're calling about ("Hi, I'd like to speak with the staffer in charge of Healthcare, please") - local offices won't always have specific ones, but they might. If you get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don't, that's ok - ask for their name, and then just keep talking to whoever answered the phone. Don't leave a message (unless the office doesn't pick up at all - then you can...but it's better to talk to the staffer who first answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your topic).
B) Give them your zip code. They won't always ask for it, but make sure you give it to them, so they can mark it down. Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them, since they'll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.
C) If you can make it personal, make it personal. "I voted for you in the last election and I'm worried/happy/whatever" or "I'm a teacher, and I am appalled by Betsy DeVos," or "as a single mother" or "as a white, middle class woman," or whatever.
D) Pick 1-2 specific things per day to focus on. Don't go down a whole list - they're figuring out what 1-2 topics to mark you down for on their lists. So, focus on 1-2 per day. Ideally something that will be voted on/taken up in the next few days, but it doesn't really matter - even if there's not a vote coming up in the next week, call anyway. It's important that they just keep getting calls.
E) Be clear on what you want - "I'm disappointed that the Senator..." or "I want to thank the Senator for their vote on..." or "I want the Senator to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision for our state because..." Don't leave any ambiguity.
F) They may get to know your voice/get sick of you - it doesn't matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks anyway, so even if they're really sick of you, they'll be gone in 6 weeks.
From experience since the election: If you hate being on the phone & feel awkward (which is a lot of people) don't worry about it - there are a bunch of scripts (Indivisible has some, there are lots of others floating around these day). After a few days of calling, it starts to feel a lot more natural. Put the 6 numbers in your phone (all under P – Politician which makes it really easy to click down the list.)
Copied from a friend. Don't share - copy and paste in a new post for wider sharing.
Pledging to register as a Muslim if the government forces through a registry or signing online petitions protesting Planned Parenthood defunding is a good thing to show you stand with others, but that should only be the first step in the fight to protect our rights as US citizens and human beings.
The next step to take is to find out who your representatives in Congress are and then start hammering them with phone calls, emails and actual physical letters on a daily basis. We NEED to have our voices heard and congress critters only pay attention to direct contact from their constituents.
Here is a list of some sites that will help. VoteSpotters will show how your congress critter voted on something and you can let them know what you think of their vote via email or calling. Countable shows all the up coming issues and bills. Again you can email or call. The 65 has sample scripts to help you with your phone calls if you (like me) have problems thinking what to say:
Countable.us
VoteSpotter
The 65
US Senators on Muslim Ban shows how your congress critter is reacting to Trumps Muslim ban. Hopefully it will be regularly updated to show who has broken their silence and who hasn't.
Join groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), donate money if you can. Even a couple dollars will go a long way if thousands donate a couple dollars each. If you can't afford to donate, boost their signals by sharing tweets and Facebook posts on your feeds.
Participate in peaceful protest marches if you can. Don't feel guilty if you can not make one due to life circumstances or have mobility issues. If you have mobility issues contact march organizers to see if they are accessible for everyone. If not, see what they need that you can help with. Having a group of people who can help organize and get the word out helps a great deal.
It may all seem very overwhelming, here is a very good article on out to join in the protests, but not wear yourself out or burn out: How to #StayOutraged Without Losing Your Mind: Self-Care Lessons for the Resistance
Check out these article for ideas and tips:
99 ways to fight Trump
How to Get Through to Your Member of Congress When Their Phones Are Slammed (added 2/7/17)
ETA: This is being passed around on Facebook and contains a lot of good advice:
Boosting this post that is floating around:
A starting point.
FOR THOSE OF YOU LOOKING TO TURN YOUR ANGER INTO ACTION,
Here's some advice from a high-level staffer for a Senator.
There are two things that all of us should be doing all the time right now, and they're by far the most important things.
--> You should NOT be bothering with online petitions or emailing.
1. TOWNHALLS AND OFFICE VISITS
The best thing you can do to be heard and get your congressperson to pay attention is to have face-to-face time - if they have townhalls, go to them. Go to their local offices. If you're in DC, try to find a way to go to an event of theirs. Go to the "mobile offices" that their staff hold periodically (all these times are located on each congressperson's website). When you go, ask questions. A lot of them. And push for answers. The louder and more vocal and present you can be at those the better.
2. CALLS
Those in-person events don't happen every day so the absolute most important thing that people should be doing every day is calling.
You should make 6 calls a day: 2 each (DC office and your local office) to your 2 Senators & your 1 Representative.
The staffer was very clear that any sort of online contact basically gets immediately ignored, and letters pretty much get thrown in the trash (unless you have a particularly strong emotional story - but even then it's not worth the time it took you to craft that letter).
Calls are what all the congresspeople pay attention to. Every single day, the Senior Staff and the Senator get a report of the 3 most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices (in DC and local offices), and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. They're also sorted by zip code and area code. She said that Republican callers generally outnumber Democrat callers 4-1, and when it's a particular issue that single-issue-voters pay attention to (like gun reform, or planned parenthood funding, etc...), it's often closer to 11-1, and that's recently pushed Republican congressmen on the fence to vote with the Republicans. In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats haven't.
So, when you call:
A) When calling the DC office, ask for the Staff member in charge of whatever you're calling about ("Hi, I'd like to speak with the staffer in charge of Healthcare, please") - local offices won't always have specific ones, but they might. If you get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don't, that's ok - ask for their name, and then just keep talking to whoever answered the phone. Don't leave a message (unless the office doesn't pick up at all - then you can...but it's better to talk to the staffer who first answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your topic).
B) Give them your zip code. They won't always ask for it, but make sure you give it to them, so they can mark it down. Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them, since they'll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.
C) If you can make it personal, make it personal. "I voted for you in the last election and I'm worried/happy/whatever" or "I'm a teacher, and I am appalled by Betsy DeVos," or "as a single mother" or "as a white, middle class woman," or whatever.
D) Pick 1-2 specific things per day to focus on. Don't go down a whole list - they're figuring out what 1-2 topics to mark you down for on their lists. So, focus on 1-2 per day. Ideally something that will be voted on/taken up in the next few days, but it doesn't really matter - even if there's not a vote coming up in the next week, call anyway. It's important that they just keep getting calls.
E) Be clear on what you want - "I'm disappointed that the Senator..." or "I want to thank the Senator for their vote on..." or "I want the Senator to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision for our state because..." Don't leave any ambiguity.
F) They may get to know your voice/get sick of you - it doesn't matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks anyway, so even if they're really sick of you, they'll be gone in 6 weeks.
From experience since the election: If you hate being on the phone & feel awkward (which is a lot of people) don't worry about it - there are a bunch of scripts (Indivisible has some, there are lots of others floating around these day). After a few days of calling, it starts to feel a lot more natural. Put the 6 numbers in your phone (all under P – Politician which makes it really easy to click down the list.)
Copied from a friend. Don't share - copy and paste in a new post for wider sharing.
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