A Plan for Democratic Action

 In the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, many people are asking themselves what to do.

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I ran a Republican's campaign for US Congress in 2008, Oregon's First District.

It's a long story. Short version: He held a lot of liberal viewpoints, he won the primary 70/30, he endorsed Obama, we made everyone really mad, and bedlam ensued. (The long version includes switching parties and throwing footballs out of an airplane.)

I’m an independent thinker who now leans to the left, but I've been a Republican. I've met with angry Republican leadership in the back room of an Elmer's Pancake House, been on set while my candidate did a remote interview with Bill O'Reilly about being a Republican for Obama, and been interviewed by The Guardian because he made international news.

And I want to help folks find a path to Election Night. If you’re feeling lost, read on.

Here are things people are doing that are a waste of time. Don't do these things:

1. Don't waste time you could spend elsewhere contacting liberal Senator(s). You don't need to convince them that another Trump nominee is bad. They know and are already as motivated as you are.

2. Don't try to convince or pressure people like Mitch McConnell. He gives zero f***s what you think.

3. Don't argue with adversarial conservatives on the internet and post memes. You'll just make it worse. Instead, ignore them completely and act like the grownup in the room. Trust me, for a year my job was basically pissing people off for free press.

4. It's not a strong don't, but maybe don’t send form emails. They can filter those out. They may get tens of thousands of emails, and they're not going to pay as much attention to the form emails. If you don't have time to write one from scratch, get a form email and change the subject and enough words to get it through a filter. But it's definitely better to send a form email than nothing.

Do these things instead:

1. Give to Biden and work for Biden. Write letters, call, and text. Do it until it hurts.

2. Give to and work for Senate candidates in states where incumbent Republicans may lose, like Maine. Here’s a handy reference. Also, Republican Senators will not act on principle; they will act to win. They need to know that they're at risk of losing their elections and confirming a justice will make it worse.

3. Help elect Amy McGrath, because McConnell is toxic.

4. Offer your thanks to Mitt Romney for his integrity, and ask him to keep it up. He's not up for election, but he's getting more hatred than you can imagine. I have old emails about people putting my candidate's photo in the urinal so they could urinate on his face. Mitt deserves props, and hopefully will continue to. You also change the ratio of angry emails to positive emails, which is good in a situation like his.

5. The types of things that actually help on social media are:

5A: Spread the word to fellow liberals about volunteer opportunities and prop people up so they don't wear out, or...

5B. Tweet the hell out of everything that you want covered by news outlets. They track trending hashtags and cover what they think will get them views. Or...

5C. Go on Instagram Live and talk about things. Watch and reshare every single time AOC talks.

6. Reach out to people ages 18-30. They'll make or break this. You have no idea just how much they'll make or break this. AOC was down 25-35% in the polls two weeks before her first election; then the young people showed up. Meet them where they are.

7. Get out in the streets en masse and demonstrate peacefully in locations that can't be ignored, like the day people here in Portland laid face down on the Burnside Bridge after George Floyd's death. The photos were powerful, and they got shared by a younger crowd. The images also did not buy into false stereotypes of liberals and give conservatives extra fodder. You want press, and you want press aimed at young voters and moderates. The base is already fired up.

8. Work your neighborhood. County Democrats run Neighborhood Leaders programs. In the county where I live, households reached by those folks had an 87% turnout rate.

9. Reach out to friends, relatives, and strangers in swing states. Talk productively, even if it's hard. Work toward a clear goal instead of saying what you may feel like saying. For now, all that matters is the outcome.

10. Stop saying "defund." Even worse than that word are "abolish" or "ban." Democrats remain utterly terrible at branding. Say "reallocate responsibilities.”

11. Avoid playing into conservatives' narratives. I will say it again: YOU HAVE TO ACT LIKE A GROWNUP. That doesn't mean you can't fight tooth and nail, or even fight a little dirty. It means it is pointless and childish and damaging calling him Drumpf, posting memes that might have been made by a Russian troll, working Trump and his minions into conversations about food or hiking or anything unrelated.

12. Watch speeches and read books by inspiring people who will move you to act and to act like a grownup. If you loved Michelle Obama's speech and then went about the behaviors in #11, you're ignoring what she stands for and your own self-proclaimed ethical code. That's hypocrisy. Keep giving yourself positive models to keep yourself in check.

13. Raise your kids to be compassionate humans.

14. Support your friends who are tired, and ask for support when you are tired. Drink tea. Recharge. With that said, you have to push hard for six weeks, and you might get tired and disheartened. Do it anyway. They want you to get tired and frustrated and give up. They'll try to wear you down by being awful and pushing all your buttons. It's an actual plan to beat you down. Push through.

15. Vote, and do everything possible to get others registered, to help them check that their registration is current, and to get them to polls/get their mail-in ballots turned in on time.

16. Find your individual gifts and harness them. You don't have to do everything. Allow yourself to be a specialist.

17. Change people's perception of you and your party by living the party's values. Bring supplies to a conservative wildfire victim while you wear your Bernie t-shirt. Remember that some people may be lost causes, but most people are just hurt humans, and you may not be right about which is which. Treat everyone with humanity, even when it seems pointless.