Fellow Democratic voters in Santa Cruz county:
This is URGENT, folks! Please… Experts are telling us, and we (Republic Retooled, a soon-to-be, local non-profit) agree, that we (the American people) NEED to PREVENT a Trump win in November for many reasons, but we also need to END Trumpism in the Republican Party by keeping Republicans in a MINORITY status in both houses of Congress in EVERY election cycle (and, of course, win the presidential election) until that party finally renounces Trump and the Project 2025 manifesto (see Note 1, below, for information (video and podcast) about Project 2025). But Trumpism in the White House and/or in Congress is not the only existential threat to American democracy. Extremists like Leonard Leo and extreme-right think tanks like the Federalist Society and their minions (e.g., Mitch McConnell) have, for decades, been working tirelessly on their plan to reverse every success that has been achieved since the Kennedy presidency that could be categorized as being politically left of center and is in any way related to social justice (e.g., voting rights, campaign-finance laws, environmental regulations, marriage equality, women’s bodily autonomy, etc. -- see Note 2). And, because these right-wing extremists could see the demographic changes occurring in America (e.g., people of color -- non-Caucasian -- would soon be the majority of the electorate) and they feared that their ability to maintain their hold on power at the national level (“minority rule”) was slipping away, their plan for this future (dystopian in their minds) needed to include locking in a majority of extreme-right Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS), so they could implement policy (“legislate from the bench”) via the Court (see Note 3).
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Note 1: Video 1 -- MSNBC, Deadline White House, discusses Project 2025, the MAGA "governing agenda" for Trump's "imperial presidency," https://youtu.be/cbsWV22oR8A . Video 2 (podcast/audio only) -- Part 2 of the Deadline White House program, https://youtu.be/oyHvSPZqSfw .
Note 2: Our corrupt, captured, politicized, illegitimate U.S. Supreme Court has almost completely dismantled 100 years of campaign-finance law and it has gutted the Voting Rights Act (1965) and obliterated environmental regulations and, of course, overturned Roe v. Wade (see: Republic Retooled, newsletter, “Threats to American Democracy” (pg. 2), “SCOTUS Rulings” (pg. 3), here: https://app.box.com/s/4g5qbrbo7q8dizi65j92sl9t48u17wti ). And, according to Politico, “Justice Clarence Thomas argued in a concurring opinion [as part of the Court’s “Dobbs” decision]… that the Supreme Court ‘should reconsider’ its past rulings codifying rights to contraception access, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage… Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan… in a dissenting opinion… writing that ‘no one should be confident that this majority is done with its work.’” (See that Politico article, here: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/24/thomas-constitutional-rights-00042256 .
Note 3: We think every American voter needs to be aware of our “minority-rule doom loop” crisis and we believe that Adam Jentleson’s article on this subject is the best we have seen, because he succinctly describes the multiple facets of minority rule and how it threatens democracy, and his recommendations include several of those that we advocate in our Fight for Our Freedoms campaign (please read that, here: https://app.box.com/s/k9iqstqcz4gey6dcqkrgkh8sa8un5o13 ). Now, regarding our ongoing crisis that is the U.S. Supreme Court majority… As President Biden said in his speech from the Oval Office today (24July2024), “I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy.” Although Biden understands that the Court poses a threat to democracy, he, unfortunately, is not YET supporting EXPANSION of the Court. But, we remain hopeful that, once the American people begin, in very large numbers, to demand Court expansion, he will join us. And, for those of you who also are not yet on board with Court expansion (maybe just due to not understanding the issue well enough), we recommend watching some of Senator Whitehouse’s brilliant “The Scheme” videos (or his book with this title). We are going to recommend that you start with The Scheme #30 video as a good introduction to the corruption, the court-packing cabal (involving Mitch McConnell, Leonard Leo/Federalist Society and Trump) the capture of the court by corporate interests, billionaires… Senator Whitehouse presents so much of it in this 23-minute video (here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SMRUyWpyD0 ).
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(UPDATE -- We want to insert this here to ensure that everyone is aware of this related and extremely critical issue, which is: What might happen when Trump loses the election? And what might happen when the electoral college convenes in mid-December? And if that does not go well, shall we say, what then might happen on January 6, 2025?! Please watch this brief video (MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow) in which Rachel delivers, yet another, report of great importance regarding this year’s election and what will follow, as the Republican National Convention was winding down on its final day (here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N12fXz9dtNY ).)
So, if you agree with these experts and this brief synopsis of their warnings regarding these threats to, essentially, everything that is dear to us -- from the Court’s (SCOTUS) tyranny of their multiple acts of judicial supremacy (e.g., “legalized corruption…” in the Buckley line of cases and the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the “Dobbs” decision) and near-complete dismantling of the Voting Rights Act (Shelby County v. Holder and Brnovich v. Democratic National Convention) and so much more -- see Note 2, above) to the tyranny of Mitch McConnell (see below) and Trump (far too many injustices to even begin to list here) -- then please consider contributing ANY amount of time to participate in phone/text banking actions this summer/fall (see more info, below). We need to sign up a significant number of volunteers in a hurry, so we can begin calling/texting voters (in strategic Congressional districts and states -- see below) while we still have time to register young people, particularly, to vote (just one of our goals in this campaign -- see below) before the deadlines in the various jurisdictions.
We MUST END this “minority rule” (see Note 3, above) and this tyranny of the SCOTUS super-majority (Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett) and we MUST win BIG in November in order for us (the American people) to create the opportunity for ourselves to then DEMAND that Congress pass the federal legislation that is required for us to be able to achieve the aforementioned goals (see below)!
More specifically, we advocate that we achieve two sets of goals -- one set of electoral goals (via the election in November) -- as we stated above, win back Democratic majority status in the U.S. House, protect our majority status in the Senate and elect Vice-President Harris as president -- and one set of federal legislative goals (which we will be empowered to realize after we achieve our electoral goals in November) (please see the next section for a list of these goals and accompanying information). Our Action Plan for achieving these goals includes recruiting like-minded citizens in this county to contribute ANY amount of time to participating in the phone/text banking actions organized by the campaigns of (strategically selected) U.S. House and Senate candidates (here in California and in other states) and advocating the enacting of specific federal legislation (see below), as well as asking the voters in these Congressional districts and in these states to pledge to contact their representatives in Congress (in 2025/6 during our planned Phase II of our Fight for Our Freedoms campaign -- see below) and ask them to support this legislation.
Voting starts in September, so we need to begin these phone/text-banking actions very soon, if we want to contribute a significant amount of support to the campaigns of these Democratic candidates, so please sign up as soon you have the opportunity!
If you are ready to sign up, please go to the bottom of this page and use the link (for our sign-up page on our website) below our signature and submit an RSVP to participate in an upcoming phone/text banking action! On the other hand, if you need more information about the threats to American democracy posed by Trumpism and SCOTUS and/or information about our Action Plan for this campaign or our next campaign in 2025/6, please continue reading…
The Federal Legislation We Advocate and More Information About our Fight for Our Freedoms Campaign, Part II (planned for 2025/6)
Experts warn us, and we agree, that there are several very dangerous threats to American democracy, the rule of law and our family’s health and well-being that we (the American people, via our representatives in Congress) must URGENTLY address. Here is our list of what we are advocating as the most urgent national issues that must be addressed with federal legislation and CAN be addressed in 2025/6, as soon as we (Democratic voters across the country) have won back majority status in the U.S. House and protected our majority status in the Senate and elected Vice-President Harris as president in November:
· Restoring our democratic institutions (including equal access to voting in free and fair elections for EVERY citizen in every community in every state -- equal access (for people of color, students, elderly, folks with disabilities… in some communities/states who are being disenfranchised by their state legislature/secretary of state/governor/local election official(s)…) that has been nearly obliterated by the current majority in the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) (this was the result of the Shelby County and Brnovich rulings) AND ENDING our “minority-rule doom loop” crisis in America (see Note 3, above) by DEMANDING that Congress pass the Freedom to Vote/John R. Lewis Act (see Note 4, below).
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Note 4: See this report by the Brennan Center for Justice regarding this legislation (https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/ensure-every-american-can-vote/voting-reform/strengthening-voting-rights-act ).
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· Restoring EVERY woman’s access to reproductive healthcare services in EVERY state (that has been taken from them by the majority in our corrupt, captured, politicized and illegitimate U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ) by DEMANDING that Congress pass the Women’s Health Protection Act (see Note 5, below)!
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Note 5: See National Women’s Law Center information (here: https://nwlc.org/resource/the-womens-health-protection-act-will-help-ensure-that-abortion-is-available-and-accessible-in-our-communities/ ).
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· Protecting our children in our schools/colleges/universities (and everybody else, everywhere) by DEMANDING that our representatives in Congress pass an assault weapons ban and a ban on high-capacity magazines and a ban on bump stocks (which is needed AGAIN because SCOTUS struck down the ban on bump stocks in June -- see Note 6, below) (and red-flag law needed, as well?)!
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Note 6: See these videos re that SCOTUS ruling (https://youtu.be/2ZjqALuhtVA and https://youtu.be/Xcr7LTSGD98 ).
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· Achieving progress regarding our primary American aspiration of becoming “a more perfect union” by finally achieving the status of being a fully-functioning, multi-cultural society by ENDING police killings of people of color in our communities. We can make significant progress toward the realization of that goal by DEMANDING that our representatives in Congress enact the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (see Note 7, below).
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Note 7: See this information regarding this legislation (source: U.S. House Judiciary Committee) (here: https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=14924 ).
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Please help us achieve the federal legislative goals, above, by helping us achieve the electoral goals that we must first achieve (in the election in November) before we can get this legislation enacted in Congress in 2025/6! (Note: As we mentioned above, those electoral goals are: win back Democratic majority status in the U.S. House; protect our current majority in the Senate; and, elect Vice-President Harris as president -- what House Speaker emerita, Nancy Pelosi, refers to as the “trifecta.”).
You can help us by joining your fellow Democratic voters in this county and participating in phone and text banking actions that are being organized this summer and fall by the campaigns of Democratic U.S. House members (in strategic Congressional districts, here in California and in other states) and U.S. Senators in Montana -- to protect Senator Jon Tester’s seat in “red” Montana -- and Ohio -- to protect Senator Sherrod Brown’s seat (these are the two most vulnerable (to being “flipped” to Republican) Democratic seats in the Senate).
Now, please give us just another minute or two more of your time today, because we need to ask you one more question and add one final legislative goal to our list (after one, quick comment)… We are DONE with this SCOTUS majority and their corruption (i.e., mostly, Justices Thomas and Alito), and their disregard for precedents (stare decisis -- see Note 8, below), and their politicized antics (e.g., Alito’s flying of MAGA flags at his two residences -- see Note 9) AND their unconscionable and, often, dangerous rulings (e.g., the decision in Trump v. U.S., which gave Trump immunity for many of the crimes he committed while in office -- see Note 10) including all the rulings we have already mentioned above… AND MUCH MORE (just too much to cover in this blog post)! We believe that we must IMMEDIATELY END these acts of judicial supremacy (which we believe is nothing less than tyranny) being committed by the Roberts Court with increasing frequency (see Note in next paragraph re judicial supremacy).
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Note 8: SCOTUS’ numerous violations of this long-standing principle of honoring precedents (a.k.a., stare decisis) are, again, just too much to cover in this blog post, so we will just present the latest, and perhaps most egregious and dangerous violation, the striking down of the “Chevron doctrine” (see this video -- https://youtu.be/5OiDzc0ZA1k ).
Note 9: See this video -- https://youtu.be/NkwKtD18jpY .
Note 10: See this video (podcast, actually, audio only) (https://youtu.be/ck7mv27vA18 ).
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Do you feel the same outrage that we do about this Court majority? Do you believe, as we do and an increasing number of Americans do, that this Court (SCOTUS) is ILLEGITIMATE? We hope that voters understand that in order for us to protect the reform and federal legislation we have mentioned above from future interference by this ILLEGITIMATE Court (SCOTUS) -- and we can expect that this Court majority WILL interfere and do everything in their considerable power to reverse/undercut… ALL of this progress -- so, we must add one more federal legislative goal to our list... We must do what we, the American people, should have done decades ago when this era of supremacist acts (judicial supremacy) by the Court began with Buckley v. Valeo (1976) ) (which is the Court’s dismantling of campaign finance law -- see Note 11, below)… We MUST take advantage of the growing movement across the country calling for the Court to be expanded (see videos (Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley) in Note 12, below) and take advantage of the growing support of this reform in Congress by DEMANDING that our Democratic representatives in Congress pass legislation like the Judiciary Act of 2023!
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Note 11: Judicial supremacy is (according to the National Constitution Center): “The idea that the Supreme Court is the final voice on questions of whether actions by the national government or state governments are constitutional.” This article by the NCC concludes by stating that “[d]ebates over the scope of judicial power… continue all the way up to today… That is, whether or not the Supreme Court should be the final arbiter of constitutional questions in our system. The debate continues!” Well, to this we ask: When the Court majority becomes illegitimate (as a result of its corruption, capture and politicization -- and its acts of judicial supremacy (see below) -- can we continue to entrust it to “be the final arbiter of constitutional questions in our system[?]” To everything else we present in this post we will briefly add the matter of the Court’s dismantling, almost entirely, of this nation’s campaign finance laws (which, as we mentioned, started with Buckley v. Valeo and continued, via the Roberts Court, for decades (via its unconscionable rulings in cases like Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (F.E.C.) (2010), McCutcheon v. F.E.C. (2014) and many other rulings) -- all blatant acts of judicial supremacy. But, to fully understand all of this Court’s campaign-finance jurisprudence and this history, one must invest some time and do some serious reading/research. And, for this, we recommend a book: Rob Hager’s, “Strategy for Democracy…” (long title has been truncated… but, if you Google the preceding author and title, the link to his online (free) book will be the top search result).
Note 12: See Elizabeth Warren interview, here: https://youtu.be/1sIpehznpgA and see Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley interview, here: https://youtu.be/wm6mGJIgR_0 .
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And, finally, again, we need YOU to participate in the phone/text banking actions during our Fight for Our Freedoms campaign in which we will be advocating that our volunteers ask the voters, with whom they will be speaking/texting in these actions, to pledge to reach out to their Congressional representatives in our future campaign(s) in 2025/6 and ask for their support of this legislation in Congress. (Yes! We will be supporting Senators Warren and Whitehouse and Congresswoman Pressley and other Senators and members in the House -- and the long list of NGOs who have been supporting this legislation since at least last year -- and we will be building a movement across the nation in our Fight for Our Freedoms campaign, Part II, to build support in Congress for ALL of this reform/legislation that we have mentioned in this post, which, with a bit of luck, will be enacted in 2025/6! (As my Latinx friends might say: Si! Se puede!) )
So, please… If you can contribute ANY amount of time this summer/fall to participate in this phone/text banking, please sign up on our Action Network website, here: https://actionnetwork.org/events/fight-for-our-freedoms-phonetext-banking?clear_id=true
As always, we thank you for your time and we hope we have the opportunity to work with you during the campaign!
Brenda and John French
Co-Founders, Republic Retooled
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