We’re running out of time in the legislature. We’ve got 4 action items for Pres Day!:
- Register for Lobby Day
- Make calls this week for Safe Communities
- Push to increase voter participation
Today’s President’s Day, and if you’re like me, the person in the White House right now is the last person I want to be celebrating.
This holiday invites another important thought: Is Massachusetts doing enough to resist Trump’s reactionary agenda? (Spoiler: NO).
Despite a ballyhooed “anti Trump commission” announced one year ago, there has been exceedingly little passed by the Legislature that would reaffirm Massachusetts values, build a bulwark against the increasingly frightening excesses of the Trump Administration, let alone, chart a strong progressive path forward. Forget about Massachusetts leading the resistance. We are hardly keeping up.
We can’t rely on Legislators to discover the courage to rise to the challenge.
WE have to push them.
In honor of President’s Day, here are four things you can do to push back against Trump’s agenda. As time marches on, the risk of resignation is real. Resist.
(1) Push for a Progressive Agenda: Sign up for our Lobby Day
Our legislators have power, the hour is growing late, and they need to use it. Join us April 4 Wednesday, March 14th, to tell them just that.
Never been to a lobby day? They’re informative and important. You get to….
- Hear from progressive state legislators on the bills that advance the cause!
- Learn the important issues and the latest updates on our legislative agenda!
- Learn, practice, and share ‘how to lobby effectively’ wisdom!
- Build progressive alliances with new friends from across the state!
The speaking program and information session starts at 9:15 AM in Room 437, followed by in-person meetings with legislators.
Register for Lobby Day now, and we’ll see you on April 4 Mar. 14!
(2) Stand up for Community Safety, Immigrants’ Rights: Pass the Safe Communities Act. Full Stop.
Of all the legislative actions before the MA Legislature, Safe Communities Act is the one that most directly looks at the extremely worrying practices of the Trump administrations, and puts up a firewall between Massachusetts and Trump’s racist, anti-immigrant deportation agenda.
Our local law enforcement should not be doing the terrorizing work of federal ICE agents. People in our communities should not fear that their local police—who are supposed to be keeping us safe—are collaborating, without any due process, with the feds. That is just unfair.
Both Illinois (ILLINOIS!!) and California have already passed similar “Trust” / safe communities legislation. Massachusetts is dragging it feet, and it’s time to say ENOUGH:TAKE ACTION.
There are lots of behind-the-curtain machinations with the bill… But the objective remains, absolutely, resolutely, the same:
- Pass the Safe Communities Act, with no compromises to its common-sense, deeply American principles of justice, due process, and community safety.
…and the path to achieving those goals is simple:
- Persistent, relentless–and if necessary, escalating–pressure on our legislators and their leadership. (They have superpowers: they can change the structural system. Don’t let them tell you they are powerless to use it.)
This is a message that is absolutely urgent, and PM is working hard on the ground with grassroots groups all across MA to ramp up the political pressure.
We’re prepared to stand with our immigrant family and neighbors, our brothers and sisters of color, our Massachusetts community of many faiths.
And we need to tell Legislature that they should too.
Help us make a big legislative push this week. And we’re checking the temperature next week to assess…do we need to push even harder? Make 5 calls to leadership on Beacon Hill this week – and even better – organize to get one friend a day to call, too, today through Friday (sign up here!)
(3) Fight for Voting Rights
Thankfully, Trump’s sham election commission has been disbanded. 2016 made it absolutely clear: we need to be playing more than just defense when it comes to voting rights. Our democracy simply isn’t very strong when 700,000 Massachusetts residents who are eligible to vote are unregistered, their voices unheard.
Ten other states and DC that have embraced Automatic Voter Registration, a simple reform that increases the accuracy and security of voter rolls and brings more people into the democratic process. Legislation (H.2091 / S.373) is pending in Massachusetts, and was reported out of committee less than two weeks ago. It’s time to bring it to the floor.
AVR quite simply expands the voting universe of registered voters who actually are able to vote. When you push past all the excuses, there’s one central question that should be asked: What do legislators stand to gain by keeping the voter rolls, and voting participation, lower?
