Since the beginning of this year I have participated in several postcard campaigns to encourage people to register to vote and to actually vote in a primary. I have sent postcards to support specific candidates, including Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, Ruben Gallego in Arizona, and Tom Suozzi in New York. My total postcards: 300. So far.
I say this not to elicit praise or to pat myself on the back. Instead, I urge you to do what you can to save democracy. Fundraisers often say, “No gift is too small,” and I hasten to add “No action is too small.”
Doing What I Can
I am a terrible phone person. I don’t enjoy talking on the phone. I even dislike making phone calls and am so grateful for the ability to do much of what I need to do via email or text. I am grateful for all the people who participate in phone-calling events in support of candidates and campaigns, but that is not something I will be doing in the next seven months. (EEEK–only seven months before election day in November.)
I also won’t be walking door to door, passing out leaflets, engaging people in conversations. I did that decades ago, but that method no longer fits who I am now and what I am able to do.
What I can do, however, is participate in postcard campaigns. I can order postcards with a voting theme from Etsy. I can buy rolls of postcard stamps. In fact, the last time I did so, the mail clerk subtly asked me why I needed so many postcard stamps. Our conversation was brief and careful, but I could tell he was intrigued and you never know…
I can watch a movie on Netflix as I address and handprint the message provided by the sponsoring organization or I can sit at the dining room table and work on a few more postcards while dinner is baking in the oven. Soon I will be able sit at the bistro table in my secret “Paris” garden or on the patio and write postcards while I enjoy fresh air and birdsong and the glories of my husband’s gardening efforts.
I can drop the postcards in the mailbox a couple blocks away when I go on an afternoon walk.
I must do something because this is not a time for indifference.
Reasons for Doing What I Can
I receive several daily or weekly newsletters that keep me informed and motivated and help me focus. If I feel myself holding my breath as I read them, I know it is time to sign-up for another postcard campaign.
We live in a world where the only US president ever to attempt a coup has a too-close-for-comfort chance of being re-elected on a platform of overt fascism. That changes everything. We do not have the luxury of indifference.
We do not have the luxury of being “just” journalists, lawyers, elected officials, educators, students, co-workers, entertainers, parents, family members, or citizens. At this moment, we must be defenders of democracy in everything we do. If not, we betray and abandon the Constitution. There is no in-between. The question has been called.
Indifference is a choice. Cynicism is a choice. “Just doing my job” is a choice.
Democracy is a choice.
Defending democracy is a duty that appears unbidden when Americans least expect it. Every generation before ours has discharged that duty honorably. Ours cannot be the one to falter.
The media is not misrepresenting evangelical views. It comes from evangelicals themselves — they embrace the theology of Trump the Savior, a new political Jesus. They believe it. They believe that Trump is being sacrificed for them.
The most telling part in this video is the opening interview with two evangelical voters. They clearly understand the Bible and evangelical views of salvation — you could hear these verses quoted and this theology expressed on any given Sunday (or Wednesday night Bible study) in any evangelical church in the United States. They don’t get the theology wrong.
And then they apply it to Trump:
Man: “THE BIBLE SAYS HE WAS WOUNDED FOR OUR TRANSGRESSIONS. HE DID IT FOR US. WHEN TRUMP IS FACING ALL THESE THINGS IS HE DOING IT FOR US IN OUR PLACE.”
Woman: “JESUS DIED FOR MY SINS. JESUS DIED FOR ME AND SO I — IT CONNECTS IN MY BRAIN THAT WAY. LIKE, HE IS DOING THIS FOR US AS A COUNTRY TO MAKE THE CHANGES WE NEED TO MAKE AND HE IS THE TARGET WHERE WE DON’T HAVE TO BE.”
Acting Instead of Feeling Overwhelmed
I choose the amount of time I spend listening to, watching, or reading about current events and the resulting commentary. I choose to spend part of my morning devotion time praying for the existence and renewal of democracy in this country and all those who are attempting to save it. However, I still feel overwhelmed and discouraged at times.
Yup, that’s when it’s time to sign-up for another postcard campaign.
Karen Hering in her remarkable book, Trusting Change, Finding Our Way Through Personal and Global Transformation advises:
Describe a practice you use to calm or settle yourself when experiencing strong reflexive responses of fear or anger. What do you experience when you do this?
p. 155
Writing in my journal always calms me and clarifies what I am feeling and often reveals a next step. I’ve discovered writing postcards also calms me and is a step I can take.
Name one global threshold you are concerned about, whether or not you have been actively engaged in addressing it. Share some of your skills or knowledge that might be helpful in that issue…
p. 155
I have the time. I print legibly. I can afford to buy postcards and stamps.
Simple.
One More Quote and a Companion Book
The human heart is the first home of democracy. It is where we embrace our questions. Can we be equitable? Can we be generous? Can we listen with our whole beings, not just our minds, and offer our attention rather than our opinions? And do we have enough resolve in our hearts to act courageously, relentlessly, without giving up–ever–trusting our fellow citizens to join with us in our determined pursuit of a living democracy?
One of the voices of wisdom who sits on my shelf is Parker J. Palmer. Right now I think I need to re-read his 2011 book, Healing the Heart of Democracy, The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit.
An Invitation
What is it you can do to resist indifference? I would love to know.
Your photos are a great addition. I write postcards, too, for many of the same reasons as you listed. Thanks for all the info and the sites. We must DO something to protect democracy.
Sometimes I get an idea for a photo (or have an existing one) that prompts an idea for a post. Funny how that works. Writing postcards right now feels like a spiritual practice.
Good for you! This is an excellent idea and I love how you are changing your strategy based on what you are able to do in this season. “Ask for what you need and offer what you can” is my latest greatest motto.
Democracy is at risk in America for so many reasons. What you write about the reasons people vote for Trump is so interesting and disturbing. It helps me understand a little better why they do what they do.
Just curious, how do you decide who to send the postcards to?
Now that I am on the email/contact list from places like Activate for America, I receive requests from them. Often there is more than one campaign and I first decide how to respond based on their timeframe and my schedule and then based on my interest in the issue, such as abortion rights, or what I have read about the person running for an office. Most frequently, I have sent postcards to encourage people to vote in the primaries, informing them of dates and how to get information.
Living on Life's Labyrinth 
Thank you. I
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You are welcome.
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Your photos are a great addition. I write postcards, too, for many of the same reasons as you listed. Thanks for all the info and the sites. We must DO something to protect democracy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sometimes I get an idea for a photo (or have an existing one) that prompts an idea for a post. Funny how that works. Writing postcards right now feels like a spiritual practice.
LikeLike
Good for you! This is an excellent idea and I love how you are changing your strategy based on what you are able to do in this season. “Ask for what you need and offer what you can” is my latest greatest motto.
Democracy is at risk in America for so many reasons. What you write about the reasons people vote for Trump is so interesting and disturbing. It helps me understand a little better why they do what they do.
Just curious, how do you decide who to send the postcards to?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now that I am on the email/contact list from places like Activate for America, I receive requests from them. Often there is more than one campaign and I first decide how to respond based on their timeframe and my schedule and then based on my interest in the issue, such as abortion rights, or what I have read about the person running for an office. Most frequently, I have sent postcards to encourage people to vote in the primaries, informing them of dates and how to get information.
LikeLiked by 1 person