Three things we can do this week (4-14-25)
First, some good news.
We had an amazing town hall meeting in Wichita Falls this weekend. The state representative, James Frank, and the Congressman, Ronny Jackson, refuse to meet with their constituents in open forums. So, when Kay from Wichita Falls reached out and said she’d like some help bringing people together, we jumped on it and I’m glad we did.
More than 400 people came out Saturday to talk about the future of Texas and our country. These were Democrats, Republicans, Independents, a real cross-section of the community. Looked a lot like a democracy in fact!
We discussed this voucher proposal from the governor that will send our tax dollars to private schools while draining our local schools of the resources they need to keep running. We heard about cuts to Medicaid, the proposed firing of 83,000 employees at the VA (most of them veterans!) and the President’s disregard for the constitution and due process.
One woman stood up and said “they’re trying to overwhelm us! We need to whelm ‘em the other way!”
I love it!! “Whelm em the other way!” is the order of business right now for those who want to save our country.
Because the other side is not going to stop. There’s no amount of chaos they can unleash, no amount of power they can grab, no amount of destruction they can bring down upon this country that will ever satisfy them. It’s coming at us all the time, for as long as it meets no real opposition.
So — these town halls, like the one we held in Wichita Falls Saturday, they matter. It’s where we hear each other out, where we give each other hope and where we get organized to fight back. As the meeting was wrapping up a man who’d driven up from Denton county told us there was a protest planned the next day in his hometown of Sanger. That protest was better attended, more powerful, for the connections he made at our town hall.
And speaking truth to power — like we’re asking people to do at the Texas Capitol on Wednesday (more below) — that matters too.
Yes — anti-democratic and anti-constitutional interests have the White House, the Congress, many state houses and a majority on the Supreme Court. But there is a far greater power beyond all of that.
In 1858, at a previous time of evil in the land and deep division in the country, Abraham Lincoln said:
In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.
John Lewis and his fellow protestors who crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 so galvanized public sentiment that LBJ was able to sign the Voting Rights Act into law that same year. More recently, protests across the country in the wake of Trump’s cruel family separation policy during his first term caused him to cancel the program.
We don’t have to wait until 2026 or 2028. Getting organized, taking action, coming together — that’s where it’s at.
Here are three steps we can take this week:
Protect local schools. The biggest, most important vote of the legislative session in Texas is taking place as early as this Wednesday. Republicans are proposing to spend $1 billion on a voucher scam that will deeply damage local schools. If we have any chance of stopping it, it will be because of the number of people who show up to oppose it. Sign up here to get details and to be notified of schedule: https://secure.ngpvan.com/PdMAVijvUE2KUdCVMTrhrQ2
Speaking of local schools, Texas school board elections are taking place across the state. Early voting begins April 22nd and Election Day is May 3rd. You can find a list of candidates for your school district at this link. Do your research and make a plan to vote. https://ballotpedia.org/School_board_elections_in_Texas
Denton town hall. Another community where we can’t get the member of Congress or state rep to show up. We’re holding the town hall for them on Saturday April 26 in Denton. Republicans, Democrats, Independents - all are welcome. Sign up here: https://www.mobilize.us/poweredxpeople/event/776596
Keep the faith and keep up the fight!
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P.S. - the ocotillo are in bloom:
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