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MORNING MESSAGE
Lisa Demaine
This is it, folks! Tuesday’s presidential primary is our big day – when the people power our member-driven organization, Rights & Democracy (RAD), has built over the last four years will shine. We will show the nation what people power truly looks like, as we help Senator Bernie Sanders win big in the Granite State. Hundreds of RAD members from New Hampshire and Vermont have been joined by volunteers from across the nation to help Bernie over the finish line in the last days and hours of this critical campaign. So much is at stake. Weekend after weekend, day after day, we have shown up at rallies, events, and most importantly, to knock on doors and talk with folks about why Bernie’s multigenerational, multiracial campaign is just the beginning of a change we can believe in. Bernie’s not only going to win the Democratic primary in New Hampshire: the movement he has started will be the force that will defeat Trump in 2020, and put the people back in charge of our government. Together, we’re changing the way politics are done in this country.This is people power: This is what democracy looks like. What’s happening on the ground here and all across the country is changing politics as usual. To see thousands of volunteers turn out to support Bernie, who has been unbought and unbossed for forty years, is inspiring. It inspires me to believe this country can belong to its people.
Lisa Demaine is Keep It In the Ground Field Coordinator for Rights & Democracy New Hampshire, where she has led teams of millennials pressuring politicians to make deeper commitment to addressing the climate crisis.
Young People May Tip Scales In NH Primary
Young people have been eyeing the NH primary since 2017. They could make the difference. The Intercept: “election, youth organizers prowled the state of New Hampshire, registering college students and bird-dogging presidential candidates in the nation’s first primary state. They continued working to turn out young people through the general election, powering Democratic Senate candidate Maggie Hasan over the GOP incumbent, Kelly Ayotte, by just 1,016 votes, and Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a margin of 2,736. College students were so closely associated with the wins that the Republican legislature has since moved to curb their ability to vote in the state. The core organizers came primarily from the campus fossil fuel divestment movement, which had been funded by the climate group 350.org and tried to pressure institutions to sell off their oil and gas investments. Heading into the 2016 primary, Yong Jung Cho, a 350 organizer, persuaded many of those divestment activists to focus on electoral politics, arguing that bigger gains could be made in the political arena. They had a simple goal: spend the next three years organizing in order to boost youth turnout in the New Hampshire presidential primary by 6 percent, and do the same in the general election. That would be enough, they figured, to nominate and elected a progressive as president in 2020. So far, they’ve identified and registered 12,000 students who didn’t vote in 2016. The primary could be won with just 60,000 or so votes, given the crowded field, meaning that the youth intervention could prove decisive.”
Trump’s 2021 Budget Pays For Tax Cuts By Slashing Medicare
Trump’s 2021 ‘budget’ pays for tax cuts by slashing Medicare. Crooks and Liars: “How will announcing cuts to nursing home residents and the elderly work for Trump in an election year? We’re about to find out. Trump released his “budget” for 2021, and it includes huge cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security disability. It also includes money for his ‘wall,’ the one that blew over into Mexico and also needs to have open gates several months a year for flood control. Most remarkable is that the cuts match almost dollar-for-dollar the tax cuts Trump has provided to the billioniare class. The Orange Stable Genius also wants to cut the the Environmental Protection Agency by 26 percent in an election year.Greg Sargeant in the Washington Post agrees that Trump isn’t acting like it’s an election year: ‘Trump just saddled himself with a major campaign liability.’”
CPB Dynamites Burial Grounds To Build Border Wall
Native American burial grounds threatened by blasts for border wall construction, Arizona congressman says. CNN: “Construction crews blowing up parts of a national monument to make way for the border wall could be on the verge of destroying sacred burial sites, an Arizona congressman who represents the area told CNN. But Rep. Raúl Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, said he’s still hoping the crews will change course before it’s too late. ‘You can’t replace these things. You can’t fix them once they’re gone,’ Grijalva said. ‘And as someone that grew up in the borderlands, it’s painful to know that this is occurring.’ Controlled blasts began inside Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument last week, according to Ned Norris Jr., chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation, which is adjacent to the monument. The blasting was first reported last week by The Intercept, a news site. US Customs and Border Protection did not respond to CNN’s inquiries about the explosions. In a statement to the Arizona Republic, the agency said blasts had started in the area. ‘The controlled blasting is targeted and will continue intermittently for the rest of the month,’ CBP said, according to the Republic. ‘U.S. Customs and Border Protection will continue to have an environmental monitor present during these activities as well as on-going clearing activities.’ Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is a park that encompasses more than 500 square miles in southern Arizona, bordering the Mexican state of Sonora. On the National Park Service website, it’s described as an International Biosphere Reserve with a ‘thriving community of plants and animals.’”
GA Sees Surge Of Young Voters
Rise of young and diverse Georgia voters may influence 2020 elections. Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “A wave of people signed up to vote in Georgia last year, adding 322,000 active voters to the rolls ahead of a presidential election in an increasingly competitive state. Many of these incoming voters are young and racially diverse, according to voter registration data from the secretary of state’s office. Nearly one-third of Georgia’s voters are under 35 years old. Most Georgia voters are white, but their majority is gradually shrinking each year.The rising number of voters from demographic groups that tend to support Democrats could make the Republican-leaning state more of a battleground than ever, with a presidential race, two U.S. Senate seats and three open U.S. House seats on the ballot this year. Georgia’s presidential primary is March 24.There are now nearly 7.2 million registered voters in Georgia, a 3% increase in one year.”
In 2020, we can take back our country for the values we all share – solidarity, justice, and a fair economy – state by state, seat by seat, and vote by vote. But we can only do this with your help. Give now to support People’s Action at this critical time.
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