When Resistance Works

About a year and a half ago I joined a local resistance group. Our house representative was a Republican. He billed himself as a Tuesday group moderate. But, his voting record started showing a freedom caucus party loyalist in 2010. He also hadn't held an in person town hall in a very long time.

I was gerrymandered into him with Chris Christie. A corrupt move from a corrupt guy. To say this angered, frustrated, and frightened me is an understatement. I had really liked the long-time democrat that represented my district. This jerk treated his job as an entitlement. His father was a respected moderate lawmaker. So, this was a family thing. But, it's not an inheritance and this group and I wanted to remind him he had to earn it and listen to us!

It's a bipartisan group. We are mostly democrats. But, we have republicans too. But, these are the normal republicans that aren't prejudice and want a true moderate who listens to their constituents. This representative no longer fit that bill. But, he never had a tough election and it was up to us to make it a tough election.

The group started meeting on Fridays outside his state office. My fears got in the way of participating but I considered it many times. My parents are in the group too and my mom offered to come along. Peaceful protests including offers of baked goods and requests for an in person town hall. The police doing crowd control found an easy group to work with. We even threw town halls and invited him. He never came.

I am proud of that. Proud that we do our protesting the right way. No laws broken. Inoffensive signs and chants. One goal. Change. Our group has "for change" in the name. We want a representative that does their sworn duty to represent. I emailed and called frequently. At one point it was bad enough where my email was a history lesson of how and why congress was formed! Citations and everything! Including a reminder that none of his family members were a part of it.

A little over a year ago was the beginning of the end. A letter to a member's employer. That employer was a donor of his. Hand written on the bottom was a note about a "ringleader works for you". She was forced to quit and still isn't working.

Persist
Resist
Now THIS!

But, she won that battle a few months ago when he announced his retirement. We are getting a new house representative. This past Tuesday the congressional district primaries were predictable for us. The anointed republican is just like the retiring guy. But, he will have a strong challenge from a moderate retired navy pilot. She also happens to be a former prosecutor who already said she doesn't support Nancy Pelosi for speaker. It takes a lot of bullets out of her republican opponents metaphorical gun.

Resistance is working for us. The republican has some support. But, he isn't moderate at all. He sounds like Paul Ryan. This is a mostly moderate district. The bulk of the republicans here want someone that belongs in the Tuesday group. Not the freedom caucus. The democratic candidate has a lot to offer these voters as well as the democratic voters. We will continue to resist our current representative and the republican candidate. Because they block constituents and want a very different country then we want. But, we are full of hope that this democratic candidate might be the one to break through in our district.

It feels good to be a part of something that is working. It led to a big surprise from my current retiring representative. For once, his response letter sounded like the moderate he used to be. A few months ago I emailed him. The house was voting on cutting funding for SNAP. He said in his letter that he had introduced a bill to add funding for SNAP in the farm bill and voted nay on the bad bill that hit the floor. He stood up to Paul Ryan and voted to protect the poor people needing help! That bill didn't pass.

He isn't the only republican listening to me. My state senators and assembly representatives are all republican. I just never knew which kind. The evil kind (tea party Paul Ryan) or the reasonable kind. My state senator got back to me. I had contacted them. I read that they were in the processes of writing a bill on raising the minimum wage. I had a few ideas I wanted him to support. To do it, I had to speak Republican.

I pointed out that raising the minimum wage to a living wage means less people qualify for government assistance. Meaning, it reduces the cost of government assistance. I also pointed out that higher incomes mean higher income taxes collected without having to raise tax rates. I reminded him of the mess Christie left the state in and how we need revenue to fix it. This is a way to raise revenue without raising the taxes. I said a few other things but ended with my big idea. Don't make minimum wage a set number. Make it be the cost of living for the area. That keeps it low in cheaper areas but high in expensive areas. It also automatically changes with the cost of living and adds money to the economy. There also is already a formula used to calculate a living wage.

In his response, he said the bill is being worked on but he would keep my thoughts in mind. Okay, that's just normal political placating. Really? Then why did he tell me to contact the committee chair who was leading the process and include this person's contact information? You don't take that added step if you aren't serious.

We have a long way to go. The mission isn't complete and might never be. But, resistance works. Hearing back from the state senator gave me hope. Hope that by addressing his concerns it took away his arguments against something good. Hearing back from my representative helped too. He's no longer towing the party line. He has nothing to loose. I'm not going to like everything he supports. But, at least now I agree sometimes. I used to literally agree on nothing he supported. Progress is happening because we are resisting the unreasonable. Resistance works.