I mean, you name it: ultrasound probes, employer protection if they "find out" you're on birth control, defunding schools, refusing medicaid because of the Evil Planned Parenthood, lowering minimum wages, voter suppression efforts...you name it. THe GOP is doing it. Some of this shit is flat out illegal. But they don't care. They figure, screw it, they'll take it to court where those federal judges (whose appointments are still being conveniently held up), can "hear" the case - whenever.
It's not rocket science. Basically the GOP m.o. is to use state legislatures and local officials to reverse, regardless of legality, anything they don't like coming out of Washington. They've gone rogue. They're completely unhinged and YES people are going to die because of it.
I'm angry as hell and I'm well sick of it. And now it's time to fight back to make sure we PUT THEM OUT at the state and local level this 2012 as well as replace them in Washington. I don't care how red your state or county is, this is doable.
Here's how:
You know damned well how much vote totals drop off from the "top of the ticket" to the part of the ballot where the race is for "county commission" or "appellate judge".
We need to take advantage of that drop off and get a percentage of our "top-of-the-ticket-blind-to-the-rest" voters to VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET.
THE PLAN
The purpose of the State and Local Action Group here on Dkos is get these occasional voters and top-of-the-ticket-only voters to vote EVERY TIME in EVERY ELECTION for Democrats. Here's what we're going to do. Looks like Obama/Biden is gearing up, so should we. It's FLYERS. We'll be creating and distributing FLYERS.
1. Identify your issue
Pick one issue to address for the flyer. The issue should be specific to a state or locality. Highlight a specific harmful piece of legislation passed or considered by REPUBLICANS in your state or county or city (yes we will mention them by party on the flyer).
2. Fill out this form requesting a flyer be created for your issue
You can simply go to this URL and fill out the form requesting a flyer be created for this issue. There is no limit to the number of flyers you can request. Just be sure that there's ONE issue per flyer.
3. A flyer will be created by a creative Kossack
Some creative kossack will create a great flyer for your issue. It'll be uploaded and hosted here, on a site I created in 2009 for this type of thing. I'll have them categorized and hopefully even indexed so you can search easily for a state and/or an issue (or whatever). You can download your flyer (or any of the flyers) at any time and print as many or as few flyers as you want. (If you're creative and you want to help in this effort, email me at dkosmdmslle@gmail.com and put CREATIVE in the subject line).
4. Print and distribute
See? Simple. You can distribute them by mail, or by canvassing or at events, meetings, and in public spaces. Anywhere. If you can get a list of your area's registrations, all the better to be able to target the flyers to voters most receptive to it. I opened an account at voterlistsonline.com but it's expensive to buy filtered lists of targeted voters. So for now, let's just go with what we've got. Use your common sense to find target voters.*
*Since we aren't a PAC or a 527 or affiliated with a political campaign or party, we can't have the words "VOTE DEMOCRATIC" or "VOTE FOR THIS DEMOCRAT" on the flyers. We WILL, however, make sure that we call out the republicans BY PARTY and communicate clearly the policies they've enacted (or tried to enact) and exactly how those policies effect people's everyday lives. The idea is to make sure that people understand that they need to vote the entire ticket and that the GOP (Republicans) are NOT who to vote for; that it's the (R) on the ticket who is responsible for the misery they are going through. We're loosening it up and priming it for the county democratic committee's call bankers and the Obama Team's campaign staffers and volunteers when they arrive. That occasional (or top-of-the-ticket-only) voter will be more receptive to your local DEC call banker or to an Obama canvasser or call banker when, for months, she's been getting our flyers explaining that the GOP is the reason she has to take three busses to get to the health clinic now. Or whatever.
It's time to really drive home the damaging impact of republican "governance". Every vote DOES matter.
BONUS:
I'm also happy to create television and radio PSAs that can be broadcast for free in your county. These will likely need to be restricted to voter registration issues (in order to be run as PSAs) and helping people make sure they are "ready to vote". These can be done in English and Spanish. I also have access to Haitian Creole (for my Floridian friends). Since the GOP voter suppression laws are different in each state, the instructions in the PSA telling voters how to make sure they'll be able to vote on election day will probably need to be specifically tailored to your state. So when you fill out the form, just let me know enough about it so I can make up a PSA for your state. If you need guidance about how to get them to air, let me know and I'll help you with that as well.