Today on the Rick Smith Show we spoke with Chelsea Coatney Digital Director for Generation Progress about the Resistance Recess. Here is a touch
CHELSEA: It's so encouraging to see people standing up across the country, being passionate and engaged citizens of our democracy.
At town hall meetings & in meetings with representatives, people are wearing name tags with their ZIP codes on them or are showing their drivers licenses
to prove they're constituents. People are clearly not afraid to speak out and get involved.
RICK: What do you say about the people whose representatives have been ducking them, people like @DarrellIssa @TeamIssa?
CHELSEA: It's the height of hypocrisy for Republican representatives not to show up to their town hall meetings. They say they want to talk to us but then they don't show up.
Or we've seen them run out the back doors to avoid angry constituents.
Many times constituents will hold their own town hall meetings, take pictures of the empty podium, and go on Twitter, asking their reps, "Where were you?"
RICK: What do you say to the claim by the right wing that this is all coordinated by the elites of the party? Because of the Indivisible manual, that this
is all Obama's doing?
CHELSEA: Not true. There have been hundreds of grassroots organizations that have sprung up since the election. These are definitely not paid activists; they are
doing it on their own--these organizations are not staffed full-time, based in Washington.
It's amazing to be part of this movement, to support them and lift up their work.
RICK: I *wish* the Democratic party were that functional! This is what our Founding Fathers envisioned: an active, engaged electorate of people
who want information and to hold their representatives accountable.
CHELSEA: We've seen elected Democrats follow the lead of the grassroots organizations. The people are taking the lead here, and the Democrats are jumping in
to support them. It's a national movement led by the grassroots organizations.
RICK: I think the folks in Washington live in these bubbles, where they don't hear real life stories. These town hall meetings, where people share
their stories ("The ACA saved my life, saved me from going bankrupt"), these are things that they need to hear.
CHELSEA: Some of those ACA stories have been the most powerful things we've heard this week. I think those stories are really the way to make people stop, listen,
and make policy around people.
Our representatives should not be fleeing from us. They should be listening to our wants and needs and come up with a compromise. We are a representative
democracy and everyone's voice should be heard.
RICK: What do you recommend, if someone's representative isn't showing up to their town hall meeting?
CHELSEA: Make that knowledge public. Do what you can to call them out. Social media is a great tool for that; the media is interested in this. Ask them to hold a
town hall meeting, and if they won't, hold your own. Be sure everyone is aware of what's going on in your district.
Listen here
thericksmithshow.podbean.com/...