In case you missed it, there was a fundraiser last night for Republicans in Northern Virginia. As Frank Anderson and Lowell Feld reported in this diary:
Last night, the Republican Party of Virginia held an (unethical) event with Press Secretary Sean Spicer at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, VA. A Trump/Spicey supporter posted the following video online. See below for a few “highlights.” According to the right-wing Washington Examiner, there were only 75 people there last night – SAD!!!
They didn’t have this fundraiser unanswered, though. Grassroots groups organized immediately to show that the Resistance is strong in Virginia —
But there’s more - as I wrote in a previous diary, the Koch Brothers have opened up a new office in Northern Virginia and have a plant running for the Virginia House of Delegates this year. They are pushing an agenda to suck funds out of our public school system, and shoving “school choice” down the throats of Virginia families.
They are trying to bring the swamp across the Potomac River folks, and we have to stop them.
How do we do that?
There’s a three-step process to fighting back against this attempted coup by Trump and his billionaire buddies who are trying to lead our nation to ruin. It goes like this:
1. Educate — ensure that folks understand the true repercussions of these bills, and the fact that their representatives support them.
2. Organize — start to build coalitions of stakeholders (in this case, parents and allies in education) to take the issue directly to the public. Canvassing, phonebanking, and other outreach methods are proven to work. Showing up to county board and school board meetings to speak is also quite helpful.
3. Vote them out — Electoral power is the ultimate power when it comes to these issues. Our elected officials need to understand that there are consequences to their actions. Voting against students and deceiving the public are definitely actions that deserve repercussions at the ballot box. Make sure everyone you know is registered to vote (including 17 year olds who will be 18 by election day) and has a plan for voting. Virginia has Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and all 100 House of Delegates up for election this November. There are primaries on June 13th.
In Virginia, the final day to register (or update your current registration) is May 22nd (Monday!). We have just 3 days to make sure we have as many folks on the voter rolls as possible, and to make our voices heard on both June 13th and November 7th.
And this is why it’s so important — Folks who vote in Primary Elections in these off-years are surefire voters for General Elections, especially in Congressional and Presidential years. By registering and getting folks out to vote now, we’re building the kind of electoral wave we’ll need to take on Trump and his lackeys for years to come.
After all, if voting didn’t matter, why are these regressive extremists always trying to take your vote away from you? Food for thought.