I'm going to make this short and sweet, because in this case swift action is more important than bloviating here.
Congressman John Conyers has just released the House Judiciary Democratic report "Constitution in Crisis" and has his diary up here.
Follow me to the flip side for what we can do next.
Well, of course, there's the obvious -- continue to discuss and dissect and opine about it here. But that doesn't really get the word out to others, does it?
Hope that NPR and The New York Times and other media outlets give it decent coverage. But does Uncle Henry in Stanardsville even read the NYT, much less listen to NPR?
Hmm, I know. Let's send it every single small town and local newspaper in the country!!
[UPDATE: To get a local paper to run with a story, you will need a local 'hook' -- something more than you think this is important. Be creative but fact-based: is there a local mosque? get a quote. is there a local Dem challenger? get a quote. local peace group? get a quote. Iraq war vet who isn't in favor of 'staying the course'? get a quote. Okay, I'm reaching here -- any better ideas to get us started?]
The document is already available in pdf format here. It's 354 pages long.
- Print it out, double sided. I recommend having at least the cover in color.
- Bind it with spiral bind so it's easy to handle.
- total est. cost at Kinko's ~ $35-40
- Highlight selected passages, particularly in introduction, and flag pages so they're easy to find. [We can share which ones we think are the best, looking particularly for the best quotables.]
Now, make a list of every local newspaper in your county. Post the one you're planning to deliver to here. Find at least one other person to go with you, and hand deliver the report. By Monday or Tuesday of next week, let's get this to every paper in the country.
FOLLOW-UP: I can't stress this enough. Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.
- Call the editor or reporter who received the report, and see when they plan to run the story.
- Write a letter to the editor for publication on the report.
- Make sure the challenger to the Republican incumbent in your area has a copy or access to the report AND knows you sent it to the paper (if not in your district, you know there's one near-by).
- ... ... ... (fill in your own follow-up ideas and let us know what they are)
- Post your story of being a citizen-lobbyist and activist here.
We're forever grousing about what Congress doesn't do, what we can't accomplish. Let's take this opportunity to get out there and DO SOMETHING!
