Dear friends,
Here’s the good news. Lula’s victory over Bolsonaro in Brazil is a tremendous win for Brazil and a bellwether for us.
The political landscape there is strikingly similar. Mercifully, there are no indications that Bolsonaro will contest the results, which have been certified by Brazil’s electoral court.
Bolsonaro has not yet conceded, but his political allies have made a point of acknowledging the facts: he lost the election by 2 million votes, making him the first incumbent president in the nation’s history to be voted out of office.
In his victory speech, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised a renewal of justice, an end to hunger, and a new commitment to protect the Amazon. There is a lot of room for repair and renewal. It is late, but not too late.
So, here we are, one week out from yet another momentous election. The contrast between our two dominant parties is as stark as the choice between Lula and Bolsonaro. The climate and democracy crises are top of mind.
Here’s the phone-banking opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Really.
Sign up today to join the Environmental Voter Project in mobilizing low propensity environmental voters to vote by November 8th.
I have written at some length about the Environmental Voter Project (EVP). Their activation strategy does not require you to persuade someone of anything but the decision to vote.
There’s some fancy social science behind their methodology, and they have a track record of turning more than a million unlikely voters into super-voters.
Even I am going to do this, and no one hates the phone more than I do. Turnout is how we win. We have one week.
Sign up today to join the Environmental Voter Project in mobilizing low propensity environmental voters to vote by November 8th.
Yesterday, Biden called out fossil fuel giants for their grabby profiteering as Americans struggle to pay their bills. I’m glad this information finally got off Katie Porter’s white board and into the mouth of the president.
Both houses of Congress have already introduced legislation to tax the “windfall profits.” The name of the bill is misleading. A windfall profit is
a profit that arises thanks to an external event over which the person profiting had no control.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine can reasonably be understood as an external event, but it does not account for the margins we’re seeing. It’s time to stop pretending that prices go up by themselves.
Call on Congress to pass a windfall profits tax on Big Oil profiteers. This 15-second(!) action is from Fossil Free Media (scroll down on the landing page to get to the petition).
The Biden Administration is spending a billion dollars on electric school buses.
The new vehicles will add about 20 percent on top of the existing national fleet of 12,000 electric school buses, according to the World Resources Institute.
It is not too late to spare children and their bus drivers reek of diesel fuel and the headaches that come with it.
I haven’t read “The Democrats’ Last Stand in Wisconsin” and it’s menacing subhead about whether it’s too late. It is time to turn things around at the state level.
We are in the middle of the struggle to control Congress. If you live in a hotly-contested district, Indivisible wants to recruit you to talk to five neighbors. My district isn’t on the list, but you should check to see if yours is. The project is active in 16 states: AK, AZ, CA, CO, GA, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NV, NY, OR, PA, TX, WA, and WI.
Join Neighbor2Neighbor, an Indivisible GOTV effort.
Tomorrow night, Caring Majority Rising is holding a Get Out The Vote rally and fundraiser featuring Ai-jen Poo, actor/comedian Steve Way and the care champions we have endorsed. This is to support state legislators who have been working to pass Fair Pay for Home Care.
There’s still time to register for the Caring Majority Rising Get Out The Vote rally and fundraiser!
Okay, let’s end with an amusing and inspiring true story from one of my young neighbors.
A few weeks ago, we installed an art exhibition in our lobby. Today, I noticed a rogue installation.
Lauren Reales: late, but not too late!
with love,
L