Like many who want to see Trump defeated, I'm glad Vice President Harris is the apparent Democratic Party Presidential nominee. I'm appreciative of the new energy and new hope.
At the same time, we should recall that the systems bringing us V.P. Harris, are the same systems bringing us to so close to authoritarian outcomes. And nothing has changed about Republicans saying they will not commit to accepting election results. It is good the Harris campaign has been able to raise so much money. However, we must realize there is no magic solution to the Republican threat of violence and anti-democratic rule. We can't keep being one election away from disaster for years on end. We must advocate for ourselves, relentlessly hold elected officials accountable, be mindful of self-protection in whatever way is best for ourselves and the people in our lives, and realize that we are in this fight for the long haul. Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what. The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County. Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected]
0 Comments
Please join the Texas Grassroots Alliance fundraiser at 11 AM, Friday, July 26. The Houston Democracy Project is member of the TGA. Here is the link to register for the event. TGA members are activists across Texas. You see some of them in the picture above. TGA members are working to fund their work independent of elected officials, and of non-profits dependent on relationships with elected officials. There are a lot of good people in traditional activist networks. There is also a need for activism that will ask more of the Democrats we support on Election Day & who will show up no matter what as we confront an authoritarian threat in Texas and the nation. That is the work I've been doing with the Houston Democracy Project. Please register to take part in tomorrow's fundraiser and help the work continue. Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what. The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County. Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected] Above is a letter signed by many Harris County Democratic State Representatives endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for President. All right. Very good. The real test though will be the effort and resources these officials put into the 2024 for the full Harris County & Texas Democratic ticket. Elected officials can commit campaign funds to help in races outside their own, dedicate personal time to canvass and call voters, hold "Democracy Town Halls" to warn voters about the terrible impact of Republican victory in 2024, talk to elected officials who are not pulling their weight on the 2024 campaign trail, and be willing to show up on the streets or in some other non-conventional way if Republicans refuse to accept or overturn election results. It's fine to sign a letter. It is also easy. Our electeds must fight for us and we must demand they do so. Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what. The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County. Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected] Elected Officials Must Show Up However Needed-It Was Enlisted Men & Civilians Who Died In Korean War7/22/2024 The 5 pictures here are big panels listing American dead from the Korean War. There are also a small number of dead listed here from Korean units attached to American units. I took the pictures last week at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The dead on the panels are posted by rank. It looked to me that at least 95% of the dead were enlisted men rather than officers. The approximate death toll of U.S. Troops was 34,000. (The total dead of the Korean War is estimated as high as 3 million people. The great majority were civilians.) My father was a Corporal and combat zone medic in Korea. He was 19 or 20 when sent to Korea. I was just struck looking at the panels how many of the dead were enlisted men. If our systems can send young people to war and to to take great risk, then our elected officials can also be asked to do whatever required to confront the authoritarian threat we face today from the political right. These steps and risks can involve using campaign funds to help in races across Harris County, knocking doors and making phone calls to increase voter turnout, holding “Democracy Town Halls” to inform constituents about the risks (Including mass deportations) of Republican rule, pressing fellow elected Democrats to be involved in Campaign 2024, being willing to directly address and criticize local elected Republicans as weak on democracy and as such a threat to public safety, & being open to taking part in street protests and other non-conventional political actions if Republicans refuse to accept election results or overturn election results. The Korean War was a long time ago. (Though it is not officially over even today.) But the issues of sacrifice and freedom present in that conflict are still urgent. Elected officials have been able to successfully navigate political systems delivering authoritarian and near authoritarian outcomes. They have used community resources of donations and volunteer labor to win election. So they can show up as needed to protect the people of Houston and Harris County from the potential worst outcomes of these systems. Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what. The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County. Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected] The Houston Democracy Project Blog has been sporadic this month as I was in Cincinnati to visit my mom and my old time punk rock friends, & then had power out from Hurricane Beryl.
I've got one more summer travel expedition to take. Then I'll be back full speed ahead for the fights ahead. Please be well & please be certain to find some good times for yourself and the people in your life over the summer. Unlike Trump's celebration of the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, I oppose any violence.
Stay the course. Don't be afraid. Keep speaking about the threats to democracy from Republicans and the right from the local level to the national level. Republicans promise violence if they lose and authoritarianism if they win. Take it at face value and stay strong for the fights ahead. Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what. The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County. Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected] We finally got power back today after Hurricane Beryl. Thanks for nothing Centerpoint. (Above you see a Houston home I saw on my travels waiting for Centerpoint to turn the lights back on.) Hurricanes are political. For one thing, there is little dispute today that climate change makes the storms more potent. And with Hurricane Beryl specifically, the poor response by Centerpoint, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's attacks on Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Mayor Whitmire's endless blustering about whatever is in his mind at the moment, give the storm its own distinct politics. On the day of the hurricane, I turned off KPRC Channel 2 when they cut away from Lina Hidalgo when she started discussing the storm in Spanish. No need for a TV station to do that in a place like Houston/Harris County. And then there are the endless calls for us to be "Houston Strong." First Responder this and Let's Come Together that. I'm tired of being Houston Strong. The storms worsen inequality and stress people out. I still recall how Hurricane Ike back in 2008 was used to force people in subsidized housing to leave Galveston. Let's address the causes and impacts of the storms. A good way to move forward would be to remove Houston Republican Councilwoman Twila Carter as Chair of Council's Resilience Committee. Councilwoman Carter supports a climate-denying insurrectionist felon for President of the United Sates. Is this type judgment a good bet to help lead Houston's fight to recover from Beryl and to prepare for the next storm? I don't think so. It's important that we be willing to name names at the local level as we fight for a livable future for Houston. And it is important that we have greater focus on Houston City Council. Here we go again with another round of recovery. Let's see how far we get in this recovery before the next storm. Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what. The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County. Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected] If my dad could spend a year at the Chinese/Korean border as combat medic in Korean War, then our Democratic elected officials in Houston & Harris County can sacrifice personal and family time in ‘24 to aggressively work against an authoritarian, anti-democratic Republican Party.
People in power don't navigate our political and social systems to take risks for us. They send other people to do the fighting and to take the risks. Let's not let that be the case in 2024. Demand that the people who benefit from systems delivering increasingly authoritarian outcomes share the risks of fighting back. Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what. The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County. Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected] Happy Fourth of July from the John Cornyn Houston Office Protest Team! Voting is essential. But like the American Revolution, we are going to have to show up in many different ways for the fight against King Trump and tyranny. Join us each Tuesday, 11:30-1, 5300 Memorial Drive. We are 386 weeks and counting. We all have the ability to act and to fight back. Don't rely on others. Act yourself. The Cornyn Protest is out there in good part so people can see others just like themselves willing to stand out in the open from democracy. Don't be afraid. Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what. The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County. Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected] You have no obligation to be sitting duck for right wing clearly committed to violence.
Discuss with the people in your lives what self-protection looks like for you & your home. Make clear with Democratic elected officials that the right is a threat to your the safety. Tell them that elected Democrats have an obligation to help the full Harris County and Texas Democratic slate & to be ready for protest as well. Don’t take no for an answer. Keep personal e-mails, phone numbers and whatever contact information you need to keep in touch with the people you'd count on in a political or societal crisis. Don't rely on systems that are not working for your future. I don't have any brilliant answers. But I know I can at least prepare as best I can for whatever outcomes are on the way & I can demand that elected officials understand the stakes of 2024 and do all they can to fight. Please sign the Houston Democracy Project petition to make the pledge to show up for freedom in 2024 no matter what. The Houston Democracy Project works daily to inspire, organize and strengthen pro-democracy coalitions in Houston and Harris County. Please share word of the Houston Democracy Project and support the effort with your contribution. If you have a question about the Project or a suggestion, please send an e-mail to [email protected] |
AuthorI'm Neil Aquino Archives
July 2024
Categories |