 A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT A huge thank you and congratulations to all our DMinterns and chapter members for the fabulous work you did this year. We’ll be back again next semester to make sure that students 1) know what’s at stake in the coming 2024 election (yes it’s already begun!), and 2) are all registered to vote. DM activists everywhere will again be protecting our rights and strengthening our democracy by fighting voter suppression, climate change, money in politics, gun violence, and so much more. I am proud of each and every one of you. Have a great summer and we’ll see you in the Fall, Adonal CONGRATULATIONS DM SENIORS Five of our fantastic DM interns are graduating from college this month. We wish them all the best, and know they’ll continue to make a difference wherever they find themselves. THANK YOU! Audrey Grant (Simmons College) Michael Giannuzzi (University of Cincinnati) Meredith LaMalva (Simmons College) Bailey Leone-Levine (Emma Willard School) Miles Palminteri (SUNY, New Paltz) QUOTES OF THE MONTH “In April, a surge of youthful activism powered major liberal victories in Wisconsin and Chicago and a boisterous legislative uprising in Tennessee.” (NY Times April 8, 2023) “What we saw in Chicago and Wisconsin, and what we saw in the backlash in Tennessee, is young people rising.” (Rep. Maxwell Frost, the first Generation Z member of Congress) https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/08/us/politics/protests-trump-tennessee-chicago-wisconsin.html IDEAS OF THE MONTH Wherever you plan to be this summer, you can continue to have a political impact. Here are just three ideas: 1) Volunteer for a Congressional Campaign (or a local candidate) …Campaigns throughout the country are beginning to heat up this summer and candidates are looking for help from young people who can give even a few hours a week. You can volunteer for a candidate you like who is running in a district where you will be this summer or for any other candidate you want to support virtually) A great way to get campaigning experience! 2) Organize a Voter Pre-registration & Registration Drive at Your High School…Go back to your high school (they love to see former grads), and offer to pre-register students in civics or government or social studies classes. Emphasize that you are NON-PARTISAN! Get a friend to go with you! Tell the students why it’s important for young people to vote, and how easy it is to pre-register (or register) through Turbovote https://turbovote.org/. Distribute handouts with the relevant information. 3) Set Up Voter Registration Tables at Local Summer Festivals or Concerts…Every community has outdoor festivals and concerts during the summer – perfect venues to register voters – especially on July 4th. Contact the event organizers to reserve space for a NON-PARTISAN voter registration table and get your friends to help create BIG colorful posters and staff the table. If the organizers say no, find a nearby location where people will pass by and set up your table. Don’t take no for an answer! Tell them voting is as American as apple (cherry, peach, rhubarb, strawberry…) pie! Democracy vs. Authoritarianism Authoritarian leaders, backed by population minorities, are increasingly consolidating their control of government under the cloak of free elections. The NY Times’ Thomas Edsall reports, “For each of the last fifteen years, many more countries have declined in freedom than have gained. But most Americans have still not come to grips with how far the country has strayed from the minimum elements of normative and behavioral consensus that sustain democracy.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/opinion/democracy-authoritarianism-trump.html MONEY ON MY MIND: HOW THE RURAL MINORITY WINS! This month Mandle explores why the relatively small minority of Americans living in rural areas are able to dominate our political system. https://www.democracymatters.org/money_on_my_mind/u-s-political-over-representation CAMPUS HIGHLIGHT U Albany On Earth Day, the University of Albany DM held a great Earth Day Rally. Along with a dozen speakers who linked environment to democracy, trans rights, voter suppression, corporate power, climate justice and more, DMers made their voices heard with these great chants: “No more corporate greed, Renewables are what we need!” “No pipelines, no tar sands! Stop destroying native lands!” “System change. Not climate change!” “WE are unstoppable. A better world is possible!” FACTS YOU CAN USE 2024 Is Just Around The Corner It’s bad enough that our 2022 election cost $8 billion, and in 2020 more than $14 billion. But i spending in 2024 is likely to reach an unbelievable $20 billion! That’s because the FEC just raised contribution “limits.” An individual can now donate $6,600 to any federal candidate, and a whopping $2 million in addition to the DNC or RNC national committees. It’s no surprise that the tiny group of ultra-rich Americans who actually give the “limit,” dominate our political system. As Professor Larry Bartels’ research shows, politicians “are consistently responsive to the views of affluent constituents, but entirely unresponsive to those with low incomes. Democracy is subverted when candidates support the issues that represent their donors rather than the voters.” (Unequal Democracy, Princeton University Press) https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2023/02/federal-election-commission-hikes-fec-contribution-limits-ahead-of-2024-election-cycle/ |