Brainstorming post

[sathari]

In addition to the master post of ideas and suggestions, on the encouragement of one of our wonderful mods tassosss, I'm offering up a brainstorming post for batting ideas back and forth--- things we've done that seem to be effective, ideas we have, especially for making activism easier in general... and, because of the fannish spirit of this comm, any ideas for activism/tools/etc. that you've gotten from fiction and other media? Or for that matter any stories/art/music/other creations that inspire and support your activism that you want to share?

Comments

Activist tools idea from the Vorkosigan Saga

[sathari]

In the comment that spawned this post, I talked a little about a tool for "organizing" a master list of the voting positions of multiple representatives on vary issues, from Lois McMaster Bujold's A Civil Campaign, where Miles Vorkosigan and his political allies use them to lay out their strategy for winning multiple votes in the Council of Counts.

The tool was a very low-tech one: a stack of transparency-type sheets with grids on them that had boxes laid out in a model of the seats for each member of the Council (they weren't labeled with the count's name, but for people in this universe, to paraphrase Miles, if you have to ask, you're not someone who's playing this game anyway). The idea was that you took a stack of them, one for each motion/issue that was up for a vote, and then you went through and colored green for every square representing a count who was voting with you, and red for every square where the count voted against--- one issue per sheet. Then you put them over each other and you could see where you had support versus opposition, and especially where you had people who were on your side for one thing but not another. (Bujold has Miles give a MUCH better explanation than that.)

This one popped into my head due to the variety of issues on which the Democrats will need to get a few Republican Senators/Reps to "cross the line"--- in the version of it I'm thinking of, it'd be useful to have--- okay, for our purposes we probably want this in some kind of online format, though I may try to make something similar for using with my own reps--- some kind of master grid of where each Congressperson stands on multiple topics, so that we can see at a glance when our reps are the ones to try to nudge across the aisle. For example I have a Republican Senator with an expressed commitment to supporting Medicare/Social Security (go him for that at least!) so when issues come up that affect that, I'll want to prioritize encouraging him there--- versus... um, a lot of other issues, where my job is more like reminding him that there are voters in his state who disagree with him enough to speak up. Basically, a visual aid for where the cracks in the "red wall" are on each issue.

Obviously, this is a huge undertaking, and also possibly not one I'm explaining well, so, please ask me questions--- this is a teamwork post, after all! ;)

Re: Activist tools idea from the Vorkosigan Saga

[teaotter]

This sounds like the sort of project that would work well in GIS software -- something that's made to take a giant database of data and create maps with different colors based on that data.

I don't know where you'd get the data from, though I assume that someone out there has it. I guess you could base it on voting records...

Re: Activist tools idea from the Vorkosigan Saga

[sathari]

Oh, wow, that's AWESOME. And this is just the kind of brainstorming I was hoping for!

And, voting records, definitely, though frankly, I've just been going to my various reps' websites and looking at what they say about their stances on various issues, at least in a general way--- the pleasant surprise of finding out that I have a Republican Senator who's pro-Medicare/SS was what got me thinking, "hey, what about a map of where all our reps claim to stand so we can see where the outliers/potential aisle-crossers are?". So if we all did that for our own people and reported back, it would be a start, maybe. Again, a bit of an undertaking, but at this point it's probably a good idea to check our reps' websites on where they've taken stands on various issues--- even if, say, they don't mention something particular, the absence itself possibly suggests that they're staying quiet on that issue because they're not sure what their constituents want (so then let's tell them, shall we?). It might not help with narrowly targeted issues or specific votes, but with broad topics--- gun control, health care (and its various substrates--- someone might support Medicare but not the ACA generally), immigration, voting rights, abortion/birth control, privacy rights, etc.--- we could probably get a general idea of where the ones who deviate from party lines in our favor are?

Re: Activist tools idea from the Vorkosigan Saga

[tanaqui]

We did a post a while back on FiveThityEight's analysis of which senators are most likely to cross party lines, and the FiveThirtyEight post links to OntheIssues.org, a site which tracks candidates' positions. You'd have to dig a bit, but it looks like the data is out there for a lot of major issues.

Re: Activist tools idea from the Vorkosigan Saga

[sathari]

Oooh, thanks! OnTheIssues is very close to what I described (minus the graphical element, but that's okay) so, yay! And sorry I missed THAT post! You two are so on the ball.

[teaotter]

It's not fannish, but I recommend setting up a google alert on all your reps, especially if they're Republicans.

I mentioned this elsewhere, but I've come to the conclusion that some reps will toss an opinion to the media -- that they're unhappy about the way a bill is put together, for example -- as a way of floating an idea past their constituents and seeing if those voters care enough to yell about it. So finding out what your reps are talking about can give you an idea of what issues they're already willing to move on.

And heck, even if they're being stubborn -- if every time they speak up for something, they get called, then they know their voters are paying attention.

Right now, pretty much every single member of the House is freaking out over the last election and what it means for them. They were expecting a completely different outcome, and their assumptions about how to get re-elected look shaky. There are a million surveys being done right now, in both red and blue districts, trying to figure out what voters "really" want. So it's a great time to tell them, in no uncertain terms, loudly and often.

[sathari]

Hey, ALL ideas are welcome! Definitely doesn't HAVE to be fannish.

And this one, I love. Keeping an eye on our reps and speaking up, over and over again. Just holding the line. (I remember in the post about "...aren't Trump supporters and Gamergaters an overlapping population and didn't we beat them last time?", someone made a comment to the effect that, "We didn't win, they just got bored." Possibly that is actually exactly what winning this one will look like: a certain amount of complacency among Trump voters who got their guy, and enough vocally dogged determination on the part of the rest of us that we become the ones whom our elected officials hear, because we're speaking up to them. And, hey, based purely on the popular vote, there are more of us, anyway. *chuckle*)

[tassosss]

Maybe one thing we could do is put each state up for claiming (people could take their own, or another if there's multis) and then have that person/group track google alerts, webpages, press releases, etc and once a month put up an update to the comm?

... the more I think about this, the more I feel like we're going to be reproudicing a secondhand news room, which isn't necessarily a bad model. If folks claim a topic like healthcare or immigration they can track the reporters and organizations who are doing the most useful coverage on where to put pressure in congress and we can ask the folks on the comm (or in our own journals) in those states to make the call.

We could even have people sign up for a topic to watch by month like a reccing comm.

[sathari]

I like this idea, though, as I'm new to political strategy/news-tracking or this sort, I'd need some more tips on what to track/look for and how, since we wouldn't want to miss anything important (whereas it sounds--- and more to the point from the state of this comm, LOOKS--- like you know what you're doing)! So maybe a "new to the news" guide along with the state/issue-claiming?

[executrix]

I bought a bunch of pre-stamped postcards at the Post Office, addressed them to my representative (and left some blank for senators and local officials) and stuck on some of the mailing labels I get for being on every sucker list in America. Then, when I want to express an opinion, I just grab one and write "Please vote for Bill because" or "Thank you for voting for Bill because"--waiting for my computer to warm up is a good time for this, or as soon as I see something on the news.

[watersword]

Holy crap this is a GENIUS idea.

[executrix]

Even in light of how it turned out, I would definitely carry a Freedom Party banner and wear Freedom Party colors at demonstrations, but TPTB declined to provide us with information about what they are. (The logo for the show depicts the Federation logo, which in this case is the Bad Guys, although Servalan dresses much better than Trump.)

[sathari]

Hah, that's awesome, even though I don't recognize the fandom--- clothing/symbols from fannish rebellions as part of the protest process, I am right there with you.

[executrix]

Blakes7. It's an awesome show, it's about the Worst Rebels Ever completely failing to overthrow the Evil Empire. That's Blake and Avon in the icon.

[sathari]

Thanks for letting me know, cool!

[tielan]

I'm going to offer to make some fandom badges for the future. I'm not a US citizen, but I'd like to help however possible.

[sathari]

Ow, wow, that is so awesome of you! Thanks for helping out! (I'm trying to word some sort of apology along the lines of, "On behalf of America, I apologize for doing this to the rest of the world," because other countries are also stuck with the results of our election, after all.)

[tielan]

An Australian friend of mine said that a (one-time) mutual friend sniped at her social media that other countries could just shut up about the US Election because it didn't pertain to them.

The irony? She's UK born who got American citizenship through her marriage to a US citizen. She should know that the most televised politics in the world will bloody well affect the world!

I'm here because I have US friends who will be negatively impacted by the current administration, and not all of them have the spoons or time to act. (And because I'm hoping that seeing how you guys organise yourself here might help with ideas on how to mobilise Australian politics so that we don't end up following in your footsteps. (I think it's less likely due to mandatory voting, but I'd rather do too much and not need it, than have to fight a rearguard action on the back foot.)

[sathari]

I just can't thank you enough for this. (Not to mention that we're not only the most televised nation, we're on the short list of "best able to make everyone else's lives suck whether or not they even had a vote in what we're doing.")

[redbird]

Thank you. A bunch of Americans are trying to screw the rest of us Americans, and the rest of the world, so this is not just an American fight.

[tielan]

Most internationals who are looking at this comm understand pretty well that it's not all of America, even when we rant about "stupid Americans, what have you done?" (There's an automatic #notallAmericans clause in there, rather like any statement to which some dudebro is going to add #notallmen. If it's not your fault - ie. you voted for Hillary and the Dems - then the disclaimer doesn't apply.)

And as I said above: your politics and society is the most televised and broadcast in the world. Chances are, we'll know more about your politics and your general society than we'd know about the pockets of our own cultures. That makes you extremely influential, and when your president and government normalises such anti-humanitarian behaviour against its own citizens, it affects everyone.