CAN THE UNDEMOCRATIC, UNREPRESENTATIVE SENATE BE SAVED?
The Senate represents states, not citizens, which gives the smallest white rural states with their MAGA Republican Senators the ability to veto what most Americans want.
QUICK READ: In 2020 Americans gave Democrats control of Congress and the White House. Since then, the House has passed numerous popular bills that would make us and our economy healthier and our democracy stronger. Almost all have died in the 50-50 Senate, which, despite the Democrats’ slim majority, is controlled by MAGA Republican , who’ve weaponized the filibuster to kill anything Democrats and the majority of Americans want. Unless voters turn out in historic numbers in November to elect more Democratic Senators and Representatives, the Senate’s anti-democratic nature will continue to make governing impossible.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
BACKGROUND
One person-one vote is the defining characteristic of democratic societies, but it’s completely absent in the U.S. Senate, where states, not citizens, are represented.
Political geography’s given the GOP decades-long advantages that contemporary partisan trends exacerbated
Currently, 50+ % of Americans live in 9 states, giving them only 18 Senators, while the other half get 82. Two-thirds live in the 15 largest states, represented by 22 Democrats and 8 Republicans. The other third have 70 Senators (42-R and 28-D), more than the 41 needed to filibuster non-reconciliation legislation.
This gives a tiny minority of voters from the smallest, whitest, MAGA-Republican states veto power over legislation favored by the vast majority.
These MAGA-Republican Senators sacrifice pregnant women’s lives to save fetuses, but they’ll let children die to protect their right to bear arms. And, despite widespread popularity, they won’t allow votes on the climate crisis, abortion rights, commonsense gun regulation, voting rights, police reform, immigration reform, D.C. statehood, domestic terrorism, and insulin copay caps among others, despite their widespread popularity across America.
Unless voters turn out in historic numbers in November to elect more Democratic Senators and Representatives, the Senate’s subversion of democracy will continue to make governing impossible.
ACTION One: Call the Senate.
Script for Oregon Senators
SEN. MERKLEY: Portland office: 503-326-3386 | D.C. office: 202-224-3753
My name is [--] and I'm a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Between now and the November midterms, I implore you to educate American voters about why the legislation they want and need, despite passing the House, dies in the Senate and to put the blame squarely where it belongs—on the MAGA-Republican Senators from the smallest, whitest states, who care more for their guns than for innocent children or pregnant women who could die during pregnancy. Unless voters turn out in historic numbers to elect more Democrats to both Houses, the Senate’s subversion of democracy will get even worse.
SEN. WYDEN:
Portland office: 503-326-7525 | D.C. office: 202-224-5244
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Between now and the November midterms, I implore you to educate American voters about why the legislation they want and need, despite passing the House, dies in the Senate and to put the blame squarely where it belongs—on the MAGA-Republican Senators from the smallest, whitest states, who care more for their guns than for innocent children or pregnant women who could die during pregnancy. Unless voters turn out in historic numbers to elect more Democrats to both Houses, the Senate’s subversion of democracy will get even worse.
Script for Republican Senators
D.C switchboard: 202-224-3121
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], [state], [zip code].
Because the Constitution created a Senate that represents states, not citizens, your party exerts outsized influence. It is time to put country over party, stop obstructing, and start participating in the governing process.
ACTION TWO: Call the House.
Script for Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Oregon office: 503-469-6010 | DC office: 202-225-0855
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Between now and the November midterms, I implore you to educate American voters about why the legislation they want and need, despite passing the House, dies in the Senate and to put the blame squarely where it belongs—on the MAGA-Republican Senators from the smallest, whitest states, who care more for their guns than for innocent children or pregnant women who could die during pregnancy. Unless voters turn out in historic numbers to elect more Democrats to both Houses, the Senate’s subversion of democracy will get even worse.
Script for Cliff Bentz (OR-02)
Medford office: 541-776-4646 | DC office: 202-225-6730
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Because the Constitution created a Senate that represents states, not citizens, your party exerts outsized influence. It is time to put country over party, stop obstructing, and start participating in the governing process.
Script for Earl Blumenauer (OR-03)
Oregon office: 503-231-2300 | DC office: 202-225-4811
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Between now and the November midterms, I implore you to educate American voters about why the legislation they want and need, despite passing the House, dies in the Senate and to put the blame squarely where it belongs—on the MAGA-Republican Senators from the smallest, whitest states, who care more for their guns than for innocent children or pregnant women who could die during pregnancy. Unless voters turn out in historic numbers to elect more Democrats to both Houses, the Senate’s subversion of democracy will get even worse.
Script for Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
Eugene office: 541-465-6732 | DC office: 202-225-6416
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Between now and the November midterms, I implore you to educate American voters about why the legislation they want and need, despite passing the House, dies in the Senate and to put the blame squarely where it belongs—on the MAGA-Republican Senators from the smallest, whitest states, who care more for their guns than for innocent children or pregnant women who could die during pregnancy. Unless voters turn out in historic numbers to elect more Democrats to both Houses, the Senate’s subversion of democracy will get even worse.
Script for Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Salem office: 503-588-9100 | DC office: 202-225-5711
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Between now and the November midterms, I implore you to educate American voters about why the legislation they want and need, despite passing the House, dies in the Senate and to put the blame squarely where it belongs—on the MAGA-Republican Senators from the smallest, whitest states, who care more for their guns than for innocent children or pregnant women who could die during pregnancy. Unless voters turn out in historic numbers to elect more Democrats to both Houses, the Senate’s subversion of democracy will get even worse.
ACTION 3: GOOD TROUBLE
GOOD TROUBLE: Below are opportunities to fight for our democracy. As John Lewis said, go make some “good trouble.”
TUESDAY 11:30am-12:30pm LETTER WRITING PARTY - INDIVISIBLE OREGON:
https://www.mobilize.us/swingleft/event/442887/Fridays at 4 - Letter and Postcard Writing — Indivisible Oregon.
Learn about persuasive language and communication research at the Zoom ASO Movement Briefings every second Wednesday.
Join the campaign to hold the House and Senate at GiveNoGround.org
Work to protect democracy in the House by replacing retiring US Representative Peter DeFazio with another Democrat, replacing Democrat Kurt Schrader, the “Manchin of the House,” with a progressive, and electing a Democrat in Oregon’s new Congressional District 6.
Demand that your primary news source stop creating false equivalencies and just report the truth.
Check out the Poor People's Campaign Readies 'Massive, Nonviolent' Effort to Save Democracy
Outside of Portland? Check out COIN Oregon.
Rally inconsisent Democratic voters to vote in 2022 with Progressive Turnout Project | Feb, 2022 | Medium
FURTHER READING:
America’s anti-democratic Senate, in one number
A stark reminder of the power imbalance in the Senate
How minority rule plagues Senate: Republicans last won more support than Democrats two decades ago
The US Senate is undemocratic. That’s bleak for Democrats’ midterm hopes
‘The Senate is broken’: system empowers while conservatives, threatening US democracy
The Texas School Shooting Is More Proof The U.S. Hates Its Own Children
In the Senate, Chasing an Ever-Elusive Gun Law Deal
America’s Democracy is failing. Here’s why
We Wouldn’t Be in This Mess if D.C. Were a State
Opinion: Republicans Are Moving Rapidly to Cement Minority Rule. Blame the Constitution
Undemocratic Senate Doesn’t Represent Us
The Senate filibuster is just plain undemocratic
End the Filibuster: How a Relic of Jim Crow Could Block our Progressive Agenda
