Do you want to earn money in your spare time? It’s easy! I’ve already told you how to make a million bucks in NY real estate, but if you’re like me, you’ll need more. Lots more. Here’s how: just hold up a protest sign for a few hours a week – say, 2 hours on Tuesday and 1 on Saturday, and you can pocket big money being paid to fake protesters like me to disrupt the orderly dismantling of the federal government, and the return to state-based anarchy. You get paid $1800 a week, plus a bonus of $500 if a picture of you wearing a pussy hat while taking a wad of cash gets tweeted.
Just kidding. Organizing your neighborhood resistance cell is hard work. I’m tired just watching the people in my neighborhood who are doing it. The good news is that my neighborhood is responding quickly and we’re stepping up to do our civic duty. First, you need to know that New York is a city of neighborhoods, and every neighborhood is different. You may think of New York as a big, faceless city because you went to midtown once and saw Elmo punching people who didn’t pony up five dollars for a photo, but true New Yorkers live in a neighborhood first, and New York City second.
My neighborhood is in the far far snowy northern reaches of Manhattan. Even though we’re a neighborhood of immigrants and lack the kind of hand-crafted gin you might find in Brooklyn, we still followed the pattern for the city as a whole after the last election. First, we freaked out. Then we got drunk. Then we pissed and moaned for a while.
But that’s all over now. We’re getting down to business. New Yorkers are fired up and organizing, and my neighborhood is no exception. My friend and neighbor has started a group that is quickly going viral: Action Potluck. We’re a group of local, grassroots, unpaid volunteers who are making ourselves available for producing political pressure and working on democracy at the local level.
Action Potluck!
The Schpiel We are friends and neighbors taking action to protect our democracy, and our American values –potluck by potluck. OUR AIM IS ACTION, and information leading to specific actions.
The Tagline “Effective local political action and yummy casseroles.”
What do we want? To defend democracy and preserve progressive values.
How do we do it? Educating, manning the phone banks, attending town halls, calling on local representatives in person, getting letters signed, and rallying as needed.
Where are we? Physically, in New York City’s Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods. Digitally, there’s a closed Facebook page you can ask to join. Email is actionpotluckwh@gmail.com / tweet @actionpotluck
Action Projects
The Herbal Tea Party We’re putting pressure on local Democrats who have been voting like Republicans. New York State is one of the most corrupt in the nation (“you shock me!”), and Trump supporters have used this fact to stage a power grab. Although there’s a majority of elected Democrats, a block of them called the “Independent Democratic Caucus” are voting with the Republicans. Well, not voting actually: they’re using the “3 men in a room” governing style to block important measures from ever coming to a vote. Did we elect them to do that? No, we did not. Politics is a dirty business and I’ve got a feeling the mud is going to fly with this one.
Sanctuary City Yeah, our mayor has talked about it, but what does it mean? Let’s get down to some brass tacks. For example: can you be a sanctuary city if your police department data is used by ICE? I sure as hell wouldn’t call the cops to report a crime if I thought there was a chance someone would show up at 3:00 am and haul grandma off. And Palintir and that bastard Thiel are working to make it happen? I need to get all over this one.
Voter Laws It’s time to un-mander the gerrymandered. Not easy, but time for a change. Also, last time I checked the calendar, it wasn’t 1925, so why is it so hard to vote in so many places? We need to focus on 2018 for this one.
Phone banks and protests Posted as and when needed. Don’t forget to call these guys:
White House: 202-456-1414
US Senate: 202-224-3121
US House of Representatives: 202-224-3121
Working with other groups
- Indivisible
- ACLU Freedom cities
- New York Immigration Coalition
- Council on American Islamic Relations NY
and don’t forget…
Yummy casseroles Check out this classic crowd pleaser. Don’t forget to 86 the garlic, or it might be contaminated by flavor.
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/knudsen/6.html
My organization, Audubon Reform Democrats, is reaching out to any one determined to stop the ICD “Trump Democrats” selling the NY Senate to the Republicans. Our focus is on our ICD Senator, Sen. Alcantara. We need both street actions and a carefully built coalition of of political organizations to peel away her supporters. In my view everybody’s welcome.
What do you think? Let’s talk.
Absolutely. I’ll contact you.