We did it! The People's Veto to Restore Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is on the ballot for June. It has been confirmed by the Sec. of State. We stood out in the freezing cold to collect signatures and made it happen! WE HAVE MADE HISTORY! For the first time ever, we will use RCV statewide. This is what Mainers do. DIRIGO! We LEAD!

What this means is that we will both use RCV in the June primaries (which makes TONS of sense with so many candidates on the ballots vying to be nominated), and we will also vote on the People's Veto question itself. A YES vote means it passes and we will be able to permanently use RCV for the seven elections not affected at all by the state constitution (primaries for all offices and general elections for the federal offices).

Now what will happen is a major voter education effort to make sure people fully understand RCV, which is quite simple. It is simply an instant runoff voting system used in many places around the nation and around the world. Also, we need to smash down the lies about RCV because those who want to keep the failed status quo for their own selfish political purposes are going to continue to spread those lies.

The main thing people can do to help is to spread the word to support the People's Veto in June because this isn't just about RCV but about telling the legislature and LePage NO MORE ATTACKING ALL OF OUR REFERENDUMS!! As you know many in the legislature, mainly Republicans, and LePage have been on a crusade to kill all of our progressive referendums, including Medicaid Expansion which passed with 59% of the vote. This is our chance to say loudly and clearly NO MORE!

So, please help with Letters to the Editor and other communications to help support the People's Veto to Restore RCV in June. We need to flood the papers all over the state with Letters to the Editor and OpEds in support of RCV.

Also, the campaign will need donations, volunteers, etc. Even small $5 donations help a lot. Go to this link to donate and sign up to volunteer: http://www.rcvmaine.com/

Thanks! Now let's get out there and save democracy in Maine!

Message framing! Progressives/Democrats usually stink at it, and the perfect example is the insistence on using "conservative" to describe Trump and today's GOP members.

They are not "conservative."

They are "Right Wing." They are "Right Wing Radicals." They are "Right Wing Extremists."

Pick one. But they are certainly not "conservative." Eisenhower was "conservative." George H.W. Bush was "conservative."
Commentators David Brooks and George Will are "conservative." But not Trump and not the overwhelming bulk of today's GOP politicians, and not their tribal followers.

Enough of the lame, outdated, outmoded, and very weak use of "conservative" to describe today's GOP.

If you have had it with politicians in Augusta (mainly LePage and the Republicans) attacking our progressive referendums, then please help with the vote in June to restore Ranked Choice Voting. In fact, they are attacking the entire referendum process.

Even as we speak LePage and his right wing minions in Augusta are doing all they can to block MaineCare Expansion which just passed in November with almost 60% of the vote.

We need OpEds and Letters to the Editor.

This OpEd is just excellent and spot on correct: https://www.centralmaine.com/2018/03/01/diane-russell-ranked-choice-voting-supporters-are-fighting-to-save-democracy/

Thanks!

Protest rallies are fine. But they don't mean diddley shit unless you organize to win elections! Winning elections is everything! Winning elections is real power. And political power is everything! Don't like Trump? Win Elections! Don't like the fact that the rotten radical right wingers control every level and branch of government all over the country? Then win elections! Don't like endless tax cuts for billionaires while programs for the middle class are gutted? Then win elections!. Don't like the fact that the rotten corrupt right wing would like to issue Uzis to nursery school children? Then win elections! Organize, offer a winning message with a real jobs program and not just a "higher minimum wage and medicaid" so that people can just be trapped in utter poverty forever, and get people to go to the polls and go to the polls yourselves and vote and take ten friends with you! And vote the correct way and not for useless assholes like Gary Johnson and Jill Stein.

If "The Resistance" and the "Women's March" people and now these people rallying against gun violence don't translate all that into real and effective political action that win elections so the laws can be changed, then it is all for nothing.

Examples of ineffective protests: 1) After Scott Walker won in WI there were tons of protests. He got elected two more times including a recall election and the R's kept full control of the state government. 2) Occupy Wall Street did nothing because there was no political action attached to it. 3) All the protests against the Iraq War. 4) Other protests against gun violence petered right out. It got worse, and the radical right wing took over every level and branch of government in the country in a big way.

But let me tell you something that DID work: The movement for gay marriage and full rights for gay people. Why? Because they organized politically in a big way. They went door to door. They did referendums state by state. They took it to court. And now it's the law of the land.

Other movements in history from women's rights, to labor rights, to civil rights were won because it wasn't just protests. It was organized political action for the long haul.


Organize politically in a big way and make the right wing scum know that they are doomed at the ballot box and then you have some power.

Thanks.

Thanks for all you have done to help secure the signatures for the People's Veto to restore Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). It was a great effort. Over 80,000 signatures, many collected in out there in sub zero temperatures, were submitted, 72,000 of which were already certified by local election officials. This far surpasses the 61,000 required. They were submitted on Feb. 2nd and are being verified by the Sec. of State's office now. It is highly unlikely that there will be a problem since so many more were collected than actually needed.

Now what we need to do is make sure that RCV is properly implemented, PER THE LAW, for the June primaries and that we win the June primary vote to restore RCV PERMANENTLY.

So it is GAME ON, and the forces against us on this issue are out there with OpEds and a narrative saying that using RCV for the June primaries will be "chaos." They are even saying it will be a "nightmare." This is their narrative, and they are very good at using scare tactics to try to frighten people away from RCV. And if we don't take control of the narrative and use effective messaging, they may well win.

I have now sent and have had published a number of letters to the editor in papers across the state supporting RCV and the People's Veto. I hope you will please join me.

You can go online to the Bangor Daily News, Kennebec Journal, Portland Press Herald, Mount Desert Islander, Ellsworth American, and others easily to submit Letters to the Editor and OpEds online.

Here are suggested talking points:

* Supporting this People's Veto to restore Ranked Choice Voting will send a clear message to Augusta that we are putting the brakes on them and stopping the very bad trend of them blocking ALL of our referendums. (THIS IS THE NUMBER ONE THING PEOPLE TALKED ABOUT WHEN WE WERE GATHERING SIGNATURES. THEY ARE FED UP WITH AUGUSTA BLOCKING NOT JUST RCV, BUT ALL OF THE REFERENDUMS. SOME IN AUGUSTA ARE NOW EVEN TRYING TO BLOCK MEDICAID EXPANSION WHICH PASSED WITH 59% OF THE VOTE.)

* RCV is completely constitutional for the primaries and general elections for the federal races and this is what the People's Veto restores.

* RCV is simple. It is used in Portland for their mayoral elections with no problem at all and in a number of other U.S. cities and countries around the world.

* The only "chaos" will be if a major party candidate for governor or congress wins with just around 20% of the vote which is very likely unless we have RCV for the primaries.

* The Sec. of State has had since November 2016 to prepare to implement RCV for the primaries, and his office has plenty of time to do this and he has said repeatedly that he can do it.

* RCV empowers voters with more voice and more choice.

* RCV ends the spoiler effect vote splitting and restores majority rule.

Thanks very much. I hope you can help. Our very democracy in Maine depends on it. LePage and many in his camp are waging ware on the entire referendum process. THEY MUST BE STOPPED. Passing the People's Veto to Restore Ranked Choice Voting in June is the ONE chance we have to send a very clear message to them that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and that we are not going to allow them to attack our constitutional right to direct democracy.

I am SICK TO DEATH of people on the ultra left bashing Democrats as "cavers" and all the rest of that stinking rotten SHIT when the Dems don't even control the god damned government! The R's have both Houses of Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court, thanks to many of the Dem bashers staying home and not even voting, or voting third party for goofballs like Jill Stein. MANY Bernie voters (and no offense to Bernie because I like him) refused to vote for Hillary because of sour grapes. This was ONE of the major reasons that scumbag Trump got in.

Now the bashers are bashing over the budget deal and the DACA issue. NEWSFLASH: If the Dems were in charge, DACA wouldn't even be an issue. It would be DONE. But we CAN NOT TOLERATE A SHUTDOWN!! There are in fact OTHER issues. The Dems do not control the government, so they got the best damn deal they could on domestic spending and economic investments. DACA will have to be done separately. And they are trying to do that.

So, here is what the bashers need to do. REMEMBER THAT ELECTIONS ACTUALLY MATTER AND VOTING ACTUALLY MATTERS. Get up off your butts in EVERY SINGLE ELECTION, GO TO THE GOD DAMNED POLLS, and VOTE THE RIGHT WAY.

I am not saying the Dem Party has been perfect. It hasn't been. It needs to get a better message and run better campaigns. (Lately it has been getting better, though there is still much more work to do.)

BUT, bashing the Dems now only helps Trump and fuckface scumbag R's and serves NO other purpose. Go to the voting booth, put Dems in control, and they can have some power and do more with DACA. Meantime, elections have consequences. So it is what it is. Not happy with Trump? Not happy with ReFUCKlicans in power? Then go VOTE and VOTE THE RIGHT DAMN WAY! AND BRING TEN FRIENDS WITH YOU!

It was a right wing plot, and of course Gillibrand and others took the bait. The great SHAME of 2017 is the witch hunt against Al Franken. It will go down in infamy. The "victims" were mostly right wing Trump supporters whose "complaints" were a bunch of SHIT. And one so called Democratic complainer, wanting her 10 minutes of fame, actually had the temerity of claiming that Franken squeezed her waist during a photograph at an event crawling with people, and that was sexual harassment. My god. What a load of SHIT!!

And now that Franken is leaving, guess what, NO MORE COMPLAINTS. It was a bunch of shit, way too many Dems took the bait, and lookey lookey now. Suddenly no more "victims." Why? Because there never were any. Even the first complaint, though not appropriate, was a gag during a comedy tour gone wrong. And that person is a right wing Trump adorer.

SHAME SHAME SHAME! Let's learn the right lesson and NEVER let such an injustice happen EVER again!

Protests generally don't work. It is a lot of wasted energy. Trump and Republicans don't give a shit about protests. Put the energy into winning elections, wielding power, and holding power. That is what matters. The Dem Party became a useless ineffective messageless MESS. It lost every branch and level of government. Thankfully, it did much better this past election cycle and in many special elections around the country at other times, most recently in Alabama.

But just being against Trump is nowhere near enough. That is important, but not enough. The party needs a strong, clear, Middle Class American Dream jobs message that resonates with voters. Healthcare is the other big issue of the day. And of course the right kind of tax reform, one that helps the middle and working classes, not just the rich.

So, work to organize for the next elections and echo a strong clear compelling economic message. Pressure the party structure at all levels to have a MESSAGE that actually works. And help to defeat the GOP in 2018.

Protests are mostly a waste of time and energy. Just saw that yet again with the tax bill. Winning elections is what matters. THAT is the best way to "protest." Want to stage a march? March to the ballot box and bring ten people with you.

Don't keep wondering why some people (though a minority) still support Trump and even strongly. If he took a shit in their mouths, they would call it ice cream.

(Remember, there were war criminals in WW2 who screamed "Heil Hitler!" just before the trap door opened as they were hung for their crimes.) They just think what they think. Don't waste time or energy on that.

The best use of time and energy is organizing for 2018 and continuing to fix the Dem party so that it runs good campaigns with good candidates and with a strong economic MESSAGE that people are interested in voting for. And take the R's to the electoral woodshed!

So many people are willing to sign the petitions for this ranked choice voting People's Veto. I have been working on it in my area. (The Bangor Area) Had another very good weekend working on it.

Over and over again we hear how upset people are with the legislature blocking so many of our recent referendums in mostly very narrow partisan votes and with the help of the current governor. In fact, LePage and the R's in the legislature are now saying they will do all they can to block the Medicaid Expansion referendum just passed in November with a whopping 59% of the vote.
This is our chance to make a loud and clear statement by stopping THEM by UNBLOCKING Ranked Choice Voting.

We just need the help to gather the rest of the signatures and get this over the finish line.

If you can help, please sign up at this link:

http://www.rcvmaine.com/dayofaction?utm_campaign=171208_weekend&
utm_medium=email&utm_source=mainercv

Thanks so much!