Transcript
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You're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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In today's episode, we share how to cope with election anxiety.
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So stay tuned.
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If you want to have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place.
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I'm Kath Patrick and I've helped dozens of progressive nonprofit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter.
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It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are.
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To have them seeking you out as an equal partner.
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And to have them Bringing opportunities and resources to you.
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This podcast will help you do just that.
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Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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Hey there folks.
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Welcome to the Nonprofit Power podcast.
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I'm your host, Kath Patrick.
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I'm so glad you're here for today's episode, because I want to talk with you about something that is very much on my heart right now.
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And that is this election.
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The 2024 elections are less than two weeks away.
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And if your world is anything like mine, you and just about everybody in it are stressing out right now.
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There's a lot of anxiety.
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There's a lot of worry.
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There's a lot of fear.
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And those are very understandable states of emotion right now, without question.
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There is so much at stake.
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And so yes, everybody is kind of scared spitless right now.
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But here's the thing.
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And I, I know you know this.
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All that anxiety and worry not only isn't helpful, it's actually pretty bad for you.
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It's bad for your emotional health.
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It's bad for your physical health.
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It's bad for your wellbeing.
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But it also is bad for the cause.
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Because what happens when we're in a state of fear, is that we become paralyzed.
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And we become demoralized.
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And that right there is how we lose.
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But there is an antidote, and that is to take action.
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We absolutely have the power to win these most consequential elections.
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I am certain of that.
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But it's going to take every single one of us.
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We've been talking about elections in a number of episodes throughout the summer.
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Sharing all the different ways that you, as a nonprofit leader can be helping your clients make their voices heard at the ballot box.
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And I hope you are continuing to do all of those very important and impactful things.
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But today I'm speaking to you as an individual.
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First of all, you are a leader.
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And so any place you can make your leadership voice heard, please do that.
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But also remember that we have a lot of power just in our own social and other circles that we move in.
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And we all have lots of different circles.
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And that's where your action can have a huge impact between now and the election.
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We basically have, and I know you know this.
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We have on the ballot, basically the choice between fascism and continuation of the democracy.
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It's that stark.
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And in very practical terms, it means that we absolutely have to win the white house.
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We also need control of the house and the Senate in order to get anything done.
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You can look at this two ways.
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If you're operating from a place of fear and doom, you're sort of like, well, I hope we can hold on to maybe one of the houses and maybe we can stop the worst of the worst from happening.
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But don't live there.
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I understand.
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We all go there.
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I go there half a dozen times a day myself.
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The difference is that I know what to do to stop that, to break that cycle of fear and anxiety.
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And I want to share that with you today.
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Which is that the best cure for all of this is to do something.
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To take action.
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Every single positive action you take moves us closer to what it is that we really want.
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Which is an administration in the white house.
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And majorities in the house and Senate.
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Where we can make true positive change actually happen in this country.
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And it's very possible.
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We know this because we've been living through it for the last four years.
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When it's been possible to pass major climate legislation, major infrastructure legislation.
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All of this stuff that has had huge impacts and will continue to reverberate and impact for decades to come.
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That was all possible because for the first two years of the Biden administration we had slim majorities that we were able to pass tremendous legislation that was incredibly positive.
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And move the progressive cause forward substantially.
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Now is it perfect?
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No, of course not.
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And this is one of the things I hear a lot.
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Folks are like, well, I don't know, Kamala's not perfect.
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you know, she's not progressive enough or she's this or that.
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She's some version of not perfect.
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Right.
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Or a Senator in a swing state is some version of not perfect.
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That is correct.
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There is no such thing as the perfect candidate.
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There just isn't.
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And we all know this.
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But what we see happening here and there, or maybe a lot, depending on the circles you're in.
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Is that there are folks who are in a place where they're in a combination of not feeling super inspired by the candidates choices that they have on the ballot.
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And also picking up this larger feeling of malaise and doom and yuck.
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And where they're landing with that is saying, well, you know, I just think I'll stay home.
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Nobody's really worthy of my vote here.
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I don't like either one of them, whether they're talking about the race for the white house or a Senate race or a house race.
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Like, eh, you know, we put Democrats in charge and they didn't do that much for us.
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So did everything get done in four years?
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No.
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There's a lot more to do.
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But it'll be a hundred times harder to get that done if we have Donald Trump in the white house.
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And if we don't have control of the house and Senate.
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And what you can do as an individual.
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You can do two incredibly powerful things and I am imploring you to do them.
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For your own wellbeing because taking action will pull you out of that cycle of anxiety and fear and worry.
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And the more action you take, the more you will be in a state of positivity.
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The more you will elevate your mood and the better place you'll be in.
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And the better ambassador you will be for the importance of voting in this election.
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So right now in these last short days before the election, you can do two big things.
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You can volunteer to help with organized, get out the vote efforts.
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Which is great.
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And you can talk to people in your own circles and urge them to vote.
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And that is actually one of the most powerful things you can do.
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It's something only you can do.
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There is tons of room for folks to make phone calls to help get out the vote.
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You can sign up for a phone bank, any number of places.
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And you can volunteer as many hours or as few as you have available.
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If you have just two hours between now and election day to make some phone calls, then sign up for two hours worth and then make the calls.
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It will feel a ton better than doom scrolling on your phone.
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Or sitting with friends, wherever you gather, and convincing each other that we're all toast.
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If you've got time to do that, you've got time to make calls.
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You've got time to knock doors, if that's your thing.
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And especially if you live in a swing state, if you live in a battleground state, So I'm talking to you, North Carolina, Georgia.
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Pennsylvania.
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Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio.
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Arizona.
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And texas and Montana for Senate seats.
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There doesn't appear to be a prospect of flipping Texas or Montana for the white house.
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But those are two incredibly crucial Senate seats that we can win.
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But only if everybody votes, because those margins in all these places are just razor thin.
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So the other very important and powerful thing that you can do is to talk with the people you know personally and make sure every one of them votes.
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Whether you're operating formally in your leadership role or just as a friend, as a relative, as a member of the community, in the circles you roll in.
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However many of those there are.
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Wherever you gather with others, either in real life or online, it doesn't matter.
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Wherever you're having conversations with people that know you and like you.
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And that you engage with on a somewhat regular basis.
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Those are the places where you have tremendous influence.
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You have enormous influence there, whether you realize it or not.
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And very often, the voice and the encouragement of someone we know and like, and trust.
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To move us off that ambivalent place.
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And say, you know?
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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I'll, I'll go vote.
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Sometimes just to shut you up.
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They'll go vote.
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That's fine.
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I'll take it.
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You'll come to this messaging however you, whatever's comfortable for you.
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And you know your circles better than anybody else.
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And you know what language, what kind of message will resonate in a particular group of people.
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So I am leaving that entirely to you.
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But what I will share as a core concept that probably belongs in your messaging.
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Is that every action other than a vote for Harris, is in fact a vote for Trump.
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If you stay home, it's a vote for Trump.
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If you vote for a third party candidate out of irritation or frustration or whatever, or maybe even like them.
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It's a vote for Trump.
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Any action, other than an affirmative vote for Harris/ Walz is a vote for Trump.
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It is that simple.
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Because none of the third-party candidates are even on the ballot in all 50 states.
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Most of them are on almost none of the state's ballots.
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There is an absolute zero chance that a third party candidate can win.
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Zero.
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But what it can do, what a vote for a third-party candidate can do is tip the balance.
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In a razor thin contest, it can tip the balance in a direction you don't want it to go.
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Inaction is also a vote for Trump.
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If you would have supported a candidate and you're mad because they're not progressive enough.
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Or you're mad because the current administration didn't do everything you hoped it would.
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And you're irritated and frustrated.
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Folks are not wrong to be frustrated.
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I'm frustrated.
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I want more, I want way more.
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But I've also been in this game a long, long time.
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And I know that as much as we wish it were so.
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You don't get all your wins all at once.
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Not unless you figure out how to build such an incredibly powerful majority in elected bodies, that you are able to push through the most progressive policies at every point.
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I believe in working toward that.
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And I am working toward that every day in one way or another.
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So I still want that.
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But the fact that I can't have it right now doesn't mean that I'm not going to play.
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And that's the thing.
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If you take your ball and go home, you lose the game by default.
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To use another metaphor, it can be helpful to remind folks that the purpose of voting is not to express your eternal love for a particular candidate.
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It's about making a series of chess moves toward the world you want to live in.
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There's another issue at work here, which you may also need to address.
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Trump is so erratic, and has been so incoherent for so long.
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That the media just kind of glaze over it and don't even report on it.
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The kind of stuff he's saying, if it was grandpa, you'd be taking away the car keys.
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And it's just barely being reported on in the mainstream media.
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And if you're watching Fox, you're not going to hear about it at all.
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So there's a combination of things.
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It's not being reported on to the extent that it should be.
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But it's also that people sort of have forgotten just how frightening the first round of Trump in the white house was.
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And the thing that a lot of people said before the 2016 election was, yeah, you should take Trump seriously, but don't take him literally.
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He doesn't mean half the stuff he says.
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And then he got in there.
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And he by golly did exactly what he said he was going to do.
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Thankfully, there were a lot of people in his administration who refused to go along with some of the worst and most extreme impulses.
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And so he was thwarted in that, but he's learned from that experience.
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If he gets in there again, there will be no guardrails.
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He will not bring anybody in who's a traditional Republican who would actually feel bound by ethics and morality and those kinds of things.
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He's not interested in that because he learned that last time around those kinds of people stopped him.
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And wouldn't let him do some of the most crazy stuff he wanted to do.
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But he is telling you right now, he's telling you what his plans are.
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And one of the most terrifying to me that I think is important that everyone hear.
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Is that he's talking about literally rounding up millions of immigrants and putting them in detention camps.
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And then eventually deporting them en masse.
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If you remember the first round of this kind of behavior.
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In the Trump administration that we had.
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You remember separating toddlers from their parents at the border.
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And not only doing nothing to keep track of which kid belonged to which parent.
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They deliberately did not keep track.
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There were no records.
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Eventually a combination of many nonprofit legal organizations and aid groups, and then eventually the Biden administration, once it got into power in 2020, worked hard to reunite those families.
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Not because they were given records from the Trump administration.
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They didn't want those families to be reunited.
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The cruelty's part of the point with these folks.
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If that feels heart-wrenching and devastating it should, because it is.
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It's it's unthinkable.
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And yet.
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He's saying very clearly.
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That's what he wants to do.
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And he wants to do it at a massive scale.
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And if you want the whole ugly agenda, just look at project 2025.
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It's all there.
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He's telling you right now what he's going to do.
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And he absolutely means it.
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So you see how this cycle works, right?
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We hear this stuff.
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And it's horrible and terrifying.
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And then we hear this poll or that poll moved a little and oh no, we're doomed.
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Agh, what do we do?
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How will we survive a second Trump administration?
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Wrong question.
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The question to ask yourself is what can I do today and every single day between now and the election?
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What can I do to make sure that does not happen?
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What can I do?
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Anything, who can I talk to?
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Who can I make sure gets to the polls and actually shows up to vote?
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Because we're talking conceivably, a few hundred votes in a few key states could decide this election at the presidential level.
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So you might think, well, you know What difference it's going to make.
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If I, if I get five more people to the polls.
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Well, If you and half a dozen other people are doing that.
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Now that's 30 more people that went to the polls.
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And if each of them gets a couple of other people to come along, now maybe you've got 60.
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And pretty soon you're starting to create a margin of victory.
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Just with a small number of people, reaching out to people they know and care about and meeting them where they are.
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Anybody who is thinking about staying home or voting third party isn't doing so because they feel good about things.
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They're doing so because they feel really disillusioned and frustrated, very likely.
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So understand that.
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And meet them where they are in that disillusionment and frustration.
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We all feel that sometimes.
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I got plenty of things that I'm disappointed in the current administration about.
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Plenty.
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But I'm also very clear-eyed about how important it is to have majorities.
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If nothing else, supreme court.
00:17:11.321 --> 00:17:15.511
Potential of two more justices to be appointed by the next administration.
00:17:16.204 --> 00:17:20.075
And if we think things are bad now, which they are in terms of what the court is up to.
00:17:20.555 --> 00:17:29.001
If they're able to cement a seven person majority on that court, that changes life for the rest of many people's lifetimes.
00:17:29.781 --> 00:17:35.498
That's potentially another 30 years before there's a substantial change in the direction of the court.
00:17:36.102 --> 00:17:42.071
And that could see the undoing of voting rights, civil rights, LGBTQ rights and more.
00:17:43.002 --> 00:17:49.269
The conservative majority already on the court has already said in the opinions they wrote in the past couple of terms.
00:17:50.009 --> 00:17:52.836
When they wrote the Dobbs decision overturning Roe vs.
00:17:52.836 --> 00:17:56.903
Wade, they made it abundantly clear that they didn't intend to stop there.
00:17:56.932 --> 00:17:59.002
That they have other things on their list.
00:17:59.482 --> 00:18:01.942
They would like to go after contraception.
00:18:02.423 --> 00:18:04.163
They'd like to go after IVF.
00:18:04.192 --> 00:18:06.323
They'd like to go after gay marriage.
00:18:06.563 --> 00:18:11.903
They would like to go after a lot of things that they don't think should have ever happened in the first place.
00:18:12.563 --> 00:18:16.925
And if they're given an even larger majority on the court, we know where that's going to wind up.
00:18:17.873 --> 00:18:22.885
So on so many levels, sometimes voting is an act of self-defense.
00:18:23.526 --> 00:18:26.855
And so for folks who are feeling frustrated and disillusioned.
00:18:27.333 --> 00:18:31.579
It's unlikely that you're going to get them to say, oh, you're right.
00:18:31.579 --> 00:18:32.509
I've seen the light.
00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:33.140
Yes.
00:18:33.140 --> 00:18:34.250
Kamala will save me.
00:18:34.519 --> 00:18:37.200
I shall run out and vote for Kamala because she'll save me.
00:18:37.769 --> 00:18:38.549
Eh, maybe.
00:18:39.420 --> 00:18:50.536
But if somebody is really coming from a place of deep frustration and disillusionment, I think a lot of times, the best way to talk about that is to say, it's time for taking action in self-defense.
00:18:51.083 --> 00:18:54.786
Because while having Democrats in charge does not make everything perfect.
00:18:55.086 --> 00:18:55.685
Far from it.
00:18:56.256 --> 00:19:02.900
Having Trump in charge could literally cost freedom and lives of people we all know and care about.
00:19:03.323 --> 00:19:04.432
And that's pretty serious.
00:19:05.423 --> 00:19:08.869
So, however you find a way to talk about this.
00:19:09.420 --> 00:19:13.390
And I'm offering some stuff that has resonated with folks that I've talked with.
00:19:13.848 --> 00:19:15.828
Get out there and talk to folks.
00:19:16.506 --> 00:19:17.556
And reach out.
00:19:18.161 --> 00:19:25.773
You kind of know who in your circle is already in that place of disengagement, disillusionment, frustration.
00:19:26.240 --> 00:19:27.500
Feeling like, Ugh.
00:19:27.983 --> 00:19:32.086
No, I don't want Trump, but I'm tired of giving my vote and getting disappointed in return.
00:19:32.773 --> 00:19:35.564
I don't think that it's productive to argue about that.
00:19:35.997 --> 00:19:37.886
Unless you know the person enough to say.
00:19:38.126 --> 00:19:38.906
Hey, come on.
00:19:39.146 --> 00:19:40.047
Let's talk about this.
00:19:40.047 --> 00:19:43.807
Let's talk about what happened in the last four years that actually really did help you.
00:19:44.376 --> 00:19:46.656
Feel free to do that, if that will resonate.
00:19:46.926 --> 00:19:50.767
But it's also okay to say yeah, but you know, sometimes you just need to vote in self-defense.
00:19:51.030 --> 00:19:52.201
And this is one of those times.
00:19:53.101 --> 00:19:54.270
Live to fight another day.
00:19:54.931 --> 00:19:58.651
But if you don't vote, it's possible that another day won't come.
00:19:59.473 --> 00:20:02.953
Whatever you find works with the person you're talking with at the time.
00:20:03.540 --> 00:20:05.101
Just keep engaging folks.
00:20:06.013 --> 00:20:08.294
Do this for your own mental health.
00:20:09.044 --> 00:20:15.326
I promise you that action is the very best cure for this constant anxiety and stress and worry.
00:20:16.017 --> 00:20:17.396
The more action you take.
00:20:17.426 --> 00:20:19.767
Each time you take an action, it builds.
00:20:20.336 --> 00:20:23.646
And when you start to have success and people start to say, you know what?
00:20:23.646 --> 00:20:24.834
Yeah, I will go vote.
00:20:25.116 --> 00:20:25.596
I'll do it.
00:20:26.354 --> 00:20:28.663
And then, you know, say, okay, so when are you going to vote?
00:20:29.191 --> 00:20:29.881
Pick a day.
00:20:30.792 --> 00:20:33.583
Keep at them a little bit till they actually go do it.
00:20:34.296 --> 00:20:39.248
And by the way, one web address you want to have in your hip pocket with all these conversations.
00:20:39.877 --> 00:20:43.415
Because if you get somebody who's going to shift and say, all right, I will go vote.
00:20:44.016 --> 00:20:47.675
And they have any questions about how to do that, or what's going on.
00:20:47.955 --> 00:20:50.726
Just send them to Iwillvote.com.
00:20:51.526 --> 00:20:54.826
And they can get everything they need to know all in one place.
00:20:55.565 --> 00:20:59.825
And you can even, if you're standing there with them, you can offer to pull it up on your phone while you're talking.
00:21:01.104 --> 00:21:05.814
Each one of those small actions, each one of those small engagements that you do.
00:21:06.534 --> 00:21:09.653
Multiplied by the actions of many, many others.
00:21:09.653 --> 00:21:11.753
Some of whom you know, many of whom you don't.
00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:15.960
So many people are working on this with you all over the country.
00:21:16.415 --> 00:21:18.276
Each working in their own circles.
00:21:19.205 --> 00:21:22.625
The other part of what I want you to know is that you're not alone.
00:21:23.089 --> 00:21:25.519
I know that it can feel incredibly alone.
00:21:26.393 --> 00:21:34.482
One of the things that happens to our whole energetic field and our mood, is that when we're in stress and anxiety, we shrink into ourselves.
00:21:35.232 --> 00:21:39.152
And we become smaller and more protective of ourselves.
00:21:39.961 --> 00:21:42.734
And so we don't see then.
00:21:43.484 --> 00:21:53.337
We become less aware of all of the actions that dozens and hundreds and thousands of other Progressives are taking every day.
00:21:53.847 --> 00:21:56.337
To make sure that we do win this election.
00:21:56.817 --> 00:21:58.887
That we do live to fight another day.
00:21:59.157 --> 00:22:09.057
That we do put ourselves in a position to make progressive policy keep going forward and to keep advancing all of the causes that we've all worked for so long on.
00:22:09.897 --> 00:22:11.688
And that we keep building on the wins.
00:22:12.688 --> 00:22:13.137
So.
00:22:13.887 --> 00:22:19.288
Pay less attention to the polling, pay less attention to what the pundits and the news people are saying.
00:22:19.528 --> 00:22:22.587
Part of what they need to do is generate something to talk about.
00:22:23.228 --> 00:22:24.018
And it is tight.
00:22:24.468 --> 00:22:25.548
There's no question about that.
00:22:26.208 --> 00:22:28.428
But we absolutely are the majority.
00:22:28.577 --> 00:22:30.768
And if we all vote, we will prevail.
00:22:31.157 --> 00:22:31.817
But we got to vote.
00:22:32.728 --> 00:22:33.958
We're not going back.
00:22:34.637 --> 00:22:36.438
We're not going back.
00:22:36.978 --> 00:22:39.642
So break up out of that shell.
00:22:40.271 --> 00:22:41.662
Rise up, stand up.
00:22:42.031 --> 00:22:44.951
Make a phone call, send an email, send a text.
00:22:45.662 --> 00:22:47.132
Take a friend out for coffee.
00:22:47.882 --> 00:22:49.541
And say, Hey, let's talk.
00:22:50.162 --> 00:22:53.041
And start taking those positive actions.
00:22:54.192 --> 00:22:55.301
Do it for yourself.
00:22:55.632 --> 00:22:56.711
Do it for your own health.
00:22:57.192 --> 00:23:06.718
Do it for all of the people in the next generations, down to the smallest baby, whose lives will be dramatically shaped by what we do in the next two weeks.
00:23:07.404 --> 00:23:08.125
Do it for them.
00:23:08.634 --> 00:23:09.654
Do it for your community.
00:23:10.137 --> 00:23:11.095
And do it for your country.
00:23:11.654 --> 00:23:12.134
But do it.
00:23:12.825 --> 00:23:13.365
Get out.
00:23:13.855 --> 00:23:15.894
Grab your phone, send a text.
00:23:16.402 --> 00:23:17.362
Talk to folks.
00:23:17.872 --> 00:23:18.592
Engage them.
00:23:19.112 --> 00:23:22.501
And help bring them to a place where they're ready to go cast a vote.
00:23:23.055 --> 00:23:24.974
And then follow up and make sure they actually do it.
00:23:25.884 --> 00:23:27.625
It's not only a cure for what ails you.
00:23:28.085 --> 00:23:30.164
It might just be the cure for what ails the country.
00:23:30.948 --> 00:23:33.377
Thanks for listening and I'll see you in the next episode.
00:23:33.647 --> 00:23:35.837
Right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
