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Persuade to the Last Minute. Here’s How!

Elections are decided by people who just started paying attention.

By: Antonia Scatton
Source Link: https://reframingamerica.substack.com/p/persuade

Recommended by: Bruce R.

Elections are decided by people who are only just starting to pay attention. What we say now is critical. We have to set the agenda, lead with data centers, frame corruption as the cause of economic distress, convince voters we will stand up to monopoly power, avoid getting lured into “safety net” debates, and hold Republicans accountable for the Epstein files, Iran, tariffs, and the high price of gas, diesel, fertilizer and food.

Keep persuading.

We must, of course, get out the vote. But, like Republicans do,we should fight for every last voter until the polls close.Many swing voters simply have not been paying attention until now. In 2024, we lost “people who do not closely follow the news” by 19 points. We are doing brilliantly in the polls. I do not want to see a five-point reversion to the norm when the votes get counted. What we say now is critical.

Keep up with changing voters.

The American voter is evolving faster than we can keep up. Candidates must be nimble. They can’t just fall back on “tried and true” speeches and messages that tested well in January. We need to adapt to spiking opposition to data centers and a huge shift from “affordability” to “corruption.” Here is exactly what we need to say and do to win these undecided voters and bring this election home in the final stretch.

Set the agenda.

Do NOT let Republicans set the terms of the debate. There is an astounding numberof issues to choose from, but these are the ones that voters care about the most and where we have the greatest strategic advantage:

1)Data Center / A.I. / Flock Cameras
2) Corruption / Broken Economic System
3) Gas and Food Prices
4) The War in Iran
5) The Epstein Files

All of these issues can be tied back to corruption. Corruption covers a lot of ground. You can get as local or as specific as you want, as long as you talk about it in terms of corruption.

Thank you for reading Reframing America! My work is completely financed by subscribers like you! All content is free, but many people choose to become paying subscribers to help support this mission of improving how we communicate! Use this link to subscribe or upgrade! Thank you!

Five Key Strategies

1. Flip voters by talking about data centers.

Opposition to data centers and flock cameras has spiked in just the last few months, and continues to climb. People in the field and terrific rural candidates like Allie Wolf (MN house district 26B), tell me that they are regularly flipping hard-core Republican voters on opposition to data centers alone, even if there are no data centers planned in their area. Apparently, Big Tech (outside elites) colluding in secret with local government officials to green-light massive projects that dump the costs on local communities and also install surveillance cameras to watch their every move, really, really pisses people off.

Why does A.I. in general hit such a nerve in rural America? It re-opens old wounds about NAFTA, in which politicians made major decisions over the objections of working people, citing “experts” who claimed that everyone would benefit. Those decisions closed tens of thousands of factories, threw millions out of work, and destroyed small towns. Pushing recklessly ahead on a technology the purpose of which is to replace workers is bad enough in itself, but it also feels like NAFTA all over again.

Do this: In rural areas and when talking to Republican voters, start the conversation with data centers. In small towns, try dropping the NAFTA reference and watch the reaction. Use data centers and flock cameras to lead into a bigger conversation about corruption.

2. Make everything about corruption, and frame corruption as the cause of economic distress.

According to new research from Indivisible and Lake and Associates, 73% of battleground voters are more likely to support a candidate who fights to lower costs and takes on corruption and special interests, compared with just 5% who prefer a candidate focused solely on lowering costs.

Here is where voters have made the most radical change. Voters used to believe in the American Dream and blamed themselves when they could not make ends meet. Then they realized that, while they were holding up their end of the deal by working hard, our economic system was failing to deliver on the wages and economic security that they were promised. This betrayal made them absolutely f-ing furious. But – they did not stop there! They concluded that the whole system is broken because big money is influencing those in our government to rig the entire economic system on their behalf. Note that voters believe that both parties are culpable for this. Do not try to defend past behavior by Democrats, just don’t bring it up. Instead, show that we got there in the end!

How to know you are getting it right: Are you only talking about helping people pay for things? Or are you talking about the system being fundamentally broken and using government to make the economy work the way people were promised it would work? People do not just want handouts. They want fairness. Make EVERYTHING about corruption and economic fairness.

3. Convince Voters We Will Stand Up to Monopoly Power

If money buys political power, who is doing the buying? The “Bigs” as in Big Donors and Big Money: Big Tech, Big Ag, Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Banks, as well as health insurance companies and private equity firms. Researchers have recently found that talking about “monopolies” tests better than terms like oligarchy or billionaires, and does not cause backlash. Everybody hates monopoly power.

Fighting monopoly power is directly related to reducing the cost of living. Companies used to have to compete for consumers by reducing prices, and compete for workers by raising wages. Now they can suppress wages and use A.I. to find our “pain points.” One example: Farmers and ranchers are being squeezed to death between supplier monopolies and buyer monopolies, who then gouge us at the grocery store.

What makes the term “monopoly” so effective is that most people in America have played the game of Monopoly at some point in their life. We know the point when one person pulls ahead, and all that’s left is for the winner to slowly bleed everyone else dry. That is how our economy feels right now. And voters are mad enough to flip over the game board.

In my focus groups this year, voters were very clear. They are sick and tired of listening to us fight with Republicans. They want to hear us fight for them. Josh Turek is not leading in Iowa because he has effectively attacked his opponent. It’s because he is taking “Big Ag” head on. Voters need to hear that we will stand up to monopoly power on their behalf.

Never debate anything Republicans actually want to talk about. It just allows them to expose more people to their attacks – creating neurological associations that are negative for us – and make the election about the issues where they are the strongest.

4. Don’t Take the “Safety-Net” Bait

When Trump makes gratuitous cuts to safety-net programs, we are tempted to jump all over it to point out their cruelty. Do not engage in any debate that involves a “safety-net” program. People perceive Democrats as being worse on the type of corruption they define as “wasting taxpayer money,” which is why our opponents are desperate to make this election about so-called wasteful spending, fraud and the “undeserving poor.” That whole debate lives in the past, where the economy does what it does, and we just argue over whether government should or should not clean up the damage after the fact.

Voters now overwhelmingly want government to intervene strongly to make markets work on our behalf, so that we don’t all end up needing safety nets. If you are only talking about helping people pay for things, voters think you either 1) don’t know that the entire economy is broken or 2) you do know, but lack the courage to stand up to Big Money. So don’t just talk about cuts to food stamps. Talk about forcing Amazon and Walmart to pay well enough that their employees don’t need food stamps. Don’t just talk about Obamacare subsidies. Make it clear that it’s time to kick greedy private health insurers out of the system altogether. Better yet, skip the “handout” part and go directly to “kicking private sector a**.”

Republicans would love for people to believe that all their economic woes are the result of high taxes caused by fraud in public aid programs. We need to make this election about: “Who will end the corruption? Who is more willing to stand up to monopoly power and make our economic system serve the needs of the American people.”

5. Hold Republicans Accountable for Trump’s Corruption

We need to make Republicans own Trump’s behavior. They are the ones on the ballot. Whatever Trump does, whether it is the Epstein files, Iran, tariffs, or the price of gas, diesel, fertilizer and food, we need to hold Republicans accountable for failing to use the power of Congress to stop him.

The War in Iran? It’s about corruption: Trump promised Big Oil favors in exchange for campaign donations, and now Big Oil is raking it in by screwing us at the pump. The Pentagon that can’t pass an audit yet wants another half trillion dollars to spend on fat military contracts for Big Tech firms and companies owned by Trump’s kids.

Trump’s $2.7 billion: It’s not just that Trump has increased his personal wealth. What governmental decisions did he sell to get that money and what price we are paying for those decisions? Which labor laws did he stop enforcing? Which child abusers and human traffickers is he protecting? Which anti-trust cases did he drop? Which fraud convictions did he pardon? Which food safety protections did he gut? Which national security secrets did he sell? Who paid Trump to kill the program to investigate and collect hundreds of billions of dollars in tax evasion by the rich, leaving the rest of us to pick up the tab? Who benefitted from Trump’s decisions to eliminate the programs that fight criminal money laundering and defend us against international cyber-attacks? And just who, in addition to himself, is he protecting in the Epstein files?

The key question for this election is: “Why did Republicans let Trump sell our government to the highest bidder for personal gain, costing taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, putting us in danger and enabling child abuse and rampant white-collar crime? Perhaps because they are lining their pockets too and because they are afraid to stand up to Trump.

Propositions 2026

In Progress – more will be added to this page (probably before Oct 17)

League of Women Voters

Download your copy from https://cavotes.org/easy-voter-guide/

Slides for presentation on Oct 7 meeting.

2026-10-07_LWVSSMC_IPVDownload

[TBD – Video of their presentation on 10/07]

League of Women Voters

Prop 40

No

Yes

How to talk to others?

There are a number of resources on this site; see: talk-to-others

This article offers good starting points for conversation and how to talk about them.

Persuade to the Last Minute. Here’s How!

Christian Nationalism, the First Amendment—and You! (past event)

Video of the event:

Time: Tue, Sep 22, 7-8:30pm
Location: Ladera Community Church, 3300 Alpine Rd, Portola Valley

Talk with Judge Stephen S. Trott

Thanks to IPV members Karen Turner and Linda Clever for their work putting this program together.

Sponsored by Ladera Community Church Social Justice Committee

As part of LCC’s ongoing Democracy & Disagreement Series, this will be the first presentation in their series focusing on Christian Nationalism.

Judge Stephen S. Trott was appointed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 and is now inactive. He will describe the history of the First Amendment, the roots of which lie in attempts to eliminate centuries of religious persecution and violence. Judge Trott will also analyze the coupling of the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause as a balanced bargain that assures dignity, freedom and equity for all citizens.

He will outline the consequences of Christian Nationalism as espoused by enthusiasts.

Supremacy

How Rule by the Court Replaced Government by the People

by Nikolas Bowie (Author, Harvard Law School), Daphna Renan (Author, Harvard Law School)

Recommended by Bruce R.

From two acclaimed legal scholars, a new history of the Supreme Court that overturns our most basic assumptions about its role in our democracy, showing how it seized the power it now wields.

Does the U.S. Constitution force us to live under the rule of nine robed lawyers? Many Americans assume that it does. It is commonly said that the Supreme Court has always had the power to decide what the Constitution means and to strike down any act of Congress that violates the justices’ dictates. Even as the Court has used this power to upend democracy—erasing federal laws that once prevented presidential autocracy and protected the right to vote—we are told there is nothing everyday Americans can do, as if our ability to govern ourselves requires the Court to answer our most fundamental questions for us.

But what if that isn’t accurate? What if the Court was not given the power it now wields, but rather seized it?

That is the revelation of Nikolas Bowie and Daphna Renan’s masterful new account of the Supreme Court. In a sweeping narrative of over 200 years of American history, they demonstrate that “judicial supremacy” was not written into the Constitution and has always been challenged as fundamentally at odds with it. Far from being an eternal principle, the power the Court claims to override Congress’s interpretation of the Constitution took hold in reaction to abolition and Reconstruction—not to protect democracy, but to weaken it.

Supremacy charts how the Court has repeatedly sabotaged the efforts of Congress to broaden democracy by enabling presidents, corporations, and the wealthy to ignore enacted law. It also challenges how even liberals understand the Court’s most celebrated rulings—including Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade—showing how the left has unwittingly subscribed to the very ideology that now threatens it.

At every step, Bowie and Renan recover a lost constitutional tradition, one forged by abolitionists, labor leaders, suffragists, and civil rights pioneers. These individuals presented another way forward, in which power is returned to where the Constitution put it—Congress—and everyday Americans have more of a say in the law that shapes our lives.

Buy

Choosing Where to Give

A Decision Guide for Supporting Democracy Organizations and Candidates

Prepared for Indivisible Portola Valley Members and Friends

A practical worksheet for comparing values, effectiveness, transparency and need before contributing time or money.

Created by Steve G. with Microsoft Copilot (GPT 5).

See Donate Page for details

[Click on the titles to show the PDF pages.]

Choosing Where To Give: Checklists
IPV_DonationsDownload
Flippable US House Districts
Flippable_US_House_DistrictsDownload
Your Dollar, Your Senate
Your_Dollar-Your_SenateDownload
Sources and Links
Sources_and_LinksDownload

How Russia Won

Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and the Fight for America

by David Corn
Recommended by Steve G.
Publisher: Harper

The definitive and riveting investigation into how Vladimir Putin successfully mounted a decade-long covert war against the United States and how Donald Trump aided and abetted the operation and upended America and the world

How Russia Won tells the little-understood yet crucial story of how Vladimir Putin has waged a secret campaign to subvert and weaken the United States—and how Trump, his MAGA movement, the Republican Party, and right-wing media have served as useful idiots for the tyrannical Russian leader in his assault on America and the West.

In this gripping tale of international intrigue and political skullduggery, David Corn, bestselling author and veteran investigative journalist:

  • Details the Kremlin’s clandestine operations to fuel political discord in U.S. politics and assist Trump that have been underway since 2016
  • Exposes the extensive, fierce, and non-stop efforts of Trump and his supporters to deny Russia’s years-long attack on the United States
  • Delivers a tough truth: Trump and his allies have been complicit in Putin’s war on America

This is the harrowing story of modern information warfare aimed at the U.S. by a nefarious foreign adversary and profound political betrayal at home. It is full of revelations and dramatic accounts of Russian intelligence operations targeting the United States; the Kremlin’s secret schemes to spread disinformation in 2020 and 2024 to boost Trump’s presidential campaigns; ties between Trump’s inner circle—including his personal attorney and his campaign manager—and Putin’s spies; Republican attempts to use Russian disinformation to protect Trump and smear Democrats; the bipartisan congressional investigation that blew apart Trump’s claim the Russia investigation was a hoax and raised troubling questions about his own interactions with Russia; and the never-ending propaganda campaign Trump and MAGA Republicans have pursued to cover up Putin’s clandestine intervention in U.S. politics.

Interviews

Lincoln Square: How Russia’s Playing in the Midterms | David Corn & Stuart Stevens on The Strategy Session (for paid subscribers)

End Times Fascism

And the Fight for the Living World

by Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

A scathing investigation into the apocalyptic thinking of the Christian nationalists, tech-bro reactionaries, and populist survivalists who increasingly define the contemporary right—and a recipe for how to fight them.

As the planet burns and shared reality melts, a new iteration of the far right is on the march. How can we understand this dangerous new development, and what resources can we draw on to resist it? In their scathing assessment of the contemporary scene, the celebrated activists and authors Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor explore how the religious fundamentalists, Silicon Valley technologists, and ethno-nationalists who make up this apocalyptic alliance share more than one might think: they are united in their belief that some kind of cleansing cataclysm is coming, whether through the manifestation of messianic prophecy, the rampages of a resource- and job-consuming artificial intelligence, or the purported existential threat of immigration and cultural replacement. Rather than avoiding this conflagration, they welcome it, convinced they will be among the saved on the other side.

“End Times Fascism” is the ideology of the actors who strive to make the world unlivable and then seek to protect themselves from the fallout—whether by repairing to luxurious private islands, rocketing off to Mars, or bunkering the nation to keep their enemies at bay. The new survivalists have accumulated power, but they are far from impregnable. As Klein and Taylor show via original reporting and analysis, their many internal conflicts and contradictions and their nihilistic inability to envision a shared future, even for their ostensible allies, leave them vulnerable to a new kind of “pro-life” politics—rooted in reverence for our shared existence and regard for the earth we inhabit and must protect.

Buy

The Nerd Reich

Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

By Gil Durán

Publisher: Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster

Recommended by: Steve G. and Stuart W.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “This transfixing debut from journalist Durán investigates the antidemocratic ideologies espoused by tech billionaires linked to the second Trump administration…It’s an ominous look at an insular elite arrayed against American democracy.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A fearless and urgent chronicle of the tech-authoritarian movement from its early days in San Francisco politics to its current moment on the international stage, exploring the wild and dystopian ambition of the technocrats at its center, and offering a road map to resistance.

When Silicon Valley says it is ‘‘moving fast and breaking things,’’ the world interprets the chaos as a necessary cost of innovation. Gil Durán reveals something far more sinister: a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule.

Drawing on insider political experience and new investigations, Durán traces this ideology from its philosophical roots in The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. He introduces its modern apostles—Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, and Elon Musk—and shows how the promise of technological liberation has transformed into a global movement for digital feudalism, powered by cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and the algorithmic propaganda of social media.

The Nerd Reich explains the origins, strategies, and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s war on democracy for the first time. From San Francisco’s weaponized elections and secret billionaire projects to the White House, Durán exposes how the world’s richest men are building a new political order.

The Nerd Reich is more than a hidden history, it’s an urgent warning: democracy is being dismantled not by coups or tanks, but by code, capital, and the illusion of innovation. Durán insists there is still time to fight back—if we act now.

Buy

This Is The Plan

How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy

by: Ben Wikler
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Recommended by: Steve G.

A New York Times bestseller • A USA Today Bestseller • An Independent Press Bestseller

“Ben Wikler is one of the most strategic and respected leaders of his generation. If we do what this book says, we will win.”—Nancy Pelosi

From the most successful Democratic operative of the last decade, a revelatory account of what you—yes, you—can do to defeat Trumpism.

If you are looking at the spiraling crisis of American politics in the Trump era and wondering how the hell we get out of this mess, This Is the Plan is the book you’ve been waiting for.

Ben Wikler led the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to a string of improbable victories in a state with a political system so rigged that it was dubbed a “democracy desert”—which is, coincidentally, Trump’s goal for the whole country.

Now, in This Is the Plan, Wikler distills lessons from the front lines in America’s most closely divided state to map out a comprehensive plan to dictator-proof American government, defeat MAGA at every level of the ballot, and build a future of democracy, opportunity, and freedom for all.

It will be a blast. The plan is to, as he writes, “have fun storming the castle—in a civil, metaphorical, and non-January-6th-y way.”

Drawing on decades of organizing, from local races (including a race for county coroner that hinged on the issue of zombification) to presidential showdowns, Wikler brings us behind the scenes to explore the hidden structures of power that shape our politics and our lives, and takes us into the art and science of winning elections. As he details a people-powered path out of the political wilderness, Wikler reveals what you personally can do to move the needle.

This Is the Plan reveals, year by year and step by step, a vision not only to end America’s collapse into authoritarianism but also to reconnect us to our neighbors—and, fighting side by side for democracy, to build meaning, community, and joy.

Buy

Lincoln Warned Us

In 1838, a 28-year-old lawyer from Illinois saw it coming.

Not an invasion. Not a foreign army. The threat he warned about was… Americans. Americans who would choose a man over a law, a leader over a constitution, passion over principle.

Nearly 200 years later, we’re living inside the warning.

Lincoln didn’t need to see January 6th. He didn’t need to watch Dear Leader demand loyalty oaths, purge anyone who wouldn’t kneel, and torch every institution that stood in his way.

He just needed to know human nature.

The question Lincoln posed nearly two centuries ago wasn’t rhetorical. It was a warning. And right now, not enough people have heard it.

Lincoln’s warning is only useful if people hear it. Help us spread the message >>

HOME

Christian Nationalism Presentation

This is a PDF of the slide set for the Presentation at the July 08, 2026 IPV General Meeting. See the videos below that were played at the specified page numbers.

Videos

Page 14 Video: The pastor (Doug Wilson) who wants to repeal voting rights for women is becoming more mainstream

Page 24 video: WATCH: Hegseth prays for ‘overwhelming violence’ against enemies. (stop at 4 min if you wish)

Page 33 Video: (Let me know the URL if you find it.)

Page 35 Video: This 60-second clip explains MAGA

Page 37 Video: James Talarico talks about what it *actually* means to be a man.

https://jamestalarico.com/

Home

After the presentation, a question was asked about who is organizing to address this issue? This organization was offered:

Americans United for Separation of Church and State

On Courage

How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear – A Pulitzer Winner’s Guide to Personal Courage in an Age of Authoritarianism

By: Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Recommended by: Steve G.

The United States is only the latest country to face a leader who wields fear as a weapon, punishes political enemies, disappears people off the street, and undermines free and fair elections. Today nearly three out of four people on earth live under authoritarianism, the highest rate since the late 1970s.

But even under repressive conditions, each of us holds the power to help defeat autocrats. Based on their acclaimed The New Yorker essay “So You Want to Be a Dissident?,” veteran reporter Julia Angwin and political strategist Ami Fields-Meyer give us a captivating – and profoundly hopeful – guide to courage in an age of fear.

Meet a student from Hong Kong who risked everything for democracy. A mom in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas who broke with the political movement that raised her. Cairo twentysomethings who staged a gutsy stunt to help bring down a dictator. A mild-mannered immigrant fighting to save a landmark U.S. civil rights law. People throughout the United States and across five continents who faced serious risks for dissenting in their workplace, their community, or their country. On Courage is the story of how they did it anyway – and how you can do it, too.

Blending rich, previously untold narratives with history, spirituality, and movement research, Angwin and Fields-Meyer deliver a highly accessible book full of practical lessons – an inspiring resource for anyone, anywhere, who feel the walls of history closing in on them. On Courage is a roadmap to political courage and a powerful case for how taking personal risks can help save the free world.

Buy

Indivisible Palo Alto Plus – Democracy Forum – Meet The Authors

The event was on July 29, in Palo Alto, at First Presbyterian Church.

MSNow

Regime Change

Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump

By: Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Recommended by: Steve G.

From the two reporters who have covered him more closely than perhaps anyone else over the past decade comes this definitive portrait of Donald Trump in the White House. Regime Change covers the first year of Trump’s second presidency—a term liberated from every constraint that defined his first. The generals who once told him “no” are gone, and the lawyers who remain have learned to pick their battles. His administration has flouted court orders, and he has claimed powers that Congress once checked. What remains is a President willing to take enormous risks that have upended global markets and toppled heads of state; an imperial President operating almost entirely on instinct alone.

Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented reporting from deep within the administration’s most closely guarded rooms, Regime Change takes the reader inside the Situation Room and into the secret Oval Office deliberations that have launched a new war in the Middle East and seen Trump seal the border, surge National Guard troops into cities, and send immigration agents into deadly clashes with protestors. Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan bring us behind the scenes of a presidency that has transformed the culture, turned the Justice Department into an agent of retribution against the President’s enemies and the office itself into a brazen vehicle for profit. They reveal a second term propelled by a historical irony that Trump himself has come to understand: that the indictments, the convictions, the assassination attempts, and four years of exile made him not weaker but far more powerful, more vengeful, and more willing to gamble than any President in modern history.

This is the story of how Trump has used that power, who has tried to stop him, and why nearly all of them have failed. It is also the story of something American journalists are more accustomed to chronicling in distant capitals than in their own: a President who has fundamentally altered the nature of the office he holds—and, with it, how the rest of the world understands American power. It is an account of Regime Change right here in America—a landmark real-time history of a modern presidency like no other.

Buy

Overcoming Citizens United

Getting corporate money out of politics

Report by: David S

Hawai’i:

Hawaii has enacted a law that prohibits corporations from spending money on political campaigns, effectively redefining the powers granted to corporations within the state. This legislation, signed by Governor Josh Green, is set to take effect on July 1, 2027, and positions Hawaii as the first state to limit corporate political spending in this manner, aiming to restore integrity in the electoral process.

Key Features of the Law

  • Prohibition on Corporate Spending: The law explicitly prohibits corporations from spending money on local, state, or federal political campaigns.
  • Effective Date: The law is set to take effect on July 1, 2027.
  • Legal Basis: The legislation is grounded in the principle that corporations derive their powers from state law, which allows Hawaii to redefine those powers, excluding political spending.

Montana:

The Transparent Election Initiative is a national organization that has sponsored two initiatives in Montana known as the Montana Plan.

“In Montana, we proposed both Constitutional & Statutory Initiatives that will sweep corporate and secret-donor money out of Montana’s local, state, and federal politics. It achieves this not by the state of Montana regulating corporate speech, but by the state of Montana simply declining to grant the corporations it creates the power to spend in politics. This is an authority every state possesses, but no state has used it in more than a century. As of March 2026, I-194, the Statutory Initiative, is certified for signature gathering and is underway across Montana through June 19, 2026. The constitutional initiative was found legally sufficient by the Montana Supreme Court. However, we await a decision on the proposed ballot statement. It is unlikely the proposed constitutional initiative will meet calendar deadlines for signature collection in 2026.”

Montana Initiative 194, Prohibit Entities from Contributing to State and Local Candidate and Ballot Measure Elections Initiative, will be on the Nov. 3, 2026, ballot.

The initiative would prohibit artificial persons, as defined in the initiative, from contributing to campaigns, ballot measure elections, or political parties. Artificial persons would include nonprofits, trusts, partnerships, corporations, trade associations, or unincorporated associations, and all entities doing business in Montana. If an entity violates the initiative, it would be prohibited from doing business in Montana until it has certified compliance with the initiative.

California:

California Assembly Bill 1984 aims to redefine the powers of corporations by revoking their political spending power and limiting their activities to those specifically granted under state law. This bill emphasizes that all political power is inherent in the people, not in corporations.

Key Provisions

Revocation of Political Spending Power

  • The bill revokes the political spending power of corporations.
  • Corporations will only possess powers specifically granted under state law.

Legislative Intent

  • The legislation declares that all political power is inherent in the people.
  • It specifies that corporations are creations of statute and do not have natural rights to political activities.

LegiScan Summary

Introduced by Assembly Member Rogers
 Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Kalra
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Addis, Connolly, Elhawary, Garcia, Harabedian, Jackson, Lee, and Schiavo)

Principal coauthor: Senator McGuire
(Coauthors: Senators McNerney and Pérez)

Status: April 20, 2026 Re-referred to Com. on Banking and Finance with amendments from original filing on 2-13-2026.

Actions to Support

  1. Financial support for The Transparent Election Initiative
  2. Contact your CA Assemblymember and State Senator and ask them to co-sponsor and actively support AB 1984.
  3. Write a letter to the editor explaining the bill and why it’s important. Point out that Hawai’i has already done this in a bipartisan manner, and that Montana has ballot initiatives to do the same thing.
  4. Support the CA Fair Elections Act, which repeals the ban on public financing of campaigns. All cities and agencies could create their own public financing system if they choose to. Endorse the act and encourage your elected officials to support it as well.

Video: Hawaii Is Overturning Citizens United | Lever Time

The Fix

Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government

By: Barbara McQuade

Publisher: ‎ Seven Stories Press

Recommended by: Steve G.

In The Fix, Barbara McQuade draws on her decades of experience as a federal prosecutor to show us the detrimental effects of a government that uses corruption, cruelty, and chaos as tools of control. As a US Attorney, McQuade became all too familiar with corruption cases, prosecuting former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and Volkswagen, among others. Here, she exposes how rampant corruption and cruelty are being weaponized to manipulate every facet of American life. Weaving together courtroom stories, lessons from history, and real-time legal analysis, McQuade shows how each corrupt offense, each act of cruelty, is a step toward total authoritarianism.

Yet The Fix is not just a critique of power gone awry. McQuade offers clear strategies that ordinary Americans can utilize, from organizing teach-ins and protests to running for local office, to reclaim the rule of law and ensure that elected officials serve the public’s interest, not their own.

Eye-opening and grounded in the author’s abiding faith in the US Constitution to help restore power to the people, The Fix is essential reading for anyone concerned about the future of America and ready to work together to take it back.

Buy

All We Say

The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches

Author: Ben Rhodes
May 26, 2026
Publisher: Random House
Recommended by: Steve G.

What does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide? This sweeping history of the United States told through fifteen speeches relives the battle over American identity, from a New York Times bestselling author and one of President Barack Obama’s former speechwriters.

“At a time of moral and political drift, Ben Rhodes reminds us what American greatness actually sounds like, and what it means.”—Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies

For 250 years, we have debated what it means to be American. This question shaped the compromises in our Constitution and the arguments we’ve been having ever since—spawning abolitionism, secession, and civil war; populism, mass migration, and global leadership; movements for reform and the backlashes to them. In All We Say, Ben Rhodes tells the story of fifteen speeches—some iconic, others long forgotten—which have both shaped and reflected the argument Americans have been having from our founding to the intense divisions of our time.

Through riveting and beautifully rendered accounts of the people, movements, and moments that produced these speeches, Rhodes traces the history of our battle over identity. The result is a singular and revealing portrait of America itself: a nation divided between two stories—one of inheritance, power, and exclusion, the other of equality, striving, and belonging. Drawing on a decade of writing for Barack Obama, Rhodes also shows us how words can redirect a nation, what makes a speech enduring, and why oratory is a unique form of persuasion in American democracy.

From Benjamin Franklin’s call for compromise at the Constitutional Convention, to Alexander Stephens’ case for white supremacy as the cornerstone of the Confederacy; from Martin Luther King’s dream of true equality to Donald Trump’s rallying cry against democracy itself, these speeches remind us that history is a living argument. At a time when American identity—and truth—is contested, All We Say offers a fresh and powerful look at who we really are and who we could still become.

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Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R.

New research sheds light on how mediocre employees help would-be authoritarians maintain power.

By Amanda Taub

Recommended by: Bob B. and Bruce R.

Bob’s Comments

This article on authoritarianism and power shows why the broad topic of “civil discourse” has many dimensions. Which is why IPV has a “Books, Ideas, and Research Committee” to be on the lookout for significant and practical ideas useful for all of us in our democracy-building work.

This is in the NYT this morning, by Amanda Taub, “Actually, Democracy Dies in H.R.” The subtitle is a quick summary of what the article covers: “New research sheds light on how mediocre employees help would-be authoritarians maintain power.”

One could add that the research sheds light, too, on how mediocre citizens can help would-be authoritarians maintain power. So while understanding civil discourse is important, it turns out also to require some understanding of power, what holds a community together, personal incentives, the moral foundations of democratic engagement, etc.

Bruce’s Comments

I think these are the most important parts of the article that point to solutions.

“Making a Career in Dictatorship,” a new book by two German political scientists, Adam Scharpf and Christian Glassel, reads like what you might get if you crossed Hannah Arendt’s ideas about the “banality of evil” with a business school guide on how to get the most out of low performers.

And:

Mr. Glassel and Mr. Scharpf are concerned that President Trump’s planned expansion of ICE, in particular, could make it an ideal venue for “detouring” by ambitious underperformers who could be deployed for anti-democratic purposes. The worry is especially profound given the storming of the Capitol at the end of Mr. Trump’s first term, albeit by a less organized band of loyalists.

The playbook for a leader to create a loyal security service, they said, is to set up or repurpose an institution that can become a “second ladder” for career promotions, resource it generously and ensure that the barriers to getting hired there are low, signaling that it offers career opportunities to those who cannot find them elsewhere.

I’ve read Hannah Arendt’s ideas about the “banality of evil,” but I don’t recall her giving any solutions. This article gives some clues about how to prevent this banality with accountability for individuals. Some obvious preventions:

  1. Abolish ICE and any other organization (e.g., DOGE) that has no oversight or accountability by multiple people or laws.
  2. Make sure there is no “second ladder” shortcut to promotions. Being part of an unaccountable organization should hurt one’s career, not help.
Read the Article

This is an important article, so I archived a PDF copy. You can read it here:

PDF Archive

Stand Up For Science

Recommended by: Stu W.

On May 29, the Office of Management and Budget posted a sweeping regulatory change that will end American science as we know it.

Add Your Comment before July 13

It’s time to fight back! Head to the SUFS Action Center to:

  • Learn how to write public comments
  • Submit YOUR public comment
  • Contact your Members of Congress
  • Learn how to talk about this new proposed rule and why it matters
Take Action NOW!
  • We all have benefited from scientific advances; these rule changes will destroy US science. (Simply stating opposition is worthwhile for the record)
  • Personal and family stories about medical advances: cancer, COVID, overall lifespan and quality of life
  • Importance of accurate weather forecasts
  • The rules will hinder or eliminate publication and collaborations, essential parts of the scientific enterprise in all fields.
  • Ideological political appointees should not have the power to arbitrarily terminate inconvenient research and overrule scientific peer review.
  • Congress appropriates money, and the executive branch cannot arbitrarily decide not to spend it.
  • Congress has some powers to stop this. Contact your reps and senators and simply state opposition to the rules changes. They will note your opposition; you do not have to write a long piece.

About Us

Stand Up For Science is a political activism organization dedicated to defending and advancing America’s scientific ecosystem, a cornerstone of democracy, freedom, and progress.

Founded in February 2025, we came together in response to the Trump Administration’s dismantling of our nation’s premier science institutions and escalating threats to the lives and livelihoods of Americans. We recognized these attacks for what they are: authoritarian power grabs.

We believe that science is the lifeblood of American democracy and freedom. With a bold strategy combining activism, messaging campaigns, grassroots organizing, and political advocacy, we’re mobilizing the fight for science and democracy, now and for generations to come.

Website

Outraged

Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground

By Kurt Gray

Publisher: Pantheon

It’s easy to assume that liberals and conservatives have radically different moral foundations. In Outraged, Kurt Gray showcases the latest science to demonstrate that we all have the same moral mind—that everyone’s moral judgments stem from feeling threatened or vulnerable to harm.

We all care about protecting ourselves and the vulnerable. Conflict arises, however, when we have different perceptions of harm. We get outraged when we disagree about who the “real” victim is, whether we’re talking about political issues, fights with our in-laws, or arguments on the playground.

In this fascinating and insightful tour of our moral minds, Gray tackles popular myths that prevent us from understanding ourselves and those around us. While it is commonly believed that our ancestors were apex predators, Gray argues that for the majority of our evolutionary history, humans were more hunted than hunter. This explains why our minds are hard-wired to perceive threats, and provides surprising insights on the scientific origins of our values and beliefs. Though we might think ourselves driven by objective reasoning, Gray unveils new research that finds our moral judgments are based on gut feelings rather than rational thought, and presents a compelling reminder that we are more alike than we might think.

Drawing on groundbreaking research, Gray provides a captivating new explanation for our moral outrage, and unpacks how to best bridge divides. If you want to understand the morals of the “other side,” ask yourself a simple question—what harms do they see?

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website

The 10 Biggest Myths About Our Economy

By Robert Reich

Recommended by Steve G.

The 10 Biggest Myths About Our Economy

We cannot separate what has happened to working people over the last five decades from the dangerous lure of Trumpism.

To build a path forward, we must debunk these 10 destructive …myths about our rigged economy.Show More
The 10 Biggest Myths About Our Economy
The 10 Biggest Myths About Our Economy
We cannot separate what has happened to working people over the last five decades from the dangerous lure of Trumpism. To build a path forward, we must debunk these 10 destructive myths about our rigged economy.
Myth 1: "Economics is Objective" I 10 Economic Myths Debunked
Myth 1: "Economics is Objective" I 10 Economic Myths Debunked
We are told countless lies about economics. Enough. I’m launching a new 10-week series debunking economic myths. Here’s episode one:
Myth 2: "The Free Market " I 10 Economic Myths Debunked
Myth 2: "The Free Market " I 10 Economic Myths Debunked
PSA: When the powerful say they want a “free market,“ what they actually mean is a market controlled by corporations, Wall Street, and the wealthy.
Do the Rich Work Harder than Everyone Else? I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #3
Do the Rich Work Harder than Everyone Else? I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #3
No, rich people do not work harder than everyone else. Wealth doesn’t measure a person’s work ethic or what they deserve. It measures how well our economic system has been manipulated in their favor.
How Legalized Bribery Works in America I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #4
How Legalized Bribery Works in America I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #4
“Corporate political donations are free speech.” Give me a break. Corporate political donations are legalized bribery, plain and simple. Watch more Debunking videos now: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOLArO56vjuqAau4sUzeF4_KQmdMBBUCg
Why the "Free Market" Isn't Really Free I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #5
Why the "Free Market" Isn't Really Free I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #5
The rich would prefer you to believe that the free market is subject to the immutable law of supply and demand. Baloney! For years, the wealthy and powerful have manipulated the market for their own gain. There is nothing “free” about it.
The Lie That Costs Americans Their Jobs I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #6
The Lie That Costs Americans Their Jobs I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #6
My old boss Bill Clinton called globalization “the economic equivalent of a force of nature, like wind or water.” Here’s what I have to say about that. Watch the rest of my Debunking series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOLArO56vjuqAau4sUzeF4_KQmdMBBUCg
The Real Welfare in America I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #7
The Real Welfare in America I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #7
The Wells Fargo exec overseeing their customer account scam got a $125 million exit package. Meanwhile, most Americans who lose their jobs get only limited unemployment benefits. When I say we have socialism for the rich, harsh capitalism for the rest, this is what I mean. Watch the rest of my Debunking series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOLArO56vjuqAau4sUzeF4_KQmdMBBUCg
The Job Creation Hoax I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #8 | Robert Reich
The Job Creation Hoax I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #8 | Robert Reich
I’m so tired of people pretending the rich are “job creators.” Here’s who’s really creating jobs. Watch the rest of my Debunking series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOLArO56vjuqAau4sUzeF4_KQmdMBBUCg
You've Been Lied to About Inflation I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #9
You've Been Lied to About Inflation I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #9
Angry about airfares? Airlines merged from 12 carriers in 1980 to 4 today. Upset about grocery prices? 3 companies control 70% of grocery sales in 167 cities. Mad about drug prices? A handful of drug companies control the pharmaceutical industry. Monopolies are the problem. Watch the rest of my Debunking series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOLArO56vjuqAau4sUzeF4_KQmdMBBUCg
Is Economic Growth Always Good? I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #10
Is Economic Growth Always Good? I 10 Economic Myths Debunked #10
Think endless economic growth is always good? Think again. Watch the rest of my Debunking series here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOLArO56vjuqAau4sUzeF4_KQmdMBBUCg
Why Did Some Support a Fascist for President? | 10 Economic Myths Debunked BONUS
Why Did Some Support a Fascist for President? | 10 Economic Myths Debunked BONUS
Trump isn’t the cause of all of America’s problems — he’s a symptom. He’s the product of years of stagnant wages, big money’s corruption of democracy, and a history rooted in racism. If we want to reduce the lure of authoritarianism – we need to address its root causes.

Ad Fontes Media

simple-chart-websites-sept-26

Ad Fontes Media is a public benefit corporation based in Colorado. Being a public benefit corporation means we are a for-profit business with a stated public mission, which is to rate all the news to positively transform society.

Fundamentally, we want to help bring people together. Misleading, inaccurate, and highly polarizing media content has driven so many of us apart. This affects everything from our familial relationships to our ability to create legislative solutions to our biggest challenges. 

Ad Fontes is Latin for “to the source,” because at the heart of what Ad Fontes Media does is look at the source—analyze the very content itself—to rate it.

What We Do? We Rate the News

The information landscape is vast and noisy. We’re here to help you sort through it by rating sources for reliability and bias. Obviously, people have lots of different thoughts about how reliable and biased various news sources are, so we do everything we can to earn your trust.

INteractive Media Bias Chart

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Corruptible

Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us

By: Brian Klaas

Publisher: Scribner

Recommended by: Bruce R.

Does power corrupt, or are corrupt people drawn to power? Are tyrants made or born? Are entrepreneurs who embezzle and cops who kill the result of poorly designed systems or are they just bad people? If you were suddenly thrust into a position of power, would you be able to resist the temptation to line your pockets or seek revenge against your enemies?

To answer these questions, Corruptible draws on over 500 interviews with some of the world’s top leaders—from the noblest to the dirtiest—including presidents and philanthropists as well as rebels, cultists, and dictators. Some of the fascinating insights include: how facial appearance determines who we pick as leaders, why narcissists make more money, why some people don’t want power at all and others are drawn to it out of a psychopathic impulse, and why being the “beta” (second in command) may actually be the optimal place for health and well-being.

Corruptible also features a wealth of counterintuitive examples from history and social science: you’ll meet the worst bioterrorist in American history, hit the slopes with a ski instructor who once ruled Iraq, and learn why the inability of chimpanzees to play baseball is central to the development of human hierarchies.

How Fascism Works

The Politics of Us and Them

By: Jason Stanley

Publisher: ‎ Random House Publishing Group

Recommended by: Steve G.

As a scholar of philosophy and propaganda and the child of refugees of WWII Europe, Jason Stanley has long understood that democratic societies, including the United States, can be vulnerable to fascism. In How Fascism Works, he identifies ten pillars of fascist politics—an appeal to the mythic past, propaganda, anti-intellectualism, unreality, hierarchy, victimhood, law and order, sexual anxiety, favoring “the heartland,” and a dismantling of public goods and unions—that amount to an urgent diagnosis of the tactics right-wing politicians use to break down democracies and a critical lens on the current moment.

Stanley knits together reflections on history, philosophy, sociology, and critical race theory with stories from contemporary Hungary, Poland, India, Myanmar, and the United States, among other nations, making clear the immense dangers of language and beliefs that separate people into an “us” and a “them.” By uncovering disturbing patterns that are as prevalent today as ever, Stanley reveals that the stuff of politics—rhetoric and myth—can become policy and reality all too quickly. Only by recognizing them, he argues, can we begin to resist their most harmful effects and return to democratic ideals.

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Central Valley Matters

Central Valley Matters is a coalition of organizations in California working to strengthen democracy and activate the electorate. We started as a group of volunteers who actively participated in the congressional elections in the Central Valley starting in 2018, and have grown into an alliance of volunteer groups focused on fundraising and supporting selected local, grassroots organizations in the Central Valley. For activism in the communities of the Central Valley to be sustained, it must be developed organically by and for the people who live there.

Central Valley Matters is dedicated to supporting locally based grassroots organizations that know their communities best and can be most responsive to their needs, and translate that into political power. Such support is a proven and crucial strategy for preserving our democracy, as was evident in Georgia and Arizona in 2020. We believe that when community voices are heard through voting, they are better represented at all levels of government. And our country is better for it.

Currently, our coalition of over 40 California volunteer groups helps to fund civic engagement in the Central Valley, supporting our carefully vetted grassroots organizations based in CA’s CD 22:
Community Water Center Action Fund, Dolores Huerta Action Fund, Poder Latinx, plus Delano Guardians, Loud for Tomorrow & Valley Voices.

Visit their website
Donate

Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed

The Story of the Village of Le Chambon and How Goodness Happened There

By: Philip P. Hallie

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Recommended by: Linda H.

“The story of Le Chambon, a Huguenot village in France that saved Jews during WWII, has lived in my heart for years. Imagine my shock and joy to find a You Tube featuring the village as I scrolled through Heather Cox Richardosn’s second traunch of 250 for 250.”

During the most terrible years of World War II, when inhumanity and political insanity held most of the world in their grip and the Nazi domination of Europe seemed irrevocable and unchallenged, a miraculous event took place in a small Protestant town in southern France called Le Chambon. There, quietly, peacefully, and in full view of the Vichy government and a nearby division of the Nazi SS, Le Chambon’s villagers and their clergy organized to save thousands of Jewish children and adults from certain death.

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