Wednesday, November 16, 2016

An important request

We have to keep our hope alive, always. And never, ever give up.

Hi fellow MoveOn member,

This is Justin Ruben—I was the Organizing Director at MoveOn while George W. Bush was president. I run a parents organizing group these days. I’m writing you today to say few things:

First, it’s important that we don’t lose hope. It’s okay to cry and mourn and hug our loved ones closer. But the worst thing people of good conscience can do is become “lost in the wilderness” while the radical right runs roughshod over everything we believe in. So yes, we should mourn. And think about what went wrong. And how we can do better next time. But we have to keep our hope alive, always. And never, ever give up.

Second, we don’t always win, even if we are on the right side of history. But our ongoing work makes more wins possible. While I was at MoveOn in 2004, we ran what was at the time the biggest people-powered campaign ever to stop the re-election of President Bush. We worked so hard, but we came up short. It was heartbreaking. But we picked ourselves up and still kept at it. Two years later, we took back the House and Senate. Two years after that, we helped elect Barack Obama president.

We were only able to do these things because we never, ever gave up and never stopped organizing. Our work together paved the pathway to taking back Congress, ending the war, and electing President Obama for eight years.

Which leads me to my third point, which is: We’re going to need to organize harder and do more than we ever have before. Donald Trump is a unique threat to our democracy, and MoveOn now has its most important mission ever, one we never imagined we'd face. Those of us who are women, immigrants, refugees, Black people, Muslims, LGBT Americans, Latinos, and so many others are under even greater threat. Our typical efforts won't be enough. Which is why I have an important request:

Can you chip in $7 a month to MoveOn? Your ongoing support will help build the momentum we'll need to stop Donald Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress from tearing our country apart.

Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.

Thanks for all you do.

—Justin Ruben
Board President, MoveOn.org Civic Action

Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your ongoing support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?

Yes, I'll chip $7 a month.

No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.


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