On January 21 of this year, we stood in solidarity with the Women’s March in Washington DC, joining and hosting events from Japan to Ecuador, Germany to Australia, and everywhere in between. Today, we’re more fired up than ever, but what exactly have we been up to? Well, a lot…
Here are our top six moments since the start of the Trump Administration.
1. We rallied around the world for women.
And for civil rights. And the environment. And truth. And science. We marched, rallied, and took to the streets to make noise everywhere we could in defense of the American values we believe in.
We even joined forces with Indivisibles-France and PAGE-Paris to speak out against Trump’s policies during his recent visit to Paris.
2. We helped G-O-T-V.
With our Get Out The Vote volunteers making over a thousand calls to voters this year, we’ll take just a little credit for the major swing to the left seen in the federal special elections. Stay active, Dems: Results like that next year would mean a clear majority in the House, and we’ll need all the help we can!
(Psst: if you agree that voter turn out is critical for 2018, sign up now to support our Get Out The Vote team!)
3. We took your concerns to Washington.
When we committed to holding the 2017 Annual General Meeting in DC last year, we envisioned a rosier picture of the nation’s capital. But by the time May rolled around, there was a lot of work to do. Amid global meetings, elections, and Congressional door knocking, we discussed key DA issues with Sen Gillibrand (NY), Representative Raskin (MD), Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC). We also had valuable meetings with DNC leaders Michael Blake and Larry Cohen, and state Democratic Party leaders.
We also shared the spotlight with Representative Maloney (NY) on a special episode of Democrats LIVE hosted by Deputy Chair Keith Ellison.
4. We spoke out for fairer taxes.
Democrats Abroad launched a grassroots campaign in support of Residency Based Taxation (RBT), including a Congressional call storm, letter writing campaign and major lobbying efforts. We believe the launch produced thousands of calls, letters, postcards and emails to Congress asking for their support.
Our efforts continue with a submission just last week to the Senate Finance Committee in response to an invitation from SFC Chairman Senator Orrin Hatch. We will be carefully following the work of Congressional Republicans on tax reform and will reach out to leadership with important developments and opportunities for tax activism. We look forward to your support for a new research project that we hope will help demonstrate the difficulties US taxation causes Americans abroad.
5. We launched Resistance Summer.
Our initial residence based taxation activities marked the launch of Resistance Summer, complementing activity by the Democratic Party mobilizing our members and making our voices heard back home.
We’ve also held postcard writing campaigns, spoken out in support of the Paris Accord and called, wrote, faxed and messaged Congress to save healthcare in America, voiced our stance on net neutrality, and “welcomed” 45 on his visits to Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, and Italy.
As the summer continues, so will our actions, so stay tuned!
6. We showed our PRIDE.
We’ve celebrated and rallied at local and global events to call attention to LGBT equality around the world. As a clear reminder that love is love, everywhere, even under 45.
It’s been a long six months, but as we continue to make progress and see our members persistent and invigorated, it only inspires us to push forward. With 468 days until midterms, we’ve got a lot more work to do.
March on!