The majority of state legislatures and Governors in this country are controlled by Republicans.
Even if your state legislators have some neocons/shills in their midst we must start taking action at the state and local levels regardless of what happens with our bloated and inept federal government.
I plan to get a lot more involved in politics at the state level as I am in a state controlled entirely by Republicans though my city (like all cities) is controlled by Democrats.
Here are some things to know about state government (some of this may vary depending on the state):
Your state rep/senator does not read the emails sent to them-- This is normally done by a legislative aide (LA). LAs are typically 20-30 somethings who are in their first/early careers in politics. These are the gatekeepers to you reaching your rep/senator being courteous and polite to these people goes a long way to getting your voice heard by your state government.
If you receive a positive response from your rep/senator's LA (they will typically speak with the rep and if they find the issue to be worthy pass on your letter for the rep to read or summarize it for them) the next step would be for the LA to pass on a request to your state's Legislative Services Commission.
These are the people with law degrees that specialize in crafting the specific verbage of the legislation being proposed. My state has a web portal where you can see the language of bills that are entering committee (I assume most if not all states have one of these) You can also politely ask the LA you've been in contact with for updates.
If the bill passes committee it will be brought to the floor for a vote. If it passes, it will land on the Governor's desk to be signed.
The bottom line here is that we are in a fight for our survival, we need to start primarying Republicans that want to sit comfortably in their office and continue to LOSE
These people are not accustomed to ordinary citizens engaging with them on policy. They spend most of their time meeting with lobbyists and NGOs that are advocating for legislation that benefits them and their clients.
We need to get off our asses and become our own lobbyists on behalf of all FREE Americans. We can not afford to lose our rights because we were too lazy and comfortable to fight for change in the areas we can.
My next effort will be on improving election security even though my state handled our election well.
Letter Below. Any feedback or constructive criticism welcome.
Rep. ________ & Staff,
I write to you today as a young republican and one of your constituents urging you to sponsor legislation that would prevent the state of _______ from awarding or renewing contracts with the following firms and to divest all state funds from:
- Apple Inc.
- Amazon Inc. (Amazon Web Services in particular)
- Alphabet Inc. including Google and all other subsidiaries
- Facebook Inc. and its subsidiaries including Instagram, Oculus, etc.
- Twitter Inc.
The DOJ and FTC have repeatedly failed to adequately investigate several of the aforementioned firms for possible breach of antitrust law, and the US congress has failed to take necessary action to curb their collusive behavior in limiting the speech of individuals with whom they disagree with politically via reforming Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (1996)
These firms-- Emboldened by an incoming Democrat majority government have begun to take unprecedented action in colluding to block the current President of the United States, several members of the 117th Congress, and tens of thousands of law abiding Americans for the act of expressing their views in public. Virtually all of the individuals de-platformed by these firms are ideologically conservative, and a significant number of them hold largely mainstream views shared by millions of other Americans. Meanwhile, these same platforms operating under the legal protections afforded to them via Section 230 have permitted foreign totalitarian states to defend genocide, permitted countless calls for violence during the summer of 2020 from public figures and politicians in defense of Black Lives Matter including in the month long siege of a federal courthouse in Portland wherein which multiple IEDs and high powered laser pointers were used against Federal agents with the intent to kill or maim, and frequently promote Antisemitists and radical ideologies including critical race theory which is openly and undeniably racist and in opposition to the values of this country and its constitution.
Perhaps a time may come when SCOTUS hears a case regarding the regulation of these platforms as common carriers due to their prevalence in our society and the inherent economic damage an individual faces if collectively barred from these services as they have publicly admitted to colluding on banning high profile individuals, however, at this very moment our only recourse against the tyrannical behavior of these firms is through our state and local governments.
Previously it was believed by many conservatives while defending the the "Free Market" and freedom of association that it was within the rights of these firms to ban users they deemed unsavory, however with recent actions taken by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apple, and numerous payment processors including VISA, Mastercard, and PayPal. Against new competing services built with strong intentions of preserving free speech such as Gab and Parler to block web hosting services, app store placement and even ability to process payment (all being essential to operate any such tech platform) There is no doubt in my mind that the state government of Ohio must take what action it can to show these firms and their shareholders that they will face the economic costs of these practices they share with totalitarian governments. These are publicly traded firms-- Virtually all Americans who have an IRA, 401k or are employees of a state are invested in these firms and are shareholders. We must vote with our dollars.
The state of Florida has already taken the first step in doing this. The impact will be far greater if a number of states follow suit. Attached below is an image of Rep. Randy Fine's letter to Governor Ron DeSantis.
I ask you Rep. __________ will you take decisive action to protect freedom of speech where our Federal Government has failed? Or will you wait until the day these platforms have banned you, your family, and businesses you own for your values and affiliations.