What Democracy Looks Like: Packed Town Halls and Demands to Be Heard
'I look out into an audience like this, I just kind of think to myself, the founding fathers would say this is what we worked so hard for,' says Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon
Recess resistance rolled on this weekend, with people packing town hall meetings across the country and constituents increasing the pressure on lawmakers who won't commit to facing voters head-on.
Roughly 800 people attended Rep. Karen Bass' (D-Calif.) town hall meeting in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, raising concerns about the Affordable Care Act, immigration, and President Donald Trump's right-wing agenda.
"I think we should all be extremely concerned," local resident Maya Zapata told news station KABC. "It's pretty scary stuff that we're hearing and it's really unprecedented."
Further north, in Eugene, Oregon, a whopping 2,000 people filled a community college auditorium to hear Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) talk. "When I look out into an audience like this, I just kind of think to myself, the founding fathers would say this is what we worked so hard for," Wyden told the crowd.
These shows of force came on the heels of similarly impressive crowds that showed up to town halls in Illinois, New York, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and elsewhere on Saturday--and ahead of a week of coordinated resistance during lawmakers' Congressional recess.
To that end, constituents are bearing down on Republicans and Democrats alike, demanding they make time to hear from voters during a period known as "District Days." To assist, the Indivisible movement, which is spearheading the #ReclaimRecess campaign, has created a "Missing Members of Congress Action Plan."
From a rally outside Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) mansion on Sunday afternoon to a "mock town hall" targeting Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) on Sunday evening, the resistance is working to call attention to congresspeople who appear to be dodging their responsibilities as elected officials--in some cases, going so far as to set up the meeting themselves.
When that doesn't work, as in Bryan-College Station, Texas, on Sunday, the crowd isn't deterred. Though Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) wasn't able to attend the event set up by the local Indivisible chapter, the audience "recorded their questions on a video that will be sent to Flores's office," according to The Eagle newspaper.
And on Monday morning, after constituents chanted for a town hall outside Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-Ohio) tour of former President Warren Harding's home, the congressman agreed to take questions. Watch below:
Rachel Maddow tackled the topic on her show Friday night:
Find a town hall near you at the Town Hall Project website.
Follow hometown resistance efforts under the hashtags #ResistanceRecess and #ReclaimRecess:
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just two days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Recess resistance rolled on this weekend, with people packing town hall meetings across the country and constituents increasing the pressure on lawmakers who won't commit to facing voters head-on.
Roughly 800 people attended Rep. Karen Bass' (D-Calif.) town hall meeting in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, raising concerns about the Affordable Care Act, immigration, and President Donald Trump's right-wing agenda.
"I think we should all be extremely concerned," local resident Maya Zapata told news station KABC. "It's pretty scary stuff that we're hearing and it's really unprecedented."
Further north, in Eugene, Oregon, a whopping 2,000 people filled a community college auditorium to hear Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) talk. "When I look out into an audience like this, I just kind of think to myself, the founding fathers would say this is what we worked so hard for," Wyden told the crowd.
These shows of force came on the heels of similarly impressive crowds that showed up to town halls in Illinois, New York, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and elsewhere on Saturday--and ahead of a week of coordinated resistance during lawmakers' Congressional recess.
To that end, constituents are bearing down on Republicans and Democrats alike, demanding they make time to hear from voters during a period known as "District Days." To assist, the Indivisible movement, which is spearheading the #ReclaimRecess campaign, has created a "Missing Members of Congress Action Plan."
From a rally outside Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) mansion on Sunday afternoon to a "mock town hall" targeting Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) on Sunday evening, the resistance is working to call attention to congresspeople who appear to be dodging their responsibilities as elected officials--in some cases, going so far as to set up the meeting themselves.
When that doesn't work, as in Bryan-College Station, Texas, on Sunday, the crowd isn't deterred. Though Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) wasn't able to attend the event set up by the local Indivisible chapter, the audience "recorded their questions on a video that will be sent to Flores's office," according to The Eagle newspaper.
And on Monday morning, after constituents chanted for a town hall outside Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-Ohio) tour of former President Warren Harding's home, the congressman agreed to take questions. Watch below:
Rachel Maddow tackled the topic on her show Friday night:
Find a town hall near you at the Town Hall Project website.
Follow hometown resistance efforts under the hashtags #ResistanceRecess and #ReclaimRecess:
Recess resistance rolled on this weekend, with people packing town hall meetings across the country and constituents increasing the pressure on lawmakers who won't commit to facing voters head-on.
Roughly 800 people attended Rep. Karen Bass' (D-Calif.) town hall meeting in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday, raising concerns about the Affordable Care Act, immigration, and President Donald Trump's right-wing agenda.
"I think we should all be extremely concerned," local resident Maya Zapata told news station KABC. "It's pretty scary stuff that we're hearing and it's really unprecedented."
Further north, in Eugene, Oregon, a whopping 2,000 people filled a community college auditorium to hear Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) talk. "When I look out into an audience like this, I just kind of think to myself, the founding fathers would say this is what we worked so hard for," Wyden told the crowd.
These shows of force came on the heels of similarly impressive crowds that showed up to town halls in Illinois, New York, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and elsewhere on Saturday--and ahead of a week of coordinated resistance during lawmakers' Congressional recess.
To that end, constituents are bearing down on Republicans and Democrats alike, demanding they make time to hear from voters during a period known as "District Days." To assist, the Indivisible movement, which is spearheading the #ReclaimRecess campaign, has created a "Missing Members of Congress Action Plan."
From a rally outside Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) mansion on Sunday afternoon to a "mock town hall" targeting Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas) on Sunday evening, the resistance is working to call attention to congresspeople who appear to be dodging their responsibilities as elected officials--in some cases, going so far as to set up the meeting themselves.
When that doesn't work, as in Bryan-College Station, Texas, on Sunday, the crowd isn't deterred. Though Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas) wasn't able to attend the event set up by the local Indivisible chapter, the audience "recorded their questions on a video that will be sent to Flores's office," according to The Eagle newspaper.
And on Monday morning, after constituents chanted for a town hall outside Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-Ohio) tour of former President Warren Harding's home, the congressman agreed to take questions. Watch below:
Rachel Maddow tackled the topic on her show Friday night:
Find a town hall near you at the Town Hall Project website.
Follow hometown resistance efforts under the hashtags #ResistanceRecess and #ReclaimRecess: