"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union..."

I have been working on advocacy and action items for RISE Together NC, and this has been a singular week, as Congress came into session, Trump went to war with the intelligence community, and the fights to save Obamacare and to block Cabinet appointees heated up.

I often see posts and comments on line that wonder, "isn't the ACLU going to do something about this?" Or, "where have the Democrats been?" My answer is always: if you are asking out loud about who should take action, look in the mirror and answer your own question. Yes, there are any number of advocacy groups that are working hard on all the issues you care about. But they don't have the resources or speed to respond the way ordinary, fed-up citizens can. They don't have you.

As word broke early in the week that the House GOP had secretly met to scrap independent ethics oversight, a small team got to work crafting a call script, a meme, and a few tweets. Armed with these tools, and a handy list of contact numbers compiled by anonymous RISE members, callers across the state began flooding Congressional offices first thing in the morning. We can never know how much of an actual impact we made, since similar groups were working across the country, and a tweet by the Donald has taken much of the credit. However, citizen activism has been widely cited in media outlets across the world for cowing the GOP into submission on this issue. Not surprisingly, they are taking steps to blitz through controversial Cabinet nominees such as Jeff Sessions by packing them together on the same day, and by limiting opposition party questioning and media scrutiny.

Another strain of comment I see often online goes something like this: "You guys are wasting your time. Richard Burr will never change his mind." Sadly, this is probably in fact true. You don't get to be a powerful Senator without strongly held positions, and even a cursory look at Burr's campaign finances and his voting record will show whose pocket he's in. Yet, Burr's heart is not my concern.

The reasons to make our voices heard are manifold. First, we must never forget to remind ourselves and our elected officials that they work for us. "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union..." Second, as the ethics panel debacle proved, politicians really are sensitive to public outcry, particularly when they are made to look greedy, mean-spirited, and overtly partisan. In this case, as the country nervously awaits the installment of the most ethically challenged President-elect in our history, Congress' choosing as its first act to gut an oversight board was, as they say, bad optics. Third, each time we respond to a crisis, we build our capacity to do this work. The fastest, most competent, and above all, the most hard working and dedicated activists keep stepping up, and keep finding one another. Great resources come in from other groups, strategies are discussed, script writing and Twitter techniques are refined. This is a long game, and we need to keep building our capacity.

The final reason to press hard on action items is the sense of purpose, pride, and solidarity gained by facing the menace together with like-minded and virtuous colleagues. Many have buried their head in the sand since that fateful day in November. Not me. I rolled up my sleeves and got to work, reading, writing, and reaching out. If we the people really are the heart of what government is supposed to be, then there has never been a time in memory that called for such direct action. We make our voices heard so that those in power may heed us. But even more importantly, we call out to each other across the great sea of fake news, bigoted opinions, skepticism, doubt, and distraction. We say, to ourselves, each other, and the world: this matters.