Daily Resource Highlight - 08/22/2022

Posted by on August 22, 2022 at 3:46 PM

Below are the highlights and featured resources of this past week’s Daily* Resource.

August 18, 2022 - Debilyn Interview Echoes CGC’s Attributes; Mobile Voting and RepresentWomen Need Your Help!

Our CEO Debilyn Molineaux was recently interviewed by Fox45News in Baltimore about the need to discuss politics with people that think differently. Her comments and advice echoed many of the Ten Attributes of Common Grounders put together by Common Ground Committee, including the need to actively listen and not just try to “win” the discussion.

Turning Listening and Understanding into Solutions

Listening and understanding isn’t the end goal, though. While it’s nice to get along, what we need as a country are solutions to our most pressing problems (which the Ten Attributes emphasize multiple times). That’s what makes the Convergence Center for Policy Resolution’s work so powerful. Convergence has an impressive track record of bringing together powerful stakeholders to develop mutually beneficial solutions for high-stakes problems.

In their latest press release, Convergence announced that they are convening experts and stakeholders to help working families navigate the fallout from the pandemic. As their working paper makes clear, there is a lot of agreement among conservatives and progressives about the problems, and we are excited to see the solutions that come out of this project.

Getting Solutions on the Agenda

And once we find good solutions, we need to act on them. In a democratic republic like ours, action is often spurred by awareness. That’s why RepresentWomen, Mobile Voting, and Veterans for Political Innovation (VPI) are asking you to support their panel suggestions for SXSW 2023. 

For RepresentWomen, they want your votes for “3 Reforms to Build Women's Political Power Now” and “Solutions to Increasing Women's Representation.” For Mobile Voting, the two panels are “Voting is a Civil Rights Issue” and “Low Turnout in Texas Primaries and How to Fix it.” And for VPI it’s “Can Innovation & Entrepreneurs Save Our Elections?.”

These panels would bring the Movement to millions and help empower them as Americans. You will need to register to vote, but registration just takes a couple minutes (I just did it!). And make sure to vote soon….voting will close on August 21st.

August 19, 2022 - CRFB and R Street Push Against Popular Reforms; Civic Influencers is Hiring Big Time

Prior to 1913, U.S. Senators were elected by state legislatures. The thinking was that Senators should act independently and not just follow the whims of the people. The 17th Amendment changed that by implementing direct elections.

So what do you do if you’re a Senator? Do you still try to act “in the best interests” of the country? Or do you vote with an eye toward reelection? In the ideal world, your constituents want what you think is best, but, of course, that’s not always the case.

Standing Up for Student Debt (kidding, kind of)

A majority of my fellow millennials have at least some college education, which means that many of us have significant college debt. Back at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal student loan payments were “paused,” and now many are pressuring the Biden administration to cancel student debt.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) is firmly against cancellation or even a continued pause. CRFB argues that cancellation would wipe out the Inflation Reduction Act’s deficit reduction and would also worsen inflation. They’ve also argued that cancellation would increase the wealth gap.

Also Standing Up for Big Tech (also kidding, kind of)

Meanwhile, tech giants like Apple and Google have faced a lot of scrutiny because of their significant presence in our lives. That has led to efforts to curb their power, including legislation to open the smartphone app market. R Street believes this would be a major mistake, as Google and Apple have done a great job of screening out glitchy and malicious apps.

So what should a Senator do on these issues? Is it worth it to take an unpopular stance and put your reputation and possible reelection at risk? Or do you side with “the people,” possibly to their own detriment (assuming the warnings are actually true).

An Easier Decision – Empowering Students

Or you can avoid these tough decisions and work for an organization like Civic Influencers, whose mission is to empower college students and help them become active citizens. Civic Influencers is expanding rapidly, and they are looking for talented individuals to fill a variety of positions. You can apply by clicking “Learn more” under each job description, or email the CEO Maxim Thorne at [email protected] for more information.

Featured