Daily Resource Highlight - 12/05/2022
Posted by on December 05, 2022 at 4:48 PM
Below are the highlights and featured resources of this past week’s Daily* Resource.
November 29, 2022 - Giving Tuesday: Building the #JediTableFund
Thanksgiving brought a great diversity of Americans together at tables throughout the nation last week, and that’s beautiful. We hope you had a wonderful time with your family and/or friends. Today, we offer you the opportunity to co-create that feeling of connection for America of on #GivingTuesday.
As you know, the metaphorical American table, where decisions are made, is not nearly as diverse as the Thanksgiving table. Young people continue to be woefully underrepresented among legislators and group affiliations continue to pull us apart on issues ranging from religion to race. Meanwhile, a recent, large-scale survey conducted by Public Agenda showed that nearly ⅓ of Americans feel “completely politically alienated.”
In other words, while Thanksgiving brought together an incredible array of beliefs, ideals, and values at the table, our democracy hasn’t done so well.
That’s why Bridge Alliance is building a table that will honor the ideological, racial/ethnic, gender, and generational diversity that makes America uniquely strong. We’re calling it the #JediTableFund and we hope you will join us as we construct this new table that will honor and harness America’s incredible array of beliefs, ideals, and values to propel us forward.
JEDI stands for Justice, Equity, Dignity and Inclusion. It’s a fun acronym, but more importantly, it’s our operating system (click the link to learn more). And with your help, we plan to use these principles to foster social cohesion. So, will you join us? All donations will be matched at 50% by a generous donor.
December 1, 2022 - Taking A Look Back at the Midterms with Another Election Soon
Next Tuesday, the results of the Georgia Senate Run-Off Election will determine the final balance of power in a narrowly divided U.S. Senate (hello deja vu).
In anticipation of that race, let’s take a quick look back at the midterms (now that the dust has mostly settled):
- Mail ballots played a huge role this year, accounting for approximately ⅓ of all votes. Also, according to National Vote at Home Institute, 36% of Americans now have a ballot automatically delivered to them every election. Click for much, much more information.
- R Street has ideas on how Republicans can be productive with their narrow House majority. Most of the suggestions are aimed at increasing transparency and trust, and improving the functionality of the institution.
- Two of America’s most sought after political consultants (one Republican, one Democrat) joined Common Ground Committee for a special podcast episode about what the midterms told us and what’s next.
And looking forward, R Street is still pushing hard for better election funding. America’s electoral system, or more accurately its ~10k electoral systems, continue to be woefully underfunded. R Street’s paper urges Congress to provide more funding, and in regular intervals, to ensure the integrity, security, and efficiency of elections. They also have ideas on how to save money at the state and local level.
Finally, we always have to be on the guard against election conspiracy theories. Issue One’s new Swamp Stories podcast episode is about debunking 2020 election denier lies, and AllSides has an always useful article about how to avoid falling victim to misinformation.
Featured
- Allsides (Blog) November 28: When the 2024 Campaign Starts Early
- American Democracy Project (Video) November 16th: Advancing Campus-Community Partnerships Through Data: Trends and Reflections From an AASCU Cohort
- Bill Track 50 (Blog) November 22nd: Tracking Plastic Packaging Bills
- Braver Angels (Video) November 22nd: What’s your ‘red line’? | Jonathan Haidt with Mónica Guzmán
- Business for America (Blog) November 22nd: Election 2022 Debrief: Democracy on the Ballot
- Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (Blog) November 22nd: Student Loan Pause Could Cost $275 Billion
- Common Ground Committee/USC Center for a Political Future (Video) November 17: Finding Common Ground on the State of our Democracy
- Former Members of Congress (Press Release) November 16th: Ross Joins Congressional Study Group On Europe As New House Democratic Co-Chair
- Interactivity Foundation (Blog) November 17th: Just Imagine…Keeping our Word as a Nation
- Millennial Action Project (Blog) November 16th: Future of Work Advisory Council Roundtables
- National Civic League (Blog) November 28th: Midterm Elections: Youth Make a Difference
- R Street Institute (Report) November 16th: Enhancing Security and Integrity Through Rethinking Election Funding | R Street
- Student Governmental Affairs Program (Newsletter) November 14th: SGAP Newsletter for December 2022 (Social Media + Minimum Wage)
- Student Governmental Affairs Program (Blog) November 28th: 2022 Impact Survey Flyer
- Vote at Home Institute (Blog) November 18th: Mailed-out ballots hit 35% of all votes cast in the 2022 general election