Eating Elephants

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The Republicans figured out something a long time ago — decades ago. They didn’t have to take over our country in one fell swoop. They just had to get hold of several states and start using them as playgrounds for the millionaires and billionaires. They worked their fascist ways into government by taking over states — by quite literally buying politicians and providing bills and legislation. Eventually, when you’ve stacked the “red” states with cronies and politicians willing to do the bidding of donors, you’ve got yourself a winning strategy.

Easy.

And, do you know how we win back our democracy and our rights? By following their lead, starting in the reddest states, and ripping away power from the GOP state by state.

A packed JFK Dinner, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. May 30, 2024.

I spent most of my life as a teacher and I never thought I would be travelling the country speaking to groups of Democrats, but here I am. I’ve spoken at events with as many as 500 people and I’ve driven hours to meet with 15 people in a church basement. When a group calls, I try my best to make it. No matter the state or the size of the crowd.

Recently, I was invited to speak to the Minnehaha Democrats in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. When I walked into the event space at the Old Courthouse, I felt like I was transported back to the courtroom scene in To Kill A Mockingbird. There was even a balcony space — in the novel, the Black community was relegated to this space. Of course, we all know the tragic end of that court case.

When I looked in the corner of the courthouse room, I saw there still sat a witness stand. I was surprised to see it was circular shaped and low to the ground. The room was enveloped in wood and the windows had to be 8 or 10 feet high, stacked two windows high.

But here’s more: one of the hosts of the Democratic event told me a story about the courthouse, and of women, and something called “The Divorce Colony.” It turns out that East Coast women moved to Sioux Falls between a 20-year period at the turn of the century to end their marriages because of South Dakota’s lax divorce laws. They had to become a resident of the state for three months and could then apply to divorce their husbands at a time when that would be very difficult in most states.

I kind of love that story.

Sioux Falls is in a very red state with a GOP supermajority, but the town itself is a little blue bastion. The falls are beautiful and the downtown is packed with restaurants and shopping and…listen to this, I saw Pride flags and BLM signs.

I have a friend who lives in Sioux Falls who attended the event with me. She asked me before the event if I have to research and change my talk for each state…oh, friend. No. I’m speaking in red states and they are all controlled by the same people with the same bills and the same donors and the same talking discrimination and hatred and harmful legislation.

Missouri sent the National Guard to the Southern border for a political stunt. So did South Dakota. Missouri refused millions in federal funds to feed hungry kids in the summer. So did South Dakota. Missouri banned abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. So did South Dakota.

So did Iowa. So did Florida. So did Texas. So did…

I am speaking to the choir at most of these events, but here’s the thing…it’s hard to be a Democrat in a GOP-dominated state. It’s hard to stand up and speak out when you feel you are in the minority. In fact, it isn’t always safe, but we do it anyway. That’s why I go and speak and plead with red state Democrats to be louder. We are safer in numbers, especially in rural spaces.

I act as a cheerleader most of the time. I’m not telling anyone anything they don’t already know — we all know what we should be doing, but it’s a slog. It’s exhausting to fight so many fights in red states. We feel like our head is on a swivel waiting for the next horrible bill to pass. I am in this fight too, and I know the feeling.

Inaction is action.

For so long, we have let red states and red districts atrophy. Democrats have looked at states like Missouri and said, “that state is too red” and decided to only support swing states. How is that working out for us?

Red states are the playgrounds of the wealthy and corporations. They use our AGs and our Secretaries of State and our legislators to create bills and test out legislation. They are metaphorically throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. And if it sticks? They will use it in every red state in a bid to make harmful laws nation-wide. The GOP works with the wealthy through groups like ALEC to do these things.

Through the corporate-funded American Legislative Exchange Council, corporations and state politicians vote behind closed doors to try to rewrite state laws that govern your rights. These so-called "model bills" reach into almost every area of American life and often directly benefit huge corporations.

In ALEC's own words, corporations have "a VOICE and a VOTE" on specific changes to the law that are then proposed in your state.

Did you know that red states are actually writing policies for all of the states? The Mississippi case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturned the federal right to an abortion returning reproductive rights to the states. That case, like so many others, went before a Supreme Court that was handpicked by billionaire donors. The folks who brought the case got the ruling they wanted and now we will see a wave of cases trying to overturn everything from gay marriage to school funding to union membership.

The only way we fight back is to run everywhere and the only way we can do that is by supporting nominees who stick their neck out in red spaces. We can’t keep walking away from difficult things because they are hard. We can’t say we won’t support candidates we know will lose because it’s a waste of money. We can’t just look at “flippable” seats or “targeted” districts.

We have to talk about the elephant in the room and discuss what we can do to wrest power from him, or them as it may be. We have to remember how to eat an elephant…one bite at a time. We can do difficult things when we do them little by little and never stop.

Beating fascism in red states is going to be a long process, but there’s no reason to walk away from GOP-dominated states like mine, when we all know they won’t stop with states like mine.

You aren’t safe if my neighbors aren’t safe. Blue states are next.

We stop the GOP when we link arms and stand together, never forgetting the red spaces standing up too. We are here, in the red states, fighting our own battles to keep the harmful legislation from bleeding into blue states.

To keep the country safe, we are eating the elephants. One bite at a time.

~Jess

Post script: I am the Executive Director of Blue Missouri, a grassroots organization whose mission is to raise funds for down-ballot Democratic nominees in Missouri. We fund the most underfunded nominees in the reddest districts in the state. You can find us here.