How Progressive Activists Turned the Table on Republicans to Help Save Obamacare
If the Indivisible Guide was our breakout hit song, the WE ARE INDIVISIBLE: A Blueprint for Democracy After Trump book is the album. It’s half practical guidebook for building the constituent power we need to beat Trump; half manifesto for building a real democracy after he’s gone.
This exclusive excerpt from the book covers the explosive growth of the movement, when — at the height of the fight over GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act — the world first saw that everyday people in every corner of the country were learning how to fight back.
In February 2017, Congress went home for what’s commonly known as “recess.” The word “recess” is actually a bit misleading; it suggests that this period is a break. Recess is not a break. In fact, its actual name is the “District Work Period,” when there are no votes or hearings in Washington. This is when members of Congress get free time to meet with their constituents back home.
Recess is also when most members of Congress schedule their listening forums, like town halls, and in February 2017 a lot of Republican members went ahead and put town halls on the books. Under normal circumstances, town halls tend to be sleepy affairs, attended mostly by retirees and other people with flexible schedules and long, confusing lists of grievances. In 2009 the Tea Party had stormed town halls nationwide to great effect, stunning Democratic and Republican representatives alike and dealing a serious blow to the effort to pass health care reform. In 2017, we knew—because our in-box was full of messages from around the country—that Indivisibles were getting ready to turn the tables.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/we-are-indivisible-excerpt-progressives-obamacare-affordable-care-act-907275/