Constitutional Democracy Team
The goal of the Minuteman Indivisible Lexington Constitutional Democracy Team is to be the knowledge base, watch dog, and action organizer for issues relating to our Constitutional Democracy. According to civiced.org, a CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY is system of government whereby the authority of the majority is limited by legal and institutional means so that the rights of the individuals and minorities are respected. Some of the essential characteristics of a constitutional democracy include: popular sovereignty (government of, by, and for the people), the rule of law, constitutional rights for all citizens, separated branches of government but some shared powers, checks and balances, due process of law, and fair elections.
The Democracy team has several sub-teams that focus on various issues. The main ones at this point are RussiaGate/Conflicts of Interest, Immigrant rights, Human rights, Voting rights and Gerrymandering, and "What about Charlie Baker?" Updates from each sub-team are given below
RussiaGate/Conflicts of Interest
The RussiaGate sub-team is busy keeping up with the latest on the Russian influence and potential collusion in our 2016 election. Indictments have already been handed down and when we heard these were the “first indictments,” we quickly utilized the concept of “thinking beyond the sale” (a strategy perfected by President Trump) to conclude that there will be more. We continue to encourage everyone to sign up for the "Mueller Rapid Response" in case Trump fires Robert Mueller and to commit to being prepared to take to the streets if that happens. In addition, we ask everybody to call your MoC and urge them to protect Mueller's investigation and press for sanctions on Russia - see the Morning Coffee Action section for more details. Hardly a day goes by that there isn’t another revelation - check out investigaterussia.org for the latest information and consider signing up for their excellent daily briefings.
The sub-team is also concerned with presidential conflicts of interest and whether the president is upholding his Constitutional responsibilities to faithfully administer the laws passed by Congress. We encourage you to read this article written by a MI member that discusses whether the president is attempting to undermine and sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
Immigrant Rights
Protecting the Constitution means protecting Immigrants. Members of the Democracy team are involved with ACLU People Power initiatives to advance the rights of immigrants. The local People Power group is working on a proposal to make Lexington a “Welcoming, Inclusive, Safe Community” and to foster a community dialogue about the issues facing undocumented immigrants who live, work in, or visit our community. Meetings have been held with Lexington's Chief of Police, the Lexington Interfaith Community Association, and the Lexington Human Rights Committee to share perspectives, raise awareness, and define the best path to addressing undocumented immigrant concerns. This sub-team has also been keeping up with developments relating to the recent State Supreme Judicial Court rulingthat local authorities can't detain people based solely on Federal "ICE" detainers and urging Governor Baker to drop the bill he proposed in response to this ruling.
Human Rights
One of our members has been busy taking courses this fall to help provide our team with better information on discrimination in our communities. The Arlington Community Education course, A History of the World Through Muslim Eyes, is based on Tamin Ansary’s book Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Muslim Eyes. One important lesson from the course was the explanation of the different types of Islam: the Sunnis and the Shi’a, and, within the Shi’a, the Sufis. Islam is by no means a monolithic religion with all Muslims following the same exact rules. The second course, at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, was titled White People Challenging Racism: Moving from Talk to Action. This intensive five-week course was very interactive, self-reflective, and included a lot of role playing. These courses broaden our knowledge of Americans with different religions and skin colors and help us fight against the demonization of these groups. The team will be discussing whether we can bring one or both of these courses to Lexington for the benefit of our members and the community.
We suggest taking one of these tests designed to measure implicit bias. Implicit bias is “thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control.” The available tests include Race, Skin Tone, and Arab-Muslim. There is even one for Presidents that measures your preference for George W. Bush and Donald Trump!
Voting Rights/Gerrymandering
While our Elections team is working to flip the House in the 2018 elections by supporting candidates in key races, this Democracy sub-team is focused on the underlying factors that shape all elections. We are watching developments with the Election Commission appointed by Trump (which was recently sued by one of its own members), supporting efforts for Automatic Voter Registration in Massachusetts, and exploring ways to fight gerrymandering. We attended a recent conference on gerrymandering and redistricting at Harvard and sub-team members attended and helped video the voting rights workshops at this week's Massachusetts Indivisible Conference.
What About Charlie Baker?
We continue to track Governor Baker and issue weekly actions to call attention to his positions and policies. As this article indicates, Donald Trump's election has made Governor Baker’s job more difficult. For many issues, Governor Baker disagrees with the President and, on several occasions, has had to speak out against his actions or words. At other times (such as his proposed bill on detaining immigrants described above), the Governor's policies have been more in line with the Trump administration - these are policies we want to track. But when the list of disagreements becomes pronounced, one has to wonder why Governor Baker is still a Republican - it certainly isn’t a requirement in the Commonwealth.
Future Plans
We are thrilled to announce that we are organizing a Candidates Night for the Democratic candidates for Governor. Pencil January 10, 2018 on your calendar - we may also schedule an additional date (e.g., to allow for wintry weather). With so much activity going on in our team, we have also decided to set up our own Twitter account and will be announcing our new Twitter handle soon!
The Democracy team has several sub-teams that focus on various issues. The main ones at this point are RussiaGate/Conflicts of Interest, Immigrant rights, Human rights, Voting rights and Gerrymandering, and "What about Charlie Baker?" Updates from each sub-team are given below
RussiaGate/Conflicts of Interest
The RussiaGate sub-team is busy keeping up with the latest on the Russian influence and potential collusion in our 2016 election. Indictments have already been handed down and when we heard these were the “first indictments,” we quickly utilized the concept of “thinking beyond the sale” (a strategy perfected by President Trump) to conclude that there will be more. We continue to encourage everyone to sign up for the "Mueller Rapid Response" in case Trump fires Robert Mueller and to commit to being prepared to take to the streets if that happens. In addition, we ask everybody to call your MoC and urge them to protect Mueller's investigation and press for sanctions on Russia - see the Morning Coffee Action section for more details. Hardly a day goes by that there isn’t another revelation - check out investigaterussia.org for the latest information and consider signing up for their excellent daily briefings.
The sub-team is also concerned with presidential conflicts of interest and whether the president is upholding his Constitutional responsibilities to faithfully administer the laws passed by Congress. We encourage you to read this article written by a MI member that discusses whether the president is attempting to undermine and sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
Immigrant Rights
Protecting the Constitution means protecting Immigrants. Members of the Democracy team are involved with ACLU People Power initiatives to advance the rights of immigrants. The local People Power group is working on a proposal to make Lexington a “Welcoming, Inclusive, Safe Community” and to foster a community dialogue about the issues facing undocumented immigrants who live, work in, or visit our community. Meetings have been held with Lexington's Chief of Police, the Lexington Interfaith Community Association, and the Lexington Human Rights Committee to share perspectives, raise awareness, and define the best path to addressing undocumented immigrant concerns. This sub-team has also been keeping up with developments relating to the recent State Supreme Judicial Court rulingthat local authorities can't detain people based solely on Federal "ICE" detainers and urging Governor Baker to drop the bill he proposed in response to this ruling.
Human Rights
One of our members has been busy taking courses this fall to help provide our team with better information on discrimination in our communities. The Arlington Community Education course, A History of the World Through Muslim Eyes, is based on Tamin Ansary’s book Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Muslim Eyes. One important lesson from the course was the explanation of the different types of Islam: the Sunnis and the Shi’a, and, within the Shi’a, the Sufis. Islam is by no means a monolithic religion with all Muslims following the same exact rules. The second course, at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, was titled White People Challenging Racism: Moving from Talk to Action. This intensive five-week course was very interactive, self-reflective, and included a lot of role playing. These courses broaden our knowledge of Americans with different religions and skin colors and help us fight against the demonization of these groups. The team will be discussing whether we can bring one or both of these courses to Lexington for the benefit of our members and the community.
We suggest taking one of these tests designed to measure implicit bias. Implicit bias is “thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control.” The available tests include Race, Skin Tone, and Arab-Muslim. There is even one for Presidents that measures your preference for George W. Bush and Donald Trump!
Voting Rights/Gerrymandering
While our Elections team is working to flip the House in the 2018 elections by supporting candidates in key races, this Democracy sub-team is focused on the underlying factors that shape all elections. We are watching developments with the Election Commission appointed by Trump (which was recently sued by one of its own members), supporting efforts for Automatic Voter Registration in Massachusetts, and exploring ways to fight gerrymandering. We attended a recent conference on gerrymandering and redistricting at Harvard and sub-team members attended and helped video the voting rights workshops at this week's Massachusetts Indivisible Conference.
What About Charlie Baker?
We continue to track Governor Baker and issue weekly actions to call attention to his positions and policies. As this article indicates, Donald Trump's election has made Governor Baker’s job more difficult. For many issues, Governor Baker disagrees with the President and, on several occasions, has had to speak out against his actions or words. At other times (such as his proposed bill on detaining immigrants described above), the Governor's policies have been more in line with the Trump administration - these are policies we want to track. But when the list of disagreements becomes pronounced, one has to wonder why Governor Baker is still a Republican - it certainly isn’t a requirement in the Commonwealth.
Future Plans
We are thrilled to announce that we are organizing a Candidates Night for the Democratic candidates for Governor. Pencil January 10, 2018 on your calendar - we may also schedule an additional date (e.g., to allow for wintry weather). With so much activity going on in our team, we have also decided to set up our own Twitter account and will be announcing our new Twitter handle soon!
