Preparing for 2025
If you live in Colorado, there’s a good chance that the election results were terrifying. I survived 45’s presidency and learned a few things that I would like to share with you in the hope that these can bring you some sense of comfort and help you stay sane for the wild ride we’re about to embark on.
January is Going to Be Intense
He’s going to be in the news all the time for the next four years, if not that plus our remaining two months of 2024. In January, we’re going to start hearing about all the appointments for advisors and cabinet nominations. Most of those appointments won’t last. It will be a revolving door of appointments.
He’s also going to announce a lot of proposals you won’t like. Fortunately, we have been through this before, and Indivisible has some excellent tools and resources available. Indivisible offers alerts on upcoming votes in Congress as well as information on how to contact your representatives and guidance on what to say when you call.
Participation Matters
Attend town halls, even virtual ones. Ask questions. Make phone calls. Send letters. Send postcards. Yes, these things make a difference. Also, if a representative does something you like, call and say thank you. Your voice matters!
Vote in every election and remind your friends and family to do the same. We have elections every year. The local ones matter the most. National elections can signal our country’s priorities and political approach (sort of,) but your local representatives in the state have the biggest impact on your daily life. A lot of people sit those elections out and it is a HUGE mistake.
If a candidate is important to you or an issue is important to you that you’d like to see on the ballot, volunteer to collect signatures. (Yes, I know, be one of those people.) Yes, it’s annoying, but someone needs to do it. Go with friends and get snacks after. It doesn’t need to be a full-day commitment.
Participate in the Women’s March! You don’t have to go to DC. Go to your local one.
Set Priorities
Every day something is going to come up every day that will upset you. Self-care is essential and a key part of that is knowing what you are best equipped to advocate for. This is not about being anti-racist or combatting homophobia, xenophobia, etc. in your private circles. This is about asking yourself, what as the citizen I am, with the privileges and disadvantages that I have, can I speak to most directly and have the most impact. Those are the things to blow up the phones for.
Advocate for Yourself and Vulnerable People
Keep an eye out for alerts regarding Social Security, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. These are top targets for this administration. Fortunately, they are popular programs and they’re popular because a lot of people rely on them. It’s worth noting that Medicaid even in Colorado has become a bigger issue since the State of Emergency expired from COVID. While our state is not as aggressive as some about bumping participants from coverage, it’s still happening. If you are on Medicaid or know someone who is, check your mail regularly and respond to all requests for updated information promptly. A lot of people lose coverage just because they forgot to reply to something silly. Don’t let it be you!
If you’re on a Marketplace Plan, sign up for reminders, but mark November 1 on your calendar or set a reminder for every year so you don’t forget about open enrollment. Even if you don’t want to make changes, you usually need to renew. It’s possible that subsidies might be eliminated or be less generous in subsequent years and that stinks, but that remains to be seen. One thing that is fairly certain is that this administration will probably do everything in its power to reduce marketing resources for marketplace programs, so the burden to keep up with updates falls to us.
Consider Volunteering or Donating to Anti-Censorship and Literacy Orgs
Reading and books are already under fire, and it’s probably going to get worse. Get familiar with how reading lists for your public schools are determined as well as how textbooks are selected and make your voice heard! A lot of people don’t realize that textbooks are selected at the state level, but they are and it’s crucial that we look out for anything that doesn’t contain material supported by research.
Support your local public library. Almost every library offers a membership as a friend of the library. Using their resources also helps them justify funding requests in the future. Check out all the novels you love to binge! More into movies and music? Use Hoopla! Most of our libraries also offer resources like tools you can borrow (yes, like to hang pictures and fix stuff in your house) as well as museum passes. Using all of these resources helps our libraries.
Donate to the American Library Association, EveryLibrary, or the American Civil Liberties Union.
Get informed and share information with others about what book banning actually means in the United States. (TL;DR: no it’s not harmless.)
Good luck out there. Stay safe.
