Rural Organizing Project

 

Of course, it couldn't be more obvious that workers on the left and on the right have similar interests – affordable quality healthcare, control over our own destinies & a tax system where all income levels pitch in an equal amount. Perhaps we have different approaches, but the same needs.   If only it were that simple, right! There are other factors to consider but the bottom line is that the multi-national corporate interests and uber-wealthy folks are pitting working people against each other in order to maintain power. We know who benefits by maintaining the current healthcare system, keeping immigrants hidden in the underground & stopping a tax increase on the wealthiest Oregonians.   As the powers-that-be become more desperate to separate us, this is our opportunity to be uniters of working people in our communities.  

 

We attended the town hall meeting in Tillamook on Saturday with Senator Jeff Merkley, and saw firsthand the same tactics. People armed with clipboards and reading from their "talking points memos" filled the hall, kept their hands in the air so no one else could be called on, stood up and/or shouted out if they weren't called on, and in general monopolized the meeting. Some of them were probably local, but some were not. From what I've seen on video of other similar meetings, ours was rather subdued.

- Judith Allen of Tillamook

 This August's congressional recess is a hot political opportunity.

The teabaggers of the Right know it - and they are ORGANIZED.

Are we?

August’s Kitchen Table Activism is about using this hot month to turn up the heat on our elected officials to support REAL healthcare reform. Building a People's Economy means creating economic and social systems that meet our community’s needs, that protect our communities' wealth -- and health.

 

Many of ROP’s members are already doing fantastic work on healthcare overhaul. It’s time to focus our collective attention on Healthcare this August while our Senators and Representatives are back in town. Let’s make sure there is no confusion: the public wants universal, quality, affordable, and accessible healthcare for EVERY person – young, old, rich, poor, documented or undocumented!

 ROP wants to support the great work already happening and help you organize around Congressional Town Halls. Contact kari@rop.org to connect!

This Summer we tuck a successful Oregon legislative session to bed.  We have much to celebrate (fusion, tax progress etc see http://www.rop.org/2009-legislative-wrap-up-highlights-and-challenges-ahead).  Any caretaker knows, though, that tucking a child in bed is not really successful until silence reigns for a bit.  What are we hearing in Oregon.....

 

 

ROP’s mission is to advance democracy in rural Oregon and with this torch we shine a light on the most recent development in our quest toward true democratic governance.

Senate Bill 326 seems to be a two-pronged approach to opening up our electoral arena & engaging more voters in the process. Even though this bill doesn't take us all the way toward our perfect democracy, it is a modest and respectable step in the right direction. The primary discussion around SB 326 is that it brings a simple form of Fusion Voting on to our ballot.