MEMO:
TO: Concerned Americans
FROM: Michael Robinson Byrd, Political Fundraising Strategist and Social Network Builder
DATE: November 1, 2022
SUBJECT: How to Make Progress as Political Machinery Grinds to a Halt
Worries over court packing, election stealing, insurrection, and political dysfunction are rampant. The crisis of legitimacy is so bad that each partisan side takes an apocalyptic tone when accusing their loathsome opponents of working against America. The mood in our republic is dark right now… but it doesn’t need to be.
Together we can get the engines of politics working again. Through the Bridge Points Project, we’re going to demonstrate how codified law helps people, improves confidence in the system, and releases some of this pressure before it explodes. We are going to partner with community leaders, donors, and activists to get it done.
The Mission of The Bridge Points Project:
Apply an anthropological lens to Republican “states’ rights” voters – why do they vote the way they do?
Reframe the arguments of social protest movements into language that emotionally appeals to Republican “states’ rights” voters: the little guy versus the big, bad government.
Insert corporate-style lobbyists in five red states with ballot initiative processes to devote their calendars to building relationships with GOP lawmakers on behalf of social reform movements – and use anti-government language while doing it!
Then, run ballot initiative campaigns in those five states to pass pragmatic reforms – and frame the government as the bogeyman against individual rights.
We are a relationship driven organization with an expanding network of change-makers throughout the country. Corporations are effective at getting what they want because they insert themselves into the social networks of elected leaders of both political parties. The Bridge Points Project is copying this model to help social movements succeed. No more waiting decades for a big win at the federal level. We are driving a series of small to medium legislative victories at the state level to help people now.
Why America is besieged by political gridlock
Changes in how Congress operates. The most significant impacts are from: the ‘Sunlight Reforms’ of Congress in the 1970s; the dissolution of the ‘Fairness Doctrine’ in 1984; and, the 1994 strategy decisions that sent social movements and media organizations to pledge loyalty to one party.
The ‘states’ rights’ issue, which is at the heart of the 1994 strategy decisions to declare partisan loyalty.
To fix the gridlock, certain strategy changes by political actors will go a long way. Click here for a more in-depth look at the structural causes for gridlock and how they can be reversed.
The origin of the ‘states’ rights’ ideology, its interpretation by various voting blocs, and its effect on our current gridlock require further exploration.
‘States’ rights’ is built into the Constitution of the United States. It’s an integral part of the balancing act between federal and state powers. The ideology has been around since the Revolution. The Southern Democrats championed it for many years after the Civil War, then George Wallace and the Dixiecrats championed it after the Civil Rights Acts were passed. It’s also been the rallying cry for the Republican Party for the last several decades.
For groups of people who have had to fight for the rights and benefits of full citizenship in the United States, ‘states’ rights’ was the excuse they heard from White, straight men with political and economic power to deny them that full citizenship. The term ‘full citizenship’ refers to a person’s or group’s access to the voting booth, economies, education, medicine, privacy, free speech, love, and legal protections. For many Americans, ‘states’ rights’ means a toxic mix of ethnocentrism, White supremacy, misogyny, racism, homophobia, and more.
Despite its toxic meaning for marginalized peoples, one of our two main political parties actively preaches it. Barry Goldwater used the slogan while running as the Republican nominee in 1964. Evangelical leaders helped spread it amongst their constituencies in the 1970s as a rallying cry against growing federal power that sprung from the New Deal, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, and the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. Following the 1970s ‘Sunshine Reforms’ and the repeal of the ‘Fairness Doctrine’, Republican candidates began to actively leverage the emotional appeal of ‘states’ rights’ across wide swaths of the White electorate for election support.
The emotional leverage of ‘states’ rights’ went into overdrive in 1994. The Evangelical Movement opened a permanent lobbying shop in DC to hammer in this message of ‘states’ rights’ to Republican lawmakers; Republican lawmakers welcomed their presence and financial support with open arms. In response, social movements for safe abortion access, gun control, Black civil rights, LGBTQ rights, and the environment viewed this new alliance as so inimical to their agenda that they abandoned two-party lobbying and now openly identify as Democrats. This move has left only corporate lobbyists at the negotiating table in between Democrats and Republicans, and it is the reason they’re viewed as the only ones getting anything done.
Each party has dug a trench on their side of the ‘states’ rights’ issue. The Democrats have relied on a favorable Supreme Court majority for a half-century to ensure that at least the Judiciary could be used to blunt the harmful aspects of ‘states’ rights’ ideology on marginalized peoples. Republicans used the flipping of the Court majority as an election issue for decades, and their wish finally came true in June of 2022. The new opinion re-establishes ‘states’ rights’ as supreme over federal on many culture war issues. This message, combined with Justice Clarence Thomas’s written opinion that the Court should re-look at the precedents for gay marriage, contraception, and sodomy has spread palpable fear amongst a vast swath of the electorate.
Yet, a massive sign of hope has emerged in the months since that decision. Republican lawmakers in Kansas tried to remove protections for women’s healthcare decisions regarding abortion in the Kansas Constitution by having the public vote in a special referendum. The removal of these protections was expected to win. The effort failed spectacularly. Voters rejected it 59-41 percent.
The Kansas for Constitutional Freedom team harnessed the language of government control, while focusing on mandates over a person’s body. The ‘states’ rights’ voters in Kansas, where Trump won in 2020 by 56%, responded beyond expectation to stop the government from getting in their business.
Why? There are several dimensions to the ideology of ‘states’ rights’; by tackling hot-button social issues with different messaging, social movements can not only mitigate the harmful aspects of this ideology, but they can also weaponize it for their benefit.
The Bridge Points Project is going to share the stories of America’s voting blocs and drive pragmatic consensus legislation at the state level.
Here are links to our thought leadership pieces on the most important topics driving social and political movements today:
1) American Political Gridlock: Why it is and How to Fix it
2) Most White Americans are not W.A.S.P.s: Why This Matters
3) What are the political motivators of White, red state Americans?
4) What do Kansas voters think about the abortion vote and government authority?
5) How do social movements work?
6) Which social movements have already been successfully absorbed by government policy?
7) Who is in the social circles of politicians?
8) How lobbyists can be the heroes of our time
9) How the Power of Three can propel your political agenda
Soon, you’ll be able to check out my first book, Gonzo Style Politics, to learn how to master the game of influence that takes place in political social circles.
Let’s get America’s political machinery moving again.
Interested in joining? Click here.
Sincerely,
Michael