All Of Us Together
‘Laboratories of Autocracy’ author David Pepper gave the Bette community instructions on how to save democracy
“Can I swear here?” asked David Pepper at our ‘Speakeasy’ zoom.
“We actually encourage swearing,” I responded.
“Okay,” he said. “The fight for our democracy looks like this: Do we give enough of a shit to fight for it - because if we do - we need to fight back.”
On Easter Sunday, 40 members of this community nodded in unison, ready, willing and able to fight for our imperfect democracy.
I brought pom poms to cheer along, as people from throughout the United States of America, Canada, France, Jamaica, New Zealand, and Mexico, rolled up their sleeves ready to do whatever needs to be done to participate in the labor of democracy.
Where America goes, so goes the world, and it was heart-warming to see Bette members from different countries wish to help, many ex-pats.
It was a true pep rally - everyone felt invigorated by Pepper’s brilliant and informed answers to our myriad questions.
Pepper, the author of ‘Laboratories of Autocracy - A Wake Up Call from Behind the Lines’ explained to our community how statehouses are weaponized and how “the statehouse is the national front line.”
In a 90-minute Q & A, he explained why the victory in Wisconsin was so important because the state is “gerrymandered the worst.”
Gerrymandering is weaponized cheating - a way to redistrict maps for favorable outcomes to a minority party - a remapping that has sinister impacts throughout America.
He reminded us that many red states were blue not too long ago, but that ‘map cheating’ - my preferred phrase for gerrymandering - resulted in thefts of state.
He gave a shocking number from Tennessee - 45 districts had no democratic candidate even running in the last election, which is why we need to have candidates RUN IN EVERY DISTRICT.
****We can never let that happen again.****
That is, if we give enough of a shit to fight for our democracy.
“We have to run candidates everywhere,” he said.
“We need to fight back,” he said. “They count on us not fighting hard.”
He explained how the extreme right is attacking our voters. One example he gave was the new voter ID law in Ohio that is applied to everyone, but impacts black voters and young voters the most. He explained that when Ohio turned out for President Obama, systemic attacks began from the authoritarian right to suppress the youth vote - making it more difficult for college kids from different states to vote in Ohio, and more difficult for voters who might not even know they need an ID when they show up at the poll.
Some voters may need to order birth certificates - there’s a fee and a lag time, and it’s the equivalent of a modern day poll tax.
Here is an article I wrote with Pepper that explains the racist origins of much of what we are currently seeing:
He also explained that when the authoritarian right loses an election, they immediately regroup and come back meaner and more underhanded.
He said those of us who are pro-democracy celebrate, but we need to allow ourselves one day of celebration and then get back into the trenches.
In addition, too often we focus on federal races, which have allowed our statehouses to become “fortresses of unaccountability.”
“Fortresses of Unaccountability”
He explained how the statehouses are the perfect place for unpopular laws to pass, because we spend too much of our time distracted by the latest canned outrages performed by chaos agents like Marjorie Taylor Greene, George Santos, and Lauren Boebert - who are there to stoke outrage and distraction.
“There are now hundreds of George Santoses throughout America,” he said. “They may not be as obvious as him, but falling prey to continual distractions is our failing.”
He calls what is occurring in statehouses like Ohio and Tennessee and Florida “anti-public service.”
“That is what these governments have become - fortresses of unaccountability. They deprive schools of funding, committing massive transfers of public resources to the private sector. When you starve public schools of funding, of course they’re going to fail. Public schools are tanking, our life expectancies are failing. Public resources are being forked over to the private. Small towns are dying.
“So in Texas people freeze, in America, train crashes occur daily, this is the result of anti-public service governments.”
So what do we do?
Turns out, there is a lot we can do - we can penetrate these fortresses of unaccountability.
Let’s start with what works.
‘Re-directing the Conversation’
Pepper gave the example of Governor Laura Kelly winning in Kansas. She won by bringing the conversation back to the basics of returning to fully funded Kansas schools. She even just boosted the budget to fund special education for the first time in years. Turns out, people in Kansas care more about their kids than they do about the culture wars sparked by the authoritarian right hate machine.
Back to Basics - ‘Fix the Damn Roads’
Pepper also highlighted the example of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer winning in Michigan by focusing her platform on something as simple as fixing the roads.
Politicians that are ‘anti-public service’ are there to give freebies to their billionaire backers not to fix your damn potholes.
As someone who just coughed up another $531 dollars in car repairs due to rain-gashed roads, I think a platform of Fix the Damn Roads is nothing short of genius. And yes, Whitmer is fixing the damn roads, with current projects in Berrien, Isabella, and Macomb Counties.
Pepper reminded our community that almost everything the authoritarian right does is unpopular.
“We too often get bullied into thinking our point of view is unpopular, but the majority of Americans want women to have the right to choose, they want the gay community to feel safe and supported, they believe in teachers - almost everything the GOP does is unpopular.
“We have to stop allowing ourselves to be bullied.”
He said in every community we will find the subjects that matter most, and that is where we need to focus our messaging - not on unpopular tropes like banning books. Throughout America, people have said they think that teachers can make those decisions best.
‘Pepper in St. Petersburg’
Pepper, who is a lawyer, political activist, a former elected official, and adjunct professor, served as the Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party between 2015 and 2021. He also worked in Russia for three years, as an assistant director of a project providing technical assistance to the City of St. Petersburg as it underwent economic reform.
One of our Bette community members asked Pepper about having met Vladimir Putin, and as it turns out, he interacted with him multiple times when working in Russia during the brief period of time when democracy seemed possible.
Pepper explained that Putin was not like any of the other politicians and bureaucrats that he met with during those days, who all had at least the veneer of wanting Russia to move toward a democratic system.
When he learned that he had been picked to succeed Yeltsin, Pepper said his heart sunk.
“I remember thinking, ‘Not that guy. That feels bad,’” he said.
Although everyone knew he was ex-KGB, Pepper said, he was also sneaky.
The entire time he knew him, he never revealed he could speak English. He is certain that each time Putin met with Trump was another opportunity for kompromat.
‘Skipping To the End’
For those who were unable to attend, I am so pleased to announce that David Pepper will be coming back to a Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ zoom in May, when he releases his next book, Saving Democracy - the follow up to Laboratories of Autocracy.
He said the amount of evidence that we need to start focusing our efforts on our statehouses is overwhelming to people so in his next book, he’s “skipping to the end,” to get right to part where you can help.
Among a current action you can take is to support Vote Riders:
voteriders.org - an org dedicated to helping ensure ID assistance so every American can cast a ballot
In addition, following David Pepper’s substack is a great way to keep connected to his work:
In the words of Anne Nelson - author of Shadow Network - we can’t all do everything, but we can each do something.
Many members of this community are doing many things, and I salute each and every one of you.
‘All Of Us Together’
I would like to leave you with these beautiful words from writer Audrey Peterman, a member of the Bette community who lives in Jamaica and who writes the gorgeous substack - Audrey’s Joy Train. In her latest missive, she writes about how growing up in Jamaica she learned the principle that it’s “all of us together.”
She writes of this principle in nature, how the mighty sequoias survived 2,000 years as their shallow roots intertwine with the roots of other trees - a collaboration of sustainability.
“Closer to home, looking out at a patch of grass I think how many complex biotic communities it contains and supports, and I say a silent prayer of thanksgiving as I walk upon the earth,” Audrey wrote.
I say a silent prayer of thanksgiving as I walk upon the earth…
It truly is all of us together.
****
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(“Spring in Hueston Woods” - painting by David Pepper)
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“Something Sacred never dies in almost all of us, who can hear the invitation of Truth…”-words written by a member of Bette’s community