How We Can Take Democracy Back with Ballot Initiatives

Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams

Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 5 December 2024

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Stacey talks to Rachel Sweet, who has successfully used ballot initiatives in tough states to change the rules. Most recently, she served as campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the coalition that passed abortion rights via a ballot measure in Missouri during the November elections. They discuss how ballot initiatives can be a tool for positive change, even in conservative states, and how to build coalitions at the state and local level to protect and expand our rights during a second Trump administration. Then, Stacey answers a listener question about the power of leading with compassion in difficult political moments – instead of reacting with only anger.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

We want to hear your questions. Send us an email at assemblyrequired@crooked.com or leave us a voicemail at 213-293-9509. You and your question might be featured on the show.

Learn & Do More:

Visit the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center at Ballot.Org
Visit Indivisible.org to learn more about getting involved in the legislative process in your state

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams from Cricket Media.
0:11.7	I'm your host, Stacey Abrams.
0:14.2	Now, I'm glad you're here.
0:16.7	I really am.
0:18.2	We all know folks who have decided to take a break from the news and from the world.
0:23.2	Those who have opted for what is called internal exile. You know, shutting out the constant stream of,
0:30.6	oh my God, that thing that happens with every new appointment or all caps pronouncements from the incoming administration.
0:39.0	I know what it feels like to want to hide, to want to shut out the world and say I'll show up
0:45.6	when things are fixed. The problem is we've got to be the ones to fix them. I grew up in the
0:51.2	Deep South, as I've mentioned before, and I decided to be a Democratic politician
0:55.5	in Georgia. I did so at a time when exile made a lot of sense where just saying, never mind,
1:03.8	seemed to be the only answer. Then I realized that what they wanted was for me to shut down.
1:10.2	They wanted me to shut up, to tune out, to turn off, and to let them do what they wanted.
1:16.5	And we feel a deep, visceral need to do that now because it can be overwhelming to confront
1:23.4	what is to come.
1:24.8	We all listen to the pronouncements from Project 2025, from mass deportations to
1:30.6	cutting the education department to the prospect of a federal abortion ban. We know that DEI is
1:36.9	about to be struck down and that the protections for people of color, for women, for children,
1:43.3	that the ADA might be under attack. And we don't know how to make
1:48.5	sense of it. But the reality is we know how to do it. We've done it before. We want to distance
1:56.2	ourselves, but we know we've got to show up anyway. Because the very people that they want to attack, if it's not us, it's someone we know we've got to show up anyway because the very people that they want to attack.
2:02.9	If it's not us, it's someone we know, someone we love, someone we need.
	...

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