 Gun violence is in the headlines again...
and again and again AND AGAIN. How can we fix the problem? There are many organizations working hard to pass meaningful gun legislation. All of them would welcome support. Here are several choices... *** Brady is one of the oldest gun violence prevention organizations in the country. It is named for Jim Brady, the White House Press Secretary who was shot during an assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981. Brady focuses on bipartisan solutions. Their motto is... "Take Action, Not Sides." Click to learn more about... Brady *** Everytown for Gun Safety is an umbrella organization that includes Moms Demand Action Mayors Against Illegal Guns Everytown Survivor Network and Students Demand Action Last weekend, Everytown For Gun Safety organized "Recess Rallies" across the country to send Congress this message... "Change Gun Laws or Change Congress" Everytown For Gun Safety has a form to help you contact your Senator quickly. Click to learn more about... Everytown for Gun Safety *** Giffords began as Americans for Responsible Solutions and was started by Gabby Giffords who was shot in 2011 while meeting with her congressional constituents in Arizona. This organization merged with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a group initially formed by Bay-Area lawyers in 1993 with the goal of strengthening gun laws in California. Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence produces an annual "Gun Law Score Card" showing how individual states rank in terms of gun laws and gun deaths. It's worth checking out your state... Gun Law Score Card Click to learn more about... Giffords *** March For Our Lives began as a student-led demonstration following the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. They have just released a Peace Plan for a Safer America. It contains a wide range of actionable steps to make our communities safer. Take a look at their inspiring vision... Peace Plan And click to learn more to learn about... March For Our Lives *** Gun Safety Alliance looks for ways to bring business leaders, creative & tech communities, and non-profit gun violence prevention organizations together to make meaningful reforms. Click to learn more about... Gun Safety Alliance *** States United to Prevent Gun Violence is a grassroots network of gun violence preventions organizations from 32 states all working to pass meaningful gun reform at the state level. While legislators in D.C. have done little to help at the federal level, there have been many significant laws passed in individual states. Click to learn more about... States United to Prevent Gun Violence *** All of these organizations would welcome support. Help where you can. There's one more EASY thing you can do right away... CALL YOUR SENATORS. Let them know that you want the Senate to take action on H.R.8 - Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019. It passed the House and is ready for the Senate. It's been waiting for nearly six months. We need to hold Congress accountable. We need our Senators to ACT. We need to fix this together.
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 This was an EPIC week for US soccer.
Our US Women's National Team won the world cup! For the FOURTH time! Moments like these can help bring us together. The USWNT's slogan this year reminds us that we are... ONE NATION. ONE TEAM. Team Co-Captain, Megan Rapinoe, had these words for us all at the USWNT's ticker tape parade in New York this week... "How do you make your community better? How do you make the people around you better? Your family? Your closest friends? The 10 closest people to you? The 20 closest people to you? 100 closest people to you? It’s every single person’s responsibility. There’s been so much contention in these last years. I’ve been a victim of that. I’ve been a perpetrator of that... But it’s time to come together. This conversation is at the next step. We have to collaborate. It takes everybody." It takes everybody. Let's all do our best to.. Love More and Hate Less. And remember that we are... ONE NATION. ONE TEAM.  A day for
parades and fireworks... A day for hot dogs and apple pie... A day to show gratitude for our country... A day for red, white, blue... and PURPLE! What could be more patriotic than having a purple conversation? It's a day to celebrate together! Happy 4th of July!  Summer is here...
the perfect time to pack up those tents and sleeping bags and journey to the great outdoors. Our country is filled with beautiful National Parks waiting to be explored! Here's the added benefit of camping this summer... Campgrounds are truly PURPLE places. Head to your local campground and see for yourself... In one camp site you'll see a vehicle with a "Feel the Bern" bumper sticker and in the next, you'll find a vehicle labeled "Make American Great Again." Conservatives and liberals coexist peacefully, even happily in our nation's campgrounds. Why is that? We're all there for the same reason. We want to enjoy nature. We want to see the stars. We want to escape our phones and our computers and our social media accounts and just BE. It's truly a purple activity. Camping allows us to connect with our fellow Americans and appreciate that we all enjoy the immense natural beauty of our country. Why not give it a try? Maybe a little time spent as happy campers in the great outdoors can help open doors and bring us closer together.  Happy Father's Day!
This week, we'll share a little wisdom from the Father of our Country, George Washington. When he was a teenager, Washington copied down 110 "Rules of Civility" which he adapted from a set of popular rules developed by French Jesuits in the 16th Century. Several of these guidelines could still help us with our purple conversations today! Here are a few highlights from www.mountvernon.org... RULE NO. 22 Shew not yourself glad at the Misfortune of another though he were your enemy. RULE NO. 50 Be not hasty to beleive flying Reports to the Disparag[e]ment of any. RULE NO. 58 Let your Conversation be without Malice or Envy, for 'tis a Sig[n o]f a Tractable and Commendable Nature: And in all Causes of Passion [ad]mit Reason to Govern. RULE NO. 65 Speak not injurious Words neither in Jest nor Earnest Scoff at none although they give Occasion. RULE NO. 73 Think before you Speak pronounce not imperfectly nor bring ou[t] your Words too hastily but orderly & distinctly. RULE NO. 74 When Another Speaks be attentive your Self and disturb not the Audience if any hesitate in his Words help him not nor Prompt him without desired, Interrupt him not, nor Answer him till his Speec[h] be ended. RULE NO. 76 While you are talking, Point not with your Finger at him of Whom you Discourse nor Approach too near him to whom you talk especially to his face. RULE NO. 86 In Disputes, be not So Desireous to Overcome as not to give Liberty to each one to deliver his Opinion and Submit to the Judgment of the Major Part especially if they are Judges of the Dispute. RULE NO. 89 Speak not Evil of the absent for it is unjust. RULE NO. 105 Be not Angry at Table whatever happens & if you have reason to be so, shew it not but on a Chearfull Countenance especially if there be Strangers for Good Humour makes one Dish of Meat a Feas[t]. And, George Washington's final rule of civility... RULE NO. 110 Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of Ce[les]tial fire Called Conscience. Let's try to keep that "little spark of celestial fire" burning brightly as we all work together to treat each other with greater civility!  Last week brought this
unexpected twitter exchange between Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Senator Ted Cruz. The two political rivals have found a purple point! It's refreshing to see lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle focus on something they can accomplish together. What do YOU think? Do you agree that there should be limitations on lobbying for those who have served in Congress? Let them know!  On Memorial Day,
we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. We may disagree, but regardless of our political beliefs, we can come together today in a spirit of gratitude to REMEMBER and HONOR the many brave heroes who have given their lives for our freedom. Their sacrifice gives us us the liberty to disagree. We can honor their memory by disagreeing with one another respectfully. Doing so requires its own smaller kind of bravery. Let's try to be brave together.  "Pro-Life" "Pro-Choice" "No Labels" "First Trimester" "Heartbeat" "Late-Term" "Partial-Birth" "Doctors" "Politicians" "Supreme Court" "Privacy" "Control" "Autonomy" "Removal" "Murder" "Embryo" "Fetus" "Unborn Baby" "Faith" "Science" "Reproductive Health" "Birth Control" "My Body" "Voiceless" "My Choice" "Protection" "Freedom" "God's Will" "Personal Liberty" "Women's Health" "Rights" "Rights" "Rights" Whose rights? Whose decision? Who's in charge? We'll be hearing much more about all this in the coming months. We haven't focused on abortion much here at the Purple Living Room Project because, let's face it, this is one of the most divisive issues of our time. And yet, according to Gallup polls there ARE a few Purple Points. Gallup's latest polling suggests that... 29% of Americans think abortion should be legal under any circumstances AND an additional 50% of Americans think abortion should be legal in limited circumstances. So... 79% of Americans believe women should have access to abortion in some circumstances. When asked if abortion should be considered legal in a series of specific circumstances, the numbers were split fairly evenly yes/no for most situations, But... 77% believe abortion should be legal in the case of rape or incest AND 83% believe abortion should be legal when the mother's life is at risk There also seems to be some purple agreement around WHEN abortion should be legal... 87% of Americans do not think that abortion should be generally legal in the third trimester. Can we all agree that decisions about abortion are difficult and painful and have lasting consequences for those involved? Let's try to have empathy for one another and acknowledge that our deeply held beliefs are coming from a place of positive intentions... even if we disagree vehemently about what "positive intentions" look like. Fortunately, there seems to be one aspect of reproductive health that most of us can agree upon... 89% of Americans believe that birth control is morally acceptable. Seems like a place to start... Can we work TOGETHER to make sure all women have affordable access to birth control? We can do that together.  Happy Mother's Day!
This year, after you've called your mom... why not check in on Mother Earth? Did you hear the news this week? One MILLION species face extinction. One MILLION. It's time for us ALL to do our part. Reduce Reuse Recycle RETHINK REACT What are the purple points that we can act on NOW to protect our environment? Let's start talking. We all need to help with the dishes.  The White House Correspondents' Dinner
was held last weekend. No comedians this year. Instead, the featured guest was acclaimed historian Ron Chernow. He offered valuable insights into the relationship between the White House and the Press throughout our nation's history. Chernow's speech celebrated the important role that journalists play in our democracy. He quoted Thomas Jefferson, who famously wrote, "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." Freedom of the press is enshrined in our Bill of Rights. We depend on a free press to bring us the facts so that we can make informed decisions. And, as Chernow says, we need the facts in order to have honest disagreements. Let's show our gratitude to the journalists across our country who work tirelessly to bring us the facts. And let's try to ground our purple conversations in these facts rather than bombastic rhetoric. |
ABOUT"Meet in the Middle" is a Purple Living Room campaign encouraging people from across the political spectrum to meet together each week in order to find common ground. Each middle of the week (WEDNESDAY!) we'll post an update on Purple Living Room Project activities. Share YOUR progress on our Facebook group page or in the comments here. Our goal? Archives
July 2019
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