As the ACCESS Coalition grows, I wanted to elaborate more on how my brain has decided to pull all of these different things together. If you’ve felt a little lost up to this point, it’s not your fault. The values and goals have evolved over the past several months in their breadth and reach. I’ve been learning and adapting as I create, so thank you for your patience and support as ACCESS solidifies.
Before I breakdown the values and goals, I wanted to explain the origins behind In Spades, the coalition’s newsletter. In the wake of Trump’s inauguration, the onslaught of news was overwhelming and I needed a more structured outlet to process the amount of information I was taking in. I have always had a fairly sizeable social media following — primarily due to my political beliefs and the discussions my posts facilitated — and I wanted to start articulating my worldview past the vacuum of social media posts.
I realized I could tell a narrative through the curated articles of a newsletter. But, being the PR man that I man, I knew a newsletter was only a tactic used in an overall strategy. So, I combined the idea of a newsletter with the distributed group I had created on Facebook to serve as a communication and recruitment tool for a broader coalition’s goals.
As I said in a previous post, I believe connecting Alabama and California (or, more likely, the communities they represent) is vital to saving our country and creating the society needed to function in the 21st Century and beyond. However, more than that, we need a coalition of people across the country dedicated to asserting the values that made the world trust the American Dream.
With that, let me clarify some confusion around our goals and values! Also, remember to subscribe to In Spades, the coalition’s newsletter, for the latest news updates and coalition action items.
Value: Accountability
Value Statement: Access Democracy
Goals:
- to establish objective third-party redistricting, congressional term limits, automatic voter registration, ranked-choice voting and open primaries nationwide;
- to create an Election Day national holiday;
- to call for a Constitutional Convention.
In Spades Sub-Headings:
- Trump Administration — Articles pertaining to the actions of the Trump administration and the implications those decisions have on domestic and foreign policy.
- Voter Rights — Articles highlighting the on-going struggle for voting rights
Explanation
I believe America is in need of an accountability renaissance. Somehow, we have fallen down a rabbit hole that leads to nowhere because people stopped doing what they said and saying what they mean. We need to hold those in power to an American standard, a standard the world is willing to defer to when executed justly. In our complacency up on the Earth’s apex, we allowed what made our country great to slip through the cracks. To bring it back, we must strengthen and expand upon the democratic foundations enshrined in the Constitution. Combating the Trump administration and securing voting rights for all should be everyone’s priorities over the next two to four years.
Value: Character
Value Statement: Access Community
Goals:
- To promote corporate social responsibility;
- To practice ethics in speech, action and thought.
In Spades Sub-Headings:
- Corporate Social Responsibility — Articles pertaining to ethics / community-based efforts from corporations and private enterprise
- Citizen Enterprise — Articles highlighting the efforts of American citizens to better the lives of other human beings
Explanation
Character, along with spirituality, was a later addition to the coalition’s values. As I tried to organize how to lay out In Spades (re: how I wanted to organize the articles / policy areas for the coalition), I wanted to include a value that was only meant to show the good side of America. The world does not want to see or believe this side of us. We’re the shining city upon a hill…so why are we acting like this? Ethics mean something and, by promoting their presence in our society (no matter how rare), we can create a snowball effect.
Value: Connectivity
Value Statement: Access Networks
Goals:
- To support smart growth infrastructure and development solutions;
- To facilitate an understanding between cities and rural areas.
In Spades Sub-Headings:
- Infrastructure + Transportation — Articles pertaining to infrastructure and transportation projects and discussions in the United States and around the world
- Rural + Suburban + Urban — Articles highlighting housing policy, development of American society, the relationship between cities and rural areas and everything in between
Explanation
If you’re living in the 21st Century and paying even a small amount of attention, you may have caught on that everything — and everyone — is connected. We can no longer make decisions in a vacuum and we must support connected, sustainable solutions if we want to compete in the 21st Century.
Value: Equity
Value Statement: Access Opportunity
Goals:
- To defend the humanity in all peoples;
- To end mass incarceration and the War on Drugs;
- To integrate our schools so every child receives the same public, American education.
In Spades Sub-Headings:
- Justice — Articles pertaining to mass incarceration, the war on drugs, racial injustice, queer rights, intersectionality, history and more.
- Education — Articles highlighting the ongoing education discussion, with an emphasis on integration and state of segregation in today’s America
Explanation
For any movement to succeed in bringing about lasting change, equity must be at the center of it all. Bernie’s campaign learned that the hard way…as did HRC’s. As a coalition, equity must be at the center of everything we do. In order to move forward, America must right our historical sins.
Value: Spirituality
Value Statement: Access Independence
Goals:
- To acknowledge the role of faith in American communities;
- To assert the separation of church and state.
In Spades Sub-Headings:
- Faith in America — Articles pertaining to the diverse set of faiths in America and how they are contributing to their communities in America today
- Separation of Church and State — Articles highlighting the separation of church and state or discussing the implications of a further erosion of the war between the two
Explanation
Faith, in its various forms, has played an irrevocable role in the creation of The Great Experiment. One of the fundamental aspects of America is Freedom of Religion. In this country, we understand that faith — whether it be religious or personal — is integral to who we are. However, we also are supposed to have a freedom FROM religion in our public life. This has eroded away because of transition period we find ourselves in. Religion faces an existential crisis and, instead of doubling down on community building, they’ve gone on the offensive to throw sand in the gears — domestically and abroad. We must rebuild the wall between our public and private lives. We must reassert faith’s role in our communities, in that, it is faith’s job to look out for our spiritual and emotional well-being while the state provides for the physical and political.
Value: Sustainability
Value Statement: Access Innovation
Goals:
- To support the proliferation of Basic Income to respond to the rise of automation;
- To invest in clean and renewable technologies and solutions;
- To strive for civic, economic, political and social global equality.
In Spades Sub-Headings:
- Automation + Basic Income — Articles pertaining to the discussion surrounding basic income and the effect proliferation of automation will have on the global economy
- Gender Balance — Articles highlighting equity toward women in the home, office and everywhere inbetween
- Job Creation + Renewable Energy — Articles showcasing the environment / technological progress and job creation in renewable energy; and the discussion around climate change
Explanation
As much as this coalition is in response to the Trump Administration, it is also in response to the future. To solve the problems facing the 21st Century, we must put forth radical, innovative solutions that will take humanity to the next level of civilization — a sustainable level. This means preparing for the oncoming employment disruption from automotion, the rising seas from climate change and activating an ignored HALF of our population to think of even more solutions.