As we've mentioned in before, Move to Amend has really been hit hard by the economic downturn. Being a 501(c)4, we were not eligible for any relief from the CARES Act. 

Unlike the majority of 501(c)4 nonprofits, however, we are almost entirely grassroots funded -- that means we rely on small donations from regular people. And because regular people fuel this movement, our financial support has taken a hit as well, because so many of us have had to tighten up our giving. As a result our staff laid itself off in April, and has been doing this work on a 100% volunteer basis.

It's time to start bringing our hardworking staff back onto the payroll - beginning with staff who are living in states that are making it hardest for workers to survive. Please help us by becoming a Move to Amend sustainer today!

Here's a not-so-fun fact:The wildfire season in California hasn't yet begun.

Join us on October 1st -- it's time to analyze and strategize together for the future of our livable planet.

“These are unprecedented times” is a phrase we hear often lately. But to us, that only means one thing -- we must meet these unprecedented times with unprecedented solutions. And the harsh reality is, folks: we’re not going to be able to vote our way out of this situation. We’ve got to have bigger ideas. 

When our government's bailouts are going to major corporations -- including those that made large campaign contributions to Senators -- we know it is time to stop the corruption in our elections that enables this outrage. Not just during this crisis, but in every election.

Move to Amend is proud to partner with Get Money Out - Maryland, New York American Promise Association, American Promise VA, Wyoming Promise: Free and Fair Elections, Wisconsin United to Amend, We the People Massachusetts, CCAN Action Fund for a nationwide Senate letter-writing campaign --  demanding that they support a 28th Amendment to the Constitution that would make clear that corporations are not people, and money is not free speech!

On August 30, thousands of people from all walks of life gathered to discuss the state of the nation and forming a major new party in America! And our National Director, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap was one of the speakers at the People's Convention 2020! Watch the her speech above, and watch the full People's Convention here. 

Also, check out these great clips we think you might find interesting. 

As if we hadn't been through enough -- the climate crisis season of 2020 is fully upon us now.

We are now seeing record breaking fire activity across the west -- with rare lightning storms, coupled with a heat wave and 20 year mega-drought, leading to over 1.3 million acres destroyed, at least 7 deaths, evacuations ,and extremely unhealthy air quality (at times the worst air quality in the world). Add to that the new normal of rolling blackouts imposed by Pacific Gas & Electric during fire season, as a result of decades of grid neglect. And the new twist: COVID-19 has so severely devastated our incarcerated population that the prison labor these states previously relied upon to fight these fires is now too sick to help, making it much more difficult to contain the fires.

The Trump administration is opening up retirement funds to private equity — at workers’ expense

August is coming to an end but things are not getting any better -- 

The Nation literary burns as fires in California have forced more than 119,000 people from their homes 

Firefighters are struggling to get a handle on the 560 wildfires burning throughout the state, scorching more than 900,000 acres, including a treasured redwood forest

In terms of covid… even though it is clearly human nature to try to move on -- and the powers that be are really trying to convince us everything is fine -- we are still very much in the middle of the pandemic…

The U.S. has 5.79M confirmed cases and 178k deaths (as of Aug 25)

The States with the most COVID-19 cases are:

• California 2. Florida 3. Texas 4. New York and 5. Georgia 

The States with the most COVID-19 related deaths are:

• New York - 32,887 deaths, 2. New Jersey - 15,946 deaths, 3. California - 12,235 deaths, 4. Texas - 11,749 deaths, 5. Florida - 10,397 deaths

And these numbers are before Trump pushed to resume classes -- wait until people start testing positive by the thousands! Assuming the statistics get reported correctly as some schools are keeping quiet about coronavirus infections. 

• • But they won’t be able to keep the secret for so long -- especially after more U.S. colleges were grappling with high numbers of students testing positive for the coronavirus just days into the start of the fall semester after some universities rolled back their campus reopening plans in recent weeks.On the first day of school in Camden County, Ga., local Facebook groups were already buzzing with rumors that a teacher had tested positive for the coronavirus. The next day, a warning went out to school administrators: Keep teachers quiet.
  • In the weeks since, parents, students and teachers in the coastal community on the Florida border have heard by word of mouth of more positive cases linked to district schools. 
  • But even as fears of an outbreak have grown, the district has refused to publicly confirm a single case, either to the local community or The New York Times, who covered this note.

It is absurd that many educational institutions are endangering their students’ health, mainly for the tuition money -- greed as always is at the root of it all. 

Don’t believe me? Just read what the CDC has on their website: “Reopening schools creates opportunity to invest in the education, well-being, and future of one of America's greatest assets—our children….”

It is sickening how in the midst of all this full-blown apocalypse, profits can still be a motive...

In the United States, corporations enjoy many of the same rights as people — things like freedom of speech, the right to enter into contracts, and the ability to waste their money on Gary Johnson’s 2016 presidential campaign. Given how much they benefit from personhood, is it really so much to ask that the government treat them like its other citizens and start bombarding them with drone strikes?

I know what you’re thinking, “drone strikes are supposed to be reserved for terrorists in other countries, right?” Well, most of these corporations have already moved their headquarters abroad, and if charging $600 for designer jeans isn’t terrorism, then that word has lost all meaning. When you think about it, McDonald’s has killed more people than Al-Qaeda, anyway.

These radicalized corporations threaten our very way of life, and they must be stopped.

Prior to COVID-19, 44 million Americans were already uninsured, with millions more underinsured, and many more with marketplace plans that had high premiums, co-pays, deductibles and out of pocket expenses -- a deterrent to actually seeking needed care.

Fast forward to today. After hearing the praises of the "choice" of employer based healthcare throughout the primary debates, we are now watching in real time as the economic downturn is creating mass unemployment, with millions having their "choice" employer-based healthcare taken away from them, through no fault of their own. During a grossly mismanaged pandemic. It makes all of the healthcare debates from 6 months ago look...absurd.

So it makes sense that support for (single payer) Medicare for All has skyrocketed in popularity.