Standing Watch at the Legislature

Standing Watch with Friends for Civil Action

As part of the Standing Watch project, on July 26^th, 27^th, and 28^th, eighteen representatives with Friends for Civil Action visited the offices of the Lt. Governor and the Speaker of the House to deliver the following message:

We are representatives of the Standing Watch project with Friends for Civil Action.

We are here to present our position on the Lt. Governor’s/Governor’s agenda for the special session.  We oppose the special session agenda.

We recognize that today our opposition doesn’t carry change-impacting muscle with it.

But we are prepared to be persistent.  We believe that many people in public service want to do more than be re-elected.  We believe there are public servants in both parties who want better lives for their constituents.

We also believe that our democracy is at risk.  We come to you today full of emotion.  We are concerned for the well-being of Texans.  We are sad to see the positive work of our life-times in so many ways being undone so quickly.

We care enough about these matters to trudge through the heat, bringing our less than young bodies before you, to make our case.

We have three special letters we are presenting. The first supports funding for Planned Parenthood, so that people of all persuasions—pro-choice and pro-life—when they are not ready for pregnancy have timely access to pregnancy prevention that conforms with their personal beliefs.

The second letter supports strong public education, which means no public money being directed to private schools.

The third letter supports neighborly treatment of all people, with no one being marginalized. This letter also supports local options, when those options are reasonable.

Each of these letters was signed by at least 92 people, with at least six of these being clergy in the Episcopal Church, including the Bishop of the Diocese of Texas. Friends for Civil Action includes people of many faith and secular beliefs.

Typically, Friends for Civil Action write postcards. Some of us even send tweets. Others of us include phone calling in our repertoire. Newly, we are finding our way to the Capitol to make personal visits.

Standing Watch is a project of Friends for Civil Action, a pro-business and pro-people postcard stormer group.  The Standing Watch project involves personally presenting our point of view in letter form, because a real case can’t be built in a tweet or a postcard.

We are at work to involve people from across the state more fully in becoming informed and making their political voices heard.  Friends for Civil Action believe inclusive policies are the right policies for community life, public safety, the economy, and the human spirit.  We are an informal network—without dues or infra-structure—of friends and neighbors branching to many neighborhoods.  As we present our goals to elected officials, we do so with civility, avoiding name calling.  We focus on issues that are vital to community well-being.  We are residents of our neighborhoods and of the world.

In addition to presenting the letters to the Lt. Governor and the Speaker, we are reaching out to additional elected officials in both the House and the Senate.