Calhoun County Democratic Party
PO Box 1012 | Port Lavaca, TX 77979
(361) 238-0335 | Info@CalhounTXDemocrats.org
Dear Voter,
The reason you are receiving this letter, and the enclosed brochures, is that you have voted at least once between the years 2008-2022 in the Democratic Party Primary Elections.
Texas does not have registered parties so party affiliation is determined by the primary election. For example, if you voted in the Democratic Primary in 2008 you are considered a Democrat in the 2008 general election.
As such, we, the Calhoun County Democratic Party, are reaching out to all past Democratic primary voters to determine their party affiliation and to inform them of our current situation. Our goal in this endeavor is to reach out to all current and past Democratic Party voters and help increase our atrocious voter turnout numbers in our county.
2024 is going to be the most important election of our lives. Our nation is on a tipping point that many nations and even America in the 1930s have faced in the past. Most of these nations tipped over into fascist, authoritarian, dictatorial, and even theocratic-run governments. In the 1940s America pulled back from the allure of fascism in World War II and saved Democracy here and across the world by winning WWII and then the Cold War.
In the 1960s, we finally made moves to treat ALL Americans as equal under the law and started to get rid of our racist segregation laws, policies, and culture.
However, like every move towards a more liberal, representational, multi-cultural, inclusive nation there was backlash from those who refused to accept these changes and wanted to continue to hold on to their white, conservative, Christian, and male power. In the past couple of decades more nations have lost their democracies and now it is our turn.
On June 25, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v Hodges that gay people had the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts and had a right to get married and raise kids. Same Sex Marriage became the law of the land, and the majority of the nation celebrated this remarkable win.
However, the backlash came in 2016 through various means as several forces decided to work together and help elect Donald Trump, the career criminal slum landlord millionaire conman, President of the United States. The 'Manchurian Candidate' became President and began a process to dismantle and dishonor American prestige across the world. Everything Trump did as President helped our enemies. If he had won a second term, NATO would be gone, America would be back to pre-WWII status, and Russia and China would be running rampant across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
If you think this is hyperbole, then please do your research on what Trump said he would do in regard to abandoning our allies across the world by ending NATO, ending our treaties, and letting Putin do what he wants. Trump already abandoned our Kurdish allies in Syria and let the Taliban take over Afghanistan to the great benefit of Russia. Trump holds no honor and only cares about making money for himself. Trump says that China is the big enemy, but he has Chinese bank accounts, Ivanka has patents in China, and there are many business deals with China. It would not be outside the realm of possibility that as Trump lets Putin do whatever he wants he would also allow Xi because he loves and admires dictators.
For decades, the Republican Party gained power by stating they were the party that protected, defended, and gave the military what they needed to win wars and help the vets while the Democrats were the peacenik protesters who wanted peace by any means. This lie was laid bare to the world with Trump, Tuberville, and how MAGA has abandoned the military in service to Trump, as well the current House Speaker debacle and how many Republican Congressman want government to be dismantled through a complete shutdown and no longer fund Ukraine nor Israel.
On top of all that the Republican Congress unanimously elected a religious extremist, Mike Johnson, as Speaker because he had Trump's endorsement. Like before in 1999, after ousting Newt Gingrich and the Republicans had issues picking a Speaker and went with a relatively unknown backbencher. Back then they chose Dennis Hastert who went on to become the longest serving Republican House Speaker and went to prison as an infamous pedophile. This time, they chose a backbencher, who not only is known as the architect of the Congressional side of the J6 Coup, he is also a religious extremist who would be happy at home as Commander of Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mike-johnson-january-6-house-speaker-nominee-rcna122081 & https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/10/mike-johnson-seminars-christian-nation-speaker-far-right/
All of this is interconnected to Donald Trump and his movement to end America as we know it. Including how he despises and disparages our military. John Kelly finally confirmed the rumors about Trump and his disparaging thoughts on our military personnel being suckers and losers:
"What can I add that has not already been said?″ Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. "A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all 'suckers' because 'there is nothing in it for them.' A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because 'it doesn't look good for me.' A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America's defense are 'losers' and wouldn't visit their graves in France.
"A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women," Kelly continued. "A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.
"There is nothing more that can be said," Kelly concluded. "God help us."
On top of that there is a bipartisan deal in the Senate to fix our broken immigration system and to address needed changes to border security as well to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza. Trump told them to kill the deal in order for him to use it as a weapon against Biden in the election. Nothing, not even our national security in times of which Republican Governors call an invasion, means anything to Trump and his acolytes and sycophants in their quest for power. They deliberately sabotage our nation in return for monetary and political gains.
The aftermath of COVID has changed the world and has allowed fascism to plant roots across the world in form of being against health mandates, vaccines, and masking and has sprouted to attack the LQBTQIA+ community and accuse them of being pedophiles grooming kids to abuse. It is the same vile hatred and lies that rose up in the 70s and 80s after Stonewall Inn Riot and the queer community rising up to declare their humanity and come out of the closet to live a normal life of acceptance and love as themselves and not faking heterosexuality to be approved of by society.
The fight for marriage equality, equal rights, and trans acceptance gained steam in 2015 with Obergefell but it is not over. RuPaul's Drag Race, Orange is the New Black, We're Here, and various shows featuring Queer and Trans people gained popularity, won awards, and helped bring acceptance and awareness to this culture, but religious extremists accuse them of being minions of Satan and demons doing evil in this world.
In 2021, the Republican Party declared war on the queer community and actively started to attack queer adults and children by declaring all gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, non-binary, and queer people as pedophiles intent on 'grooming' children to their 'demonic lifestyle'. They started to pass bills and laws en-mass directly attacking these people through the 'don't say gay′ bills that made it illegal for teachers and staff to talk about queerness or themselves or their families. A straight cis teacher can bring pictures and talk about their marriage and kids but not a queer teacher is not allowed to speak about anything of themselves that is not approved of and seen as 'normal' and 'acceptable.' Being queer is not acceptable.
Book bans are sweeping across the nation. It is an extremely small minority filing thousands of applications to have books pulled from schools and public libraries. They are specifically targeting books that are written by or about people of color and/or queer people. In Florida, a school district is removing all books that have queer characters in them because being queer is not acceptable to these people. Only straight, white, and 'Christian' is acceptable to them.
The American Library Association (ALA) today released new data documenting* 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago. The unparalleled number of reported book challenges in 2022 nearly doubles the 729 challenges reported in 2021.
A record 2,571 unique titles were targeted for censorship, a 38% increase from the 1,858 unique titles targeted for censorship in 2021. Of those titles, the vast majority were written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color.
Of the reported book challenges, 58% targeted books and materials in school libraries, classroom libraries or school curricula; 41% of book challenges targeted materials in public libraries.
The prevalent use of lists of books compiled by organized censorship groups contributed significantly to the skyrocketing number of challenges and the frequency with which each title was challenged. Of the overall number of books challenged, 90% were part of attempts to censor multiple titles. Of the books challenged, 40% were in cases involving 100 or more books.
Prior to 2021, the vast majority of challenges to library resources only sought to remove or restrict access to a single book.
Recently, the book bans in Florida have now expanded to include dictionaries and encyclopedias. We are starting to live in a world from Fahrenheit 451 where we burn our books.
One school district in Florida is looking to extend the state's book ban to an unexpected genre: dictionaries. According to a list obtained and published by the nonprofit PEN America, the Escambia County school district has included five dictionaries, eight encyclopedias and "The Guinness Book of World Records," in its list of more than 1,600 books that could soon be banned.
The Republican Party says they don't want to be like Communist China and yet they are following their rule book. China still bans the teaching of Tiananmen Square protests and the massacre that followed. And the Republican Party is now trying to whitewash American history just like China does by forcing educators and textbook printers to teach that slavery wasn't that bad. That the enslaved were being taught life skills such as blacksmithing. They don't mention the torture, rape, and murder of the slaves by their owners because slaves were not seen as human. It is called chattel slavery for a reason. Humans were considered the property of others and treated the same as cattle for hundreds of years. The Republican see no hypocrisy in their war against factual information on slavery, segregation, racism, sexism, sex, gender, LGBTQIA+, and any other topic that shows how ignorant and hateful they were and are while claiming that Chinese Communist Party is evil and undemocratic.
All these new laws restricting what can be taught or spoken about only target public education, not private schools, not religious schools, only government-funded education. The reason why? This is because these laws are all part of a plan to bit by bit destroy public education. Who wants to have their child educated on lies and propaganda that will make them failures in life by being unable to compete and go to top colleges and universities or get well-paying jobs?
All of this boils down to one thing, Trumpism equals the end of American Democracy and the beginning of a theocratic nation akin to the one portrayed in the TV show The Handmaid's Tale. Parts of it are already here with the fall of Roe. Texas has it worse than the other states. We know the stories of women who must be septic in order to get terminations for their non-viable pregnancies. Kate Cox took her case all the way to the Texas Supreme Court and was basically told to go and die from her medical complications. She had to flee the state to get life-saving necessary medical treatment, an abortion.
Kate Cox, whose fetus had a fatal condition, did not qualify for an abortion in Texas: not after four emergency room visits, elevated vital signs, risks of a uterine rupture and with her ability to have more children in jeopardy.
And now the stories are starting to leak about the women who were killed because they were denied even knowing they might need an abortion.
Another doctor in the Ascension Seton system told me, "One of the great challenges and rewarding features of obstetrics is that you have two patients. They sometimes have competing interests, and one is dependent on the other. Your job is to get both through the pregnancy safely, but that's not always possible. And it's very frustrating to have your hands tied because the patient who you need to save is not the one that's protected by law."
…
Ever since Yeni's death, some of the medical professionals involved in and briefed about her care have been haunted by the question of whether sins of omission were committed. They have asked themselves if responsibility for her death resided in part with the new laws that suppress free discussion—both among doctors and with patients—about therapeutic abortion. Had fear of legal repercussions trumped compassionate care?
…
A study by the University of Colorado Boulder predicted a surge in maternal deaths after Roe fell, disproportionately among women of color; analysts at The Lancet and Harvard Medical School voiced similar worries.
The task of determining whether that prediction has come to pass in Texas belongs to the state's Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Review Committee. Texas's maternal-death rate has more than doubled since 1999, driven by the increase in maternal-care deserts and by a lack of prenatal care, of health insurance, and of access to contraception. The review committee has, for the past decade, attempted to conduct close analyses of these deaths, drawing on medical records, police reports, and other documentation. Its reports serve both as road maps for averting future deaths (the vast majority of the examined deaths were likely preventable, the committee's latest findings show) and as social indictments, underscoring how much a woman's race, economic status, and location factor into her likelihood of dying while pregnant. Members of the committee told me that the review process is cumbersome, and that they won't start assessing 2022 cases until later this year, at the earliest.
…
Joanne Stone, the chair of the ob-gyn department at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the former president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, said flatly, "If she weren't pregnant, she likely wouldn't be dead." When Yeni was well enough to be moved out of the I.C.U. in Austin, Stone went on, "the discussion would be, 'Do you want to continue this pregnancy now, knowing that, because you already had the severe-range blood pressure and pulmonary edema, your likelihood of getting really sick is super-high?' " In such cases, she explained, "you have a consultation, you have the neonatologists come talk to her, you have the maternal-fetal-medicine specialists come talk to her, and then sometimes the patient needs a day or two to come to a decision. But in the legal landscape of Texas you can't even start that discussion."
Thomas Traill, the director of the E. Cowles Andrus Cardiac Clinic, at Johns Hopkins, and an expert in pregnancies of women with cardiac conditions, agreed with Stone about the gravity of Yeni's risk. He told me that, had Yeni had access to proper care for her serious underlying conditions, she would have been advised not to get pregnant in the first place, and that when she saw an ob-gyn ten weeks after she conceived an abortion should have been discussed. He contended that, with the law apparently stifling such a conversation, E.R. doctors and paramedics were placed in an "impossible situation" that ended in "a very preventable maternal death."
On his campaign stops Trump has touted of his hand in the Fall of Roe. He proudly claims credit. He says that Roe v Wade fell because of him. Which means all the hurt, grievous injury, and deaths from the end of abortion treatment is also on him.
The danger Trump poses to America and the world at large cannot be underestimated. In his last months, Trump started talking about purging our nation of the 'deep state' that kept him from breaking the law and doing things that would push us to a dictatorship. He came up with Schedule F which would allow him to fire en-masse every single government employee who will not swear an oath of loyalty and fealty to Trump. It is now known as Project 2025 as created by The Heritage Foundation: https://www.project2025.org/ & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 Trumpism is now the rule of the Republican Party. And Trumpism is authoritarianism led by Trump (and possibly Don Jr.) our own wannabe Hitler or Mao.
As the Washington Post states, ″Democracy Dies in the Darkness." But this is not all doom and gloom. This is the United States of America. We do not "go gentle into that good night," and we "fight fight against the dying of the light." https://poets.org/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night
General Mark Milley in his last speech as he stepped down from the position of Joint Chief of Staff on Friday, September 29, 2025, stated:
But today is not about anyone up here on this on this stage. It's not about the President, the Secretary of Defense, me, C.Q.. It's not about us. It is about something much larger than all of us. It is about our Democracy. It is about our Republic. It is about the colors posted behind me. It is about the ideas and values that make up this great experiment and liberty.
Those values and ideas are contained within the Constitution of the United States of America. Which is the moral North Star for all of us who have the privilege to wear the cloth of our nation. It is that document, the idea of America, that document that gives purpose to our service. It is that document that gives purpose to our lives. It is that document that all of us in uniform swear to protect and defend against ALL enemies, foreign AND domestic.
That has been true across generations that we in uniform are willing to DIE to pass that document off to the next generation. So it is that document that gives ultimate purpose to our death.
The motto of our country is E Publius Unum, from the many come one. We are one nation, under God, we are indivisible, with liberty for all.
The motto for our army for over 200 years since 14 June 1775, when a company of Pennsylvania riflemen formed it. The motto has been this we will defend. And that this refers to the Constitution, the constitution of the United States. We the people in order to form a more perfect union to protect the liberty of this country.
You see, we in uniform are unique, we are unique among the world's armies, we are unique among the world's militaries. We don't take an oath to a country, we don't take an oath to a tribe, we don't take an oath to a religion. We don't take an oath to a king, or a queen, or a tyrant, or a dictator. And we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don't take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America – and we're willing to die to protect it.
Every soldier, sailor, airman, marine, guardian, and coast guardian, each of us, commits our very life to protect and defend that document. Regardless of personal price. And we are not easily intimidated. More than 1.1 million in uniform have paid the supreme sacrifice including the 400,000 that rest in eternal peace in Arlington National Cemetery.
Those who sacrifice themselves offered freedom to last for two and half centuries in this country must not have done so in vain. The millions wounded in our nation's wars did not sacrifice their limbs and shed their blood to see this great experiment in democracy perish from this Earth.
No, we, the United States military will always be true to those who came before us. We will never under any circumstances turn our back on our duty. Thomas Paine famously wrote in his pamphlet The Crisis, "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. And Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered."
In the earliest days before we were even a nation, our military stood there, stood on the wall, stood in the breach, and suffered the crucible of combat. Stood the watch and defended the liberty for all Americans. Each of us signs a blank check to this country to protect our freedom. The blood we spill pays for our freedom of speech. Our blood pays for the right to assemble, our due process, our freedom of the press, our right to vote, and all the other rights and privileges that come with being an American.
It is the blood of our fallen, it is the blood of our wounded, that sustains our freedom. And we should always be inspired by them. We should never forget them. And we should ALWAYS honor them.
That is why my father's uncle fought and was wounded at Meuse–Argonne in 1918. It is why his other uncle was fought and hurt at Gallipoli in 1916. That's why my uncle fought, my father's brother, was at Normandy. Why my mother's brother was in the Philippines? That is why, yet another uncle, fought in Korea. And my cousins fought in Vietnam. That is why my mother treated those returning from the Pacific. And that is why my father hit the beach in Iwo Jima.
So that, we the people, in order to form that more perfect union, may enjoy the fruits of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We the American people, we the American military, must never turn out back on those that came before us. And we will NEVER turn our back on the Constitution.
That is our North Star, that is who we are, and that is why we fight.
The reason I am writing this considerably long letter to you is to let you know where we stand as a nation and what we all can do to help save Democracy in America.
Number One is VOTE.
Every single vote matters, especially now. Texas is the most anti-voter state in the nation. Texas Republicans have made it nearly impossible for every single legally able citizen to vote. That shows how much they are terrified of you. They will do whatever they can to keep you from voting because they need to keep you from voting because you vote has the POWER to kick them out of office and change Texas from ′Republican Christian Theocratic′ dreamland to one in which we have equal rights no matter our race, creed, religion, sexuality, sex, gender, age, wealth, social status, and so forth.
Number Two is Donate.
Donate to our local party. We are the grassroots of the Texas Democratic Party. Building local county parties builds up the state and national party.
It's easy to donate through our official Act Blue account (https://secure.actblue.com/donate/calhouncountytxdems). The QR code can take you to our ActBlue page as well.
Or mail your donation to:
Calhoun County Democratic Party
C/O Brandelyn Wiser
PO Box 1012
Port Lavaca, TX 77979
Number Three is attending meetings, volunteer, & get involved in however you can.
We meet on the 1st Tuesday of each month (except holidays and elections), 6 pm at Calhoun County Public Library in Port Lavaca 200 W Mahan Street Port Lavaca, Texas. We have the social/potluck portion which begins at 5.30.
Letter writing, postcards, phone banking, text banking, registering voters, working elections, being a precinct chair, organizing events, and more. Let us know what YOU are ready to do.
Number Four is to talk to people you know how Trumpism is a danger to the Republic, to America, and to Democracy here and across the world.
When you see an issue that needs to be addressed, don't be intimidated by loud bullies or keyboard warriors. You will be surprised by the support you will receive here in our community.
Number Five is Run for Office.
There are no special qualifications to run for office in Texas. Sometimes all it takes is a high school diploma. There are organizations and people who are standing by to support you as you run for school board, city council, county commissioner, navigation district, Justice of the Peace, district or county clerk, judges, Sheriff, constable, county treasurer, State Representative, State Senate, and so forth.
Whatever you are interested in, there is room for you at the table. You can find more information and resources in our brochure or here: https://www.calhountxdemocrats.org/run-for-office
Reach out to us and we will talk to you about what you need to know if you plan on running for office locally, county-wide, or a higher form of office. We are here to help you in any way that we can.
Number Six is to respond to this letter by letting us know if you are still a Democratic voter, if you are interested in joining the Calhoun County Democratic Club, if you are interested in attending our meeting, in donating to us, in running for office, or so forth. Most of all, it is to let us know if you wish to be removed from our lists and want us to no longer contact you.
Number Seven is to be optimistic.
Like President Biden said last year on August 25, 2022:
"Look, I believe America is at a genuine inflection point that occurs every six or seven generations in world history — one of the moments — one of the moments that changes everything. And Americans are going have to choose. You must choose. Will be it — will we be a country that moves forward or backward? Will we build a future or obsess over the past? Will we be a nation of unity, of hope, of optimism — not a nation of anger, violence, hatred, and division?
Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans have made their choice: to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate, and division.
But we've chosen a different path: forward, the future, unity, hope, and optimism. (Applause.) I mean it sincerely. We choose to build a better America."
If we all work together, we can change the course we are on and to save American Democracy and in turn help save democracy across the world. Every generation has a call to duty, and this is ours.
Sincerely,
Brandelyn Wiser
Calhoun County Democratic Chair
