How to Institutionalize our Movement
We Are Succeeding in Defending our Democracy
Even as the hellacious degradation of our country’s federal systems continues, I am more inspired, more positive, today about our goal of restoring and codifying democracy than I have been since the election.
We Will Succeed in Protecting our Democracy
In author Brent Giannotta’s Substack piece entitled, “How Other Nations Oust Their Autocrats”, he reminds us of how other despots were defeated - and how we can do the same - without waiting for the next election. I strongly recommend you read through the article and Restack it in your own community.
Here he talks about what happens when the authoritarian consolidates power to benefit himself exclusively:
“This type of power consolidation, however, infuses regimes with new weaknesses. When all government levers flip to benefit the autocrat rather than the people, the people’s experience of everyday life becomes more difficult. Products become more expensive as industries are consolidated and subsidies dry up. Scholarships, loans, and tax breaks vanish except for allies of the leader.”
Protests work, but not all. Recognize the specific nature of how to determine what protest target will be successful. Brent continues:
“Take a piece of paper…and draw a line. Mark yourself on one side of it, and then try to think who could stand together with you (for that cause). If the answer is just a few people, start over - no matter how committed you are to a cause or how troubled you are by a problem - try again. When you’ve managed to place yourself and your friends and just about the rest of the world on one side of the line and a handful of evil bastards on the other, you’ve won.
“Every movement must start small and use trial and error over weeks and months to hone its tactics. Beta-testing provocative actions is a critical exercise in preparation for the ideal time to strike.
“But a full-blown authoritarian takeover in 2025 suggests activists should prepare to launch a universal objection to Trump’s next unfathomable outrage.
“…but given that all powerful empires have collapsed, there’s no reason to doubt that enough committed Americans can send Trump and Musk fleeing Washington and darting between airports like rich fugitives.”
The Trump administration is taking countless, aggressive actions to damage and destroy valued American institutions, ones we benefit from. Trump is now overt and deliberate in his desire to destroy American democracy. None of the actions he takes suggests they will benefit the common good.
Brent Giannotta: “He’s announced no plan to end homelessness, to build housing, the tame inflation, or to finally publicize his “concepts of a plan to fix healthcare.”
With every challenge that confronts us it becomes more evident that communities of people - who imagine, build and take action together - will see us through. That’s us.
We join communities, not only as places to belong, but as a way of building something meaningful with others. If you think about other valued commitments in your own life, you’ll likely find it to be true. We’re committed to doing the work to regain and protect our democracy.
Watch out for New Leaders
Perhaps like you, my biggest frustration is how most of our House and Senate Representatives fail to grasp the crisis we’re living. They still imagine this is business as usual, and that passive actions will yield a positive result. The threat we are living is way past that possibility. The threat is dire.
It is likely that the leader we crave, one who resonates with us and inspires us to act boldly, is not among current Democratic leadership. We each need to be alert to leaders whose voices and activism are working.
Dozens of the best writers of our day have been sounding the alarm about the assault on our government. Read; pay close attention to the increasing number of independent voices, like Meidas Touch, who catalyze large numbers of people.
Let us be inspired by the Ukrainian people and President Volodomyr Zelenskyy. Let us be heartened by the resounding, increasing support of the European community to protect Ukraine and bring it into the democratic fold.
Michele Hornish, Small Deeds, Done: “Maybe watching Ukrainians who are outgunned and outmanned but still eager to fight for their democracy in muddy fields with their bare hands has made us wonder why leaders are not rising to fight for ours in antiseptic climate-controlled office buildings where their biggest concern is losing the next election.”
Michelle Hornish: “For too long we’ve stood, shocked and slack-jawed, watching authoritarians ascend and democracies falter – making excuses even as our own democratic institutions wither. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian people’s heroism and fortitude has inspired and helped galvanize a previously paralyzed world.”
Keep Pushing our Legislators to Act
I have become more specific, more direct in my weekly communications with my own Representatives. I’ll get right to it. These are the demands I made of my own Reps this week:
Write a “Letter to America.” Every House Democrat and Senator should present it publicly. It should state that what Trump is doing is illegal and unconstitutional.
File an amicus brief in every court challenge. Start writing criminal referrals for the DOGE (and other) violators.
Hold a daily morning press conference. Grab media attention. Do not let any illegal action by this administration go unchallenged - publicly.
Organize your own Congressional hearings outside of Congress. Bring your own witnesses, make our big arguments. Help the American people better understand that our country is being assaulted.
Stop the fifty-percent staffing cuts to the Social Security Administration. You think you're seeing opposition now? Wait until the 73,000,000 people who receive Social Security are in the streets.
We demand Democratic House Reps and Senators PROTEST THIS ADMINISTRATION'S ALLEGIANCE TO PUTIN. We demand the United States continues defending Ukraine.
You are required to defend the Constitution. Failure now makes you complicit. Holding a ping pong paddle with some obsequious remark on it during a joint Congressional session is INSUFFICIENT! Orchestrate your own events!
Read to Understand the Autocrat’s Goals
Two important reads: Heather Cox Richardson's, “Letters from an American” and Jess Piper's, “The View from Rural Missouri” report what seems to be a deliberate attempt to crash what was a booming economy. Why? It’s called “curated failure”, enabling oligarchs to buy up the assets of the state for rock-bottom prices.
One of the ways to remain positive about how we’re saving democracy is to be reminded that a political movement has stages. Jessica Craven at Chop Wood, Carry Water, says there are four stages:
“Stage 1: Emergence: The Spark Before the Fire.” We’re in the very early stage of the fight against the fascistic takeover of our country. Jessica likens it to Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on the bus; she was arrested. She wasn’t the first, but something about it was different. “This is where we are now.”
“Stage 2: Coalescence (The Gathering Storm).” The movement grows. In the civil rights movement, students started sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. “Freedom Riders challenge Jim Crow laws in the South, facing brutal beatings. More leaders emerge - John Lewis, Ella Baker, Diane Nash, Fannie Lou Hamer. We need more coordination, a unified message and clearer targets for resistance.”
“Stage 3: Bureaucratization (The Power Stage).” Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency when John Kennedy was assassinated; he “sees the writing on the wall. Congress passes the Civil Rights Act.”
“Stage 4: Decline or Success.” The movement survives Martin Luther King’s assassination and “white backlash”; however, it evolves. “We must be wary of repression, co-optation, and internal division - but most importantly, we need a long-term strategy for victory.”
Movements start locally: boycotts, organizing, “a thousand small acts of defiance.”
Success arises when the efforts we make cannot be denied, when they hit “critical mass.”
We know what to do, and we’re doing it. “We’re at the start of something massive. And if we stay sharp, strategic, and relentless - we will win.”