Everyday Election Activism

An Insider's Guide (#16) - March 22, 2025

I wake up each morning and ask myself, ‘Where am I? Where are we living? Is this the United States?’ I don’t recognize our country any more. Every day another page out of Project 2025 becomes reality.

We are all feeling this. It’s hard to focus on anything other than fighting the dismantling of government and the rise of authoritarianism. And on the administration’s stealing from the American people to enrich the billionaires. Resistance and opposition are at the top of the ‘to-do,’ ‘must-do,’ and ‘need-to-do-right-now’ list. All the other entries on my to-do list are a blur, even though I know they are there.

But it’s also time for a deep breath. We need a pause.

We need to slow down our racing hearts, inhale a big breath, relax that clenched jaw.

As we watch the coup advance, as we sit precariously on the edge of a full-blown constitutional crisis, we need to calm ourselves. Fear and panic are not good decision-makers. We do not want them in charge.

I believe that activists are the problem-solvers for our country, and problem solve we must. A crisis like this, which seems to escalate day by day, requires clear minds.

I also still believe in the possibility of a better future. Calm reason tells me each day to make room on my calendar for building towards a true democracy and a functional government. Even when I am speaking out against Project 2025 or demanding that elected officials fight for us, I am breathing in hope for something different, and adding actions to my to-do list that will make that hope a reality.

Up to Now…..Waiting for Congress

Up to now we have been waiting for Congress to stop the coup. We tried to influence the Democrats to vote down the unqualified MAGA nominees for Cabinet positions and heads of agencies. There were too many unnecessary ‘yes’ votes. The Senate failed us.

In January, too many unnecessary ‘yes’ votes also went to legislation like the Laken Riley Act. Forty-eight Democrats in the House and ten in the Senate voted for a bill that gives the Department of Homeland Security power to detain any immigrants it suspects of a crime, and hold them without bond hearings. The Democrats failed us again.

Our loud demands for Democrats in Congress to fight harder increased in intensity, but their first reaction was to be annoyed with us. We were expecting too much of them, they said. They are the minority party, they don’t have the votes. We got angrier. Nothing changed for weeks. It felt like forever.

In the last few weeks, House Democrats have started to show some life. They united against the catastrophic budget resolution. The Senate did not pull together, however, and Senator Schumer along with a handful of other Democrats voted with the Republicans. Shutting down the government would have caused harm, it’s true, but the lack of outrage about the position the Democrats were forced into made the yes-votes seem more like acquiescence than votes to keep us from harm.

Conclusion: We cannot count on Congress. But let me rephrase that: We cannot count on the current Democratic Party. (Spoiler alert: We have the power to change the Party!)

Waiting for the Courts

We are still holding our breaths on this one. The Not-Our-President is losing in federal courts and has provoked a rebuke from Justice Roberts. But…. we are waiting to see if the administration will comply with court orders. We are waiting for rulings on dozens of lawsuits. Appeals to the Supreme Court are still to come.

Marc Elias is most worried about two sharks circling too close for comfort around the boat of democracy. One is the possibility that the Not-Our-President will defy court orders. If this happens we are in a true constitutional crisis. The second involves the administration’s attacks on law firms with a history of challenging the Republicans. The attacks are having a chilling effect, with some law firms already pulling back to protect themselves or paying big bucks to stay in the game. Elias is concerned that we may lose the ability to defend ourselves. Already the courts cannot take on every illegal and unconstitutional act of the administration. In a word, democracy is on the ropes when it comes to judicial protections.

What to Do? First Up: Create a Shared Narrative!

If we cannot count on Democratic leadership in Congress, and if we cannot depend on the courts, what is left to us as activists? Exactly what we are doing - building out the resistance!

What is the aim of our resistance?

It is first of all to create a shared narrative that moves public opinion. We must make sure people know that:

• The only goal of the Not-My-President is to enrich himself and the oligarchy of billionaires by making us poorer: taxing us more, forcing us to pay the tariffs he imposes on our trading partners, and gutting government programs that people like us need to survive.

• The Not-My-President is taking down democracy, stripping away the rights of minorities, immigrants, women, LGBTQ individuals, Native Americans, people with disabilities, and workers. Most of us are affected in one way or another, although racism prevails, leaving people of color most vulnerable.

• Our country is losing its stature in the world. We are destroying our alliances with other democratic countries. The betrayal of Ukraine, the ending of foreign aid, and the growing alliance with Putin cost lives and make us less safe.

• As government funding is withdrawn, we will lose our edge in medicine, science, technology and other innovations and we will lose momentum in the transition to renewable energy.

Our narrative also has to chip away at the common perception that the Not-Our-President is strong. The Not-Our-President acts as if he is all-powerful, but as Simon Rosenberg notes, it is more accurate to describe him as weak, his Administration as losing, the country as declining, and Republicans as cowards who are betraying us.

And finally, our narrative must send the clear message: We demand the government reverse direction and restore democratic protections and good government.

Using the Shared Narrative to Build a Strong Democratic Opposition

Our narrative will support the development of a true Opposition Party. The only party in position to take over from the Republicans is the Democratic Party. We are dependent on them, but the Party needs to change!

We need to energize the Democratic Party to do what we activists are already doing. We need the Party to embrace our grassroots movement and stand up for working people. When we speak out and call on and call out Democrats for their inaction, we can force the Party to change.

Through our demands, we also push the Democratic Party to understand that they wield plenty of power. Refusal to negotiate is power. Supporting litigation is power. Reaching out in solidarity with voters builds more power. It is the only way forward.

To Get Where We are Going, We Need to Grow the Resistance.

We’re already growing the resistance! Let’s congratulate ourselves and celebrate that!

Of course, we are not done. History tells us that when 3.5% of the population joins the resistance, it becomes an unstoppable force. People are joining organically with every passing day, but we have to be intentional and further grow our numbers.

• Using our Personal Footprints. In Saving Democracy, David Pepper urges us to use our personal footprints to bring people in. This means reaching out to family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, plus everyone else and every organization or public-facing business we interact with.

• Resistance Meets Voter Outreach. We also need to reach beyond our networks. This is where building the resistance merges with voter outreach.

Voter Outreach Builds the Resistance and Influences Public Opinion

Right now is a great time to talk with voters and potential voters. People are receptive. They are angry, they are afraid. The new regime is not the one they wanted. They need to vent, and they need to be heard. We can offer affirmation and solidarity.

Voters also need us because we can offer hope. They need to hear about the growing resistance. They need to know that protesters are not weirdos, socialists, communists, or extremists. We are just like them and we care about all of us!

Most of all voters need to know they are not alone, but in fact part of a growing number of Americans who want change. We want them to feel the power that we are building.

Personal conversations accomplish what politicians at a distance can not. We can have impact in a way that social media does not. People do not trust politicians, and they do not know what to believe in the media they consume. They do trust friends and neighbors. We can be the ones who bring them into the resistance and motivate them to help transform the Democratic Party from the bottom up.

What Does Voter Outreach Look Like in This Moment?

We are already making calls to our members of Congress, and we can urge others to do the same. We can join phone banks where volunteers call voters in red districts asking them to contact their elected officials. These phone banks make it easy, giving voters simple tools for sending emails or patching them through immediately to their members of Congress. We can do this work wherever we live (hint, hint! There are a few of these listed in Everyday Election Activism: The Opportunities.)

We can knock on doors, asking people to contact their elected officials. In the purple state of North Carolina, the Durham County Democratic Party will soon be holding canvasses every Saturday and Sunday with this purpose. Other grassroots organizations are doing their own voter outreach. In North Carolina we have Neighbors on Call, Common Cause and Down Home. Even in blue states, there are people waiting to be invited in. In red states there are more non-MAGA people than you might imagine. What is happening where you live?

We can continue to hold pubic protests, experimenting to find out which draw the most people, which get media attention, and which get through to MAGA. Groups such as Indivisible, 50501, and the Democratic National Committee put out regular calls for action across the country, which are then organized locally (for example, the Hands Off! Day of Action on April 5). Some other examples of what I am hearing about:

• Protests at Tesla dealerships (Who knew they would be so popular and so effective?)

• Rallies in support of Medicaid and public education and science, and in solidarity with federal workers

• Protests at expressway overpasses, with activists holding signs where rush hour drivers can see them

• Town halls with Republicans who have betrayed us and Democrats who need to fight harder

• Empty chair town halls aimed at elected officials who refuse to show up

• We can post on social media, trying to reach broader audiences. A friend of mine is engaging with people outside her social network on the Facebook page for her small town high school.

How Does the Resistance Create Change? What Next?

When 3.5% of Americans join the movement, then what? We are just ordinary citizens. We cannot pass laws, repeal laws, de-politicize the Department of Justice or the FBI, re-hire federal workers, or re-establish shuttered agencies.

What exactly can we accomplish? A lot!

Public opinion is our greatest ally! The narrative we create becomes public opinion, and public opinion sparks change, especially as the pain inflicted on Americans by our current government becomes more widespread. This is what we could be seeing soon:

• The Not-Our-President will feel pressure to pull back the most damaging executive orders. He may not care about us, but he cares about his public image and at some point he will care about the economy.

• Democrats in Congress will change. They will uncurl their backbones, bring their spines in alignment, and hold up their heads. They will absorb our energy and make it theirs, and we will see them negotiating harder whenever the Republicans need their votes. We are already seeing this: The fury at Senator Schumer over his vote on the budget appears to have had impact. I am reading that although unlikely to step down, he is much more likely to play hardball with the Republican Party! Yeah us!

• The Republicans who do not like the Not-Our-President will have ammunition to stand up to him. It takes less courage to speak out if their constituents are in revolt against the administration, and when some of their colleagues feel the same way they do. I’m not sure when this will happen, given that so many non-MAGA Republicans were winnowed out of office in the last election. Nevertheless, I wonder how deep MAGA enthusiasm runs. Support of the Not-Our-President may be based more on avoidance of his wrath or fear of retaliation than agreement. If Republicans see another option, especially one that makes them look good and helps their chances of re-election, they may jump at it. Wouldn’t it be great to see Republican unity vanish?

• The voting power of House Democrats may increase this year if Democrats win some of the critical special elections this spring (hint, hint! You can help make this happen! Check out Everyday Election Activism: The Opportunities.)

Our Movement Aims for So Much More than Defeating MAGA

Whatever we do, whether we are participating in protests, sharing information through the media, or reaching out to voters, we can already be thinking about the future.

Why not think of ourselves as the ones who give voice to all that we want for our country? Why not be the ones inspired to empower the American people to demand the democracy we were promised? Our work has the potential to be just that transformative!

Why not make this our mantra, to be repeated over and over again to give it power?

And if we succeed, we will have achieved something much larger than stopping MAGA. After all, we want more than to return our country to the state it was in prior to last November. We are demanding that our elected officials pass the test of courage and integrity. We want a government that values the lives of everyday Americans over the interests of the wealthy. If we succeed, the country will be better than it has ever been before! I know it seems like a dream, but why not?