Everyday Election Activism

An Insider's Guide (#8) - November 9, 2024

Dear fellow democracy lovers, 

I start with what is no longer ‘news’ but is still very much new: Trump’s sweep of the popular vote and the Electoral college. It hurts! It is everything we worked against, and it is not what we expected. 

We have had three days to sit with the news, and the raw pain is mixing in with something much deeper. We are challenged. We are wondering, “Who are we as a country and what will become of us?” Inevitably we are also wondering, “Who am I now, and how will I meet this moment?” I’m not sure which set of questions is more unsettling.

I for one was looking forward to resting once the election was over. At least long enough to recharge and think through my next steps. I knew that MAGA could not be defeated in one election, but I had hoped we would defang it enough that I could hit the pause button and bring some balance back into my life. I still intend to find that balance, but it’s not that simple any more. 

I am tired of politics. I would prefer to have more time to sink into all the other pleasures of being alive. I would like more down time - to spend with the people in my life, to walk in the woods and look out from mountain tops, to write without urgency and with no purpose other than to see what I can create. Some of that will happen - it’s a promise I am making to myself and my partner - but frankly there is nothing more important to me (or rewarding and sometimes even pleasurable) than fighting for freedom. What my future looks like remains to be seen. All I know is that it will be different than the past year. 

What are all the other activists doing?

I imagine, and hope, that your inboxes and social media feeds are full of communications from activist leaders and organizations reaching out to us as we try to make sense of the election and figure out how to resist the strangling tentacles of tyranny. 

There is no clarity yet, but we know a few things for sure:

• There will be no surrender to fascism. We will resist. 

• The activist infrastructure that we have been growing for a long time, and especially since 2016, has us well positioned to meet this moment. Organizations are many, and they are strong. Coalitions are already in place, and they are united with a common goal. Read this twice if you need to: The surge of activism is not a one-off 2024 election phenomenon. It has grown exponentially this past year, and it has dug deep roots in and around us. It will sustain us and help us build the power we need. 

• No one has a plan at the ready, but we are not starting from scratch. It’s a good sign that within 24 hours of the election, there were opportunities for us to gather online, demonstrate our numbers and our solidarity, and begin to take stock. 

• We will make a way out of no way. Maybe it is more accurate to say we will build on the past. We can learn from the experiences of those who have struggled against tyranny and oppression, in our country and around the world. We can draw, too, on our own experiences of the recent past. We will take comfort and strength from what has come before, even as we reshape earlier strategies to fit the current circumstances.  

I believe in our ability to resist. Democracy-lovers are not taking this setback sitting down. Far from it. We are many. You can feel the solidarity if you look for it. And I do mean ‘feel.’ And our numbers are likely to expand. Leading up to Election Day, I believed there were more of us than them, and I still believe it. The MAGA agenda and Project 2025 are unpopular, even with those who voted for Republicans. I do not believe that the majority of Americans have given up on democracy. There are a lot of people who recklessly voted for change and desperately need more than the government has been delivering. Some of them will join with us.

A few facts, as evidence that we are ready to start making a better future:

• It is not all lost, even in this election:  An AP headline from November 8: “Women win majority of seats in New Mexico Legislature in showcase of determination and joy.” There are other delicious wins at the state level to relish as well, but this one made me grin. 

• The resistance is alive and well: The name of the coalition says it all: “We Are Worth Fighting For.” Over 60,000 people joined an online meeting Thursday night with “We Are Worth Fighting For.” Quite a mighty force, it included MoveOn, Indivisible, Public Citizen, ACLU and many other organizations. I was on other not-so-small meetings the day before, each with over a thousand people and one with 8,000 attendees. There were plenty more that I did not attend and many others scheduled for the foreseeable future. We are not surrendering. No way! 

• We are already preparing for next time:  Run For Something, an organization that supports progressive candidates running for election for the first time, sent this in an email on Thursday: “Over 600 of you signed up to run for office yesterday and that’s just the beginning. We’re blown away at the amount of people who are ready to step up for a better, more progressive future.” Six hundred people! One day after we learned the results of the election! Wow! 

Not ready to look ahead? 

The most consistent wisdom I am hearing is the directive to take care of ourselves. We have to rage, we have to weep. We have to rest. We have to feel grief and disappointment in all the ways they show up. Take time for this and feel the reality of this. Disengage as much as you need to, for as long as you need to.

The choir still sings while some of its members take a breath. Someone reminded me of that yesterday. Already there are many voices out there singing. We will all join again when we can. Yesterday I attended an online ballot-curing event, but fell asleep during the training. A sure sign that I needed to drop off the call, despite pangs of disappointment in myself. I took heart in knowing that over 100 people stayed on that call to cure ballots for important down-ballot races in North Carolina. I am signed up to try again tomorrow. One day at a time. 

The struggle for liberation will never end. Democracy is fragile and will always need our tending. Never again can we take it for granted. But as I let that sink in once more, I also have to surrender to the need to take care of myself. 

Who are we? Who are you?

The press keeps raising the question, ‘who are we as a country?’ Such an important question, such a big question. But when it comes to caring for ourselves, we are facing equally big questions. Not ‘who are we’ as a country, but ‘who am I’?  ‘What does it mean for me to be an American?’ ‘How do I meet this moment?’ ‘What is being asked of me?’ It’s not just the identity of our country that has been upended, it’s our personal identities as Americans that are being tested. 

A friend passed along an article from The Daily Stoic. Not my usual reading material, but look what I found in it: “Our job today and tomorrow is the same as it’s always been—to be good, to be wise, to stand up for what’s right, to resist what is wrong and evil. Nothing changes that. Nothing exempts us from that. Nothing prevents us from doing that.”

And so, my friends, we have to look at ourselves in the mirror. We need to use our outrage and sadness and let our deep caring about the country point the way forward.

The start of our healing process lies in giving space for all our erupting feelings and thoughts. We need to listen to everything coming out of us, and listen deeply. And that takes time. At the same time understand that we will never fully heal if we do not take take a stand. 

That is the hard part, figuring out when you are ready and what it means for you to take a stand. Don’t rush to jump in again, but know that at some point you will need to. You will also need to be wise about what you can do, given your personal circumstances - your physical health, the demands of your job, the needs of the people who depend on you, and your assessment of what you need to stay psychologically healthy.  

Together we will take a stand. That is where you and I are headed. And one last word: Connection. Connecting with other people is the key to grieving, the key to healing, the key to re-energizing ourselves, and the key to sustaining ourselves when we take a stand. We are part of history, and we can make history, but we can only do some much unless we feel our interconnectedness. So as you grieve and heal, seek out all that connects you to the fabric of our world. We are connected and we will reconnect again and again.