Standing Up When Democracy Falls
I confess I have been in a state of paralysis since January. But slowly, as I find the courage to not look away from the videos displaying the unchecked power of bullies, my rage kindles an awakening. It’s happening. This is not a drill. We are in a constitutional crisis. Our democracy is under direct threat. Every day we lose more ground while pundits debate and headlines blur the urgency. And if we mistake this as a Red vs. Blue issue, we will lose everything. This is not about party lines. This is about the soul of a nation.
Everything hurts right now. Everything is terrifying. You open your phone, and the latest shockwave hits—another assault on justice, another display of corruption, another headline you never imagined you’d see in your lifetime. The memes of bended knees, the bullying and disgrace—it’s a constant barrage, designed to exhaust you into submission.
I know how you feel––the pervasive hum of anxiety just under the surface of everything, the sense of powerlessness, the weight of too much information and too little agency, the anger, the overwhelm, the learned helplessness that tells you your efforts are futile.
But they are not.
You have power. Your presence matters. As those of you who have spent time with my horses know: how you show up has enormous impact on others. As author Joan Westenberg writes:
“Your circle of control exists. It’s real. Not as a motivational concept or a bullshit management framework but as the basic building block of action…The only way to deal with a world on fire is to focus on putting out the flames you can actually reach…it’s where real impact happens while everyone else is paralyzed by the spectacle of collapse.”
Think about how much energy you might be tempted to spend on:
Doomscrolling
Shopping (and other forms of numbing)
Getting mired in interpersonal dramas
Overworking and overfunctioning
Staying distracted
Avoidance
Fighting with your partner or family
Ranting and complaining
Now imagine channeling that energy into actions that actually move the needle. Here’s how:
1. Join Your Local Chapter of Indivisible
Indivisible is a bipartisan, pro-democracy movement that provides tangible ways to take action. Enter your zip code, find your people, and get involved in marches, blackouts, boycotts, and strategies that make a real difference.
2. Speak with Your Wallet
Money talks. Boycott companies that are actively supporting tyranny by capitulating to political pressure, for example here’s the most recent list of companies who have cowered to Trump mafia tactics to dismantle their DEI initiatives:
I cut up my Citi credit card and sent it along with a letter to Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup. I’ve included a copy of the letter below. To save you some time, feel free to copy and paste parts of it for your own letters of boycott.
Support those who have not bent the knee: Apple, and Costco being among the few whose shareholders overwhelmingly voted against reviewing their DEI practices.
Join me on my 30-day challenge to stop my Amazon purchases. This is going to be a hard one. I live remotely and have leaned on Amazon to provide me with most of my business supplies. If I make it to 30 days, I’ll stretch to another 60 and so on until I’m unhooked.
Join the national blackouts and use the power of your purse to say “no!”.
3. Speak with Your Attention
Your attention is a commodity. Where you focus it determines which voices rise and which fall.
MSNBC recently booted four hosts –– all people of color, including the celebrated Black woman prime time anchor, Joy Reid. Unsubscribe.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram) has removed fact-checking from its platforms, further eroding public discourse and ensuring the loudest voices win the day. Disengage
The Washington Post has shown where its loyalties lie. Unsubscribe.
If social media is your thing, Bluesky seems to be keeping its moral compass intact.
4. Stay Informed (Without Losing Your Mind)
Yes, the news is painful. But ignorance is not an option. Find independent sources that are neither pro-Republican nor pro-Democrat, but pro-democracy and check their facts rigorously. Here are a few:
The MeidasTouch podcast three bros from Long Island who seriously fact check and are deeply committed to saving our democracy.
Joy Reid – wherever you can find her now
5. Use Your Voice
Call your representatives. Keep calling. Keep writing. If you’ve never done this before and don’t know where to start, go to this website and enter your zip code.
Write letters to your local newspaper.
Post on social media, or better yet, start a blog or YouTube channel.
6. Expand Your Perspectives –
Eddy out of the echo chamber of the white narrative. Here are some suggested podcasts that uplift the path towards multiracial democracy.
Sounds of SAND (science and non-duality) – draw from the people of the global majority and amplify their perspectives at this time in human history.
7. Use Your Words
The term “woke” has been weaponized to shame those who care. Don’t fall for it. As Jane Fonda says, “Woke simply means you care.” Stay proudly awake. Stay loud. Stand up for the people who have the most to lose in this authoritarian coup—women, LGBTQ+, immigrants, and other marginalized communities.
8. Protect Those Who Speak Up –
The most chilling part of this video of Dr. Teresa Borrenpohl being violently dragged out of her local town hall meeting by plainclothes private security (for doing nothing illegal) all while being wildly taunted by her Congressman is that not a single person moved to protect her. A human wall could have blocked the aisle. We must have each other’s backs.
9. Read to Strengthen Your Resolve
When you are not calling your Member of Congress, or writing boycott letters, or protecting a woman from abuse, settle in to one of these powerful books (find at your local bookstore):
Standing at the Edge by Joan Halifax
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
Pleasure Activism – the politics of feeling good by adrienne maree brown (yes, lowercase)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
10. Don’t Hide Behind Apoliticism
Politics has appropriated citizenry. As an American citizen is it your civic duty––no, privilege––to uphold your democracy and the legal and constitutional structures that keep America a great and dignified country.
Learn about the laws that are being broken.
Learn the ways that our Constitution is being dismantled.
Understand your rights.
Understand that our Members of Congress took an oath to uphold the US Constitution.
Beware the gaslighting, diminishing, justifying, bullying, intimidating, and threatening tactics that are being used against people, communities and companies.
Taking action doesn’t deplete you—it restores you. You will feel part of a community instead of isolated. You will reclaim hope, empowerment, and purpose. Your days will start to feel better. You’ll find you have more energy.
We must stand together. When we reclaim our country, we can debate policy, argue ideology, and negotiate the finer points of life in America. But first, we must ensure there is still an America to fight for.
I’ll leave you with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words, “The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
