Pressure Reps to Act!
Attend Protests!
Attend Town Halls
Promote Constructive Conversation
Stay Informed & Avoid Disinformation
Support Pro-Democracy Organizations and Litigation
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Category: support-democracy
How to support democracy.
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written
by Walter Isaacson
Isaacson explores the origins of the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
• He breaks down the historical context, showing how Jefferson drafted it and Franklin and Adams edited it.
• The book highlights how those words shaped the American Dream and remain relevant in today’s polarized times.
Ali Velshi interviews Walter Isaacson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
The ONE THING You Can Do to Fight Fascism RIGHT NOW
by Elizabeth Cronise McLaughlin
Publisher: The Ripple Effect Institute
Recommended by: Bruce R.
If it feels like America is sliding deeper into darkness—with voter suppression, book bans, gag orders, and fear spreading daily—you’re not alone. The truth is, fascism thrives when good people hesitate, but democracy grows stronger when ordinary people take action. You don’t need the full roadmap to change the world; you just need to take the next best step. Even the smallest action—whether it’s organizing in your community, speaking out at a school board meeting, or showing up for your neighbors—can disrupt authoritarianism and build momentum for lasting change. In this video, I’ll share why action is the antidote to despair and how you can start making a difference today, no matter your resources or time. History shows us that small acts, multiplied by thousands, topple regimes and create movements. Don’t wait for the “perfect” moment or the “perfect” leader—your courage matters now.
A FREE GUIDE FOR PROGRESSIVE LEADERS READY TO CREATE LASTING IMPACT
How to Lead Change Without Burning Out
Beyond Left & Right
Making Sense of Politics in a World of Increasing Misinformation and Manipulation
by Lorenzo Burton
Tired of the endless division, misinformation, and manipulation in today’s political climate?
Beyond Left & Right cuts through the noise to reveal how political systems truly function—and how to recognize when we’re being misled by those in power. In a world where confusion and bias are often used as tools of control, it helps you think more clearly, question more deeply, and see through the fog to understand what’s really going on.
No Kings
For the latest information about No Kings events, go to this website: https://www.nokings.org
About No Kings
In June, we did what many claimed was impossible: peacefully mobilized millions of people to take to the streets and declare with one voice — America has No Kings. And it mattered. The world saw the power of the people. President Trump’s birthday parade was drowned out by protests in every state and across the globe. His attempt to turn June 14 into a coronation collapsed, and the story became the strength of a movement rising against his authoritarian power grabs.
Four months later, that movement roared back even stronger. On October 18, over seven million Americans joined 2,700+ events in all 50 states — a nationwide uprising 14 times larger than both of Trump’s inaugurations combined. What began in June as a single day of defiance has become a sustained national resistance to tyranny, spreading from small towns to city centers and across every community determined to defend democracy.
Now, President Trump has doubled down. His administration is sending masked agents into our streets, terrorizing our communities. They are targeting immigrant families, profiling, arresting, and detaining people without warrants. Threatening to overtake elections. Gutting healthcare, environmental protections, and education when families need them most. Rigging maps to silence voters. Ignoring mass shootings at our schools and in our communities. Driving up the cost of living while handing out massive giveaways to billionaire allies, as families struggle.
The president thinks his rule is absolute. But in America, we don’t have kings — and we won’t back down against chaos, corruption, and cruelty.
Our peaceful movement is only getting bigger. “No Kings” is more than just a slogan; it is the foundation our nation was built upon. Born in the streets, shouted by millions, carried on posters and chants, it echoes from city blocks to rural town squares, uniting people across this country to fight dictatorship together.
Because this country does not belong to kings, dictators, or tyrants. It belongs to We the People — the people who care, who show up, and who fight for dignity, a life we can afford, and real opportunity. No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.
How to Organize Our Way Out of the Trump-Musk Putsch
A plan to harness grassroots energy—and to hold Democratic leaders accountable.
by Ezra Levin, Leah Greenberg
Summary
Indivisible founders, Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, wrote this inspiring article for The Nation. Reviewed by Rachael Maddow.
Continue reading How to Organize Our Way Out of the Trump-Musk PutschIndivisible: A Practical Guide To Democracy On The Brink
If there’s one universally accepted truth in the modern age, it’s that sequels suck. And Trump 2.0 will be no exception. Trump, Vance, and their MAGA minions feel vindicated by the victory of their bigoted, fascistic clown show of a presidential campaign. Trump takes office with a plan to institute the worst parts of Project 2025. He’ll be enabled by a judiciary packed with right-wing ideologues and a congressional majority stacked with MAGA foot soldiers. And he’s assembled a bloc of corporations and billionaires eager to do his bidding in exchange for tax cuts and corrupt favors. But he has no mandate for the staggeringly harmful agenda he’s about to unleash on the country. And together, we have the power to fight back — and win.
Freedom Over Fascism
by Stephanie G. Wilson
Recommended by: Cindi
Freedom Over Fascism hosted by historian, comms consultant, and activist Stephanie Wilson, investigates what it takes to rebuild power and freedom for people in parts of America dominated by MAGA extremists. Stephanie talks to authors, experts, historians, and officials.
A Citizen’s Guide to Preserving Democracy
by PBS
With American democracy under threat, diplomat Dr. Richard Haass outlines ten habits to help citizens preserve democracy. Haass also explores real-life examples of Americans who are working towards strengthening democracy and renewing the spirit of a more informed and engaged citizenry. Premiered January 2, 2024 on PBS.
Watch the Video
The Conspiracy to End America
Five Ways My Old Party Is Driving Our Democracy to Autocracy
by Stuart Stevens
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Former chief Republican strategist, Lincoln Project adviser, and bestselling author of It Was All a Lie, Stuart Stevens offers an ominous warning that the GOP is dragging our country toward autocracy—and if we don’t wake up to the crisis in our system, 2024 may well be our last free and fair election.
INTERVIEW: Stuart Stevens talks to Brian Watt (KQED) at the Commonwealth Club
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Betrayal
The Final Act of the Trump Show
by Johnathan Karl
Publisher: Dutton
This is the explosive look at the aftermath of the 2020 election–and the January 6th uprising–from ABC News’ chief Washington correspondent, Jonathan Karl. Jonathan Karl, the reporter who has known Donald Trump longer than any other White House correspondent, Karl told the story of Trump’s rise in the New York Times bestseller Front Row at the Trump Show. Now he tells the story of Trump’s downfall, complete with riveting behind-the-scenes accounts of some of the darkest days in the history of the American presidency and packed with original reporting and on-the-record interviews with central figures in this drama who are telling their stories for the first time.
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The Election Sabotage Scheme and How Congress Can Stop It
The Freedom to Vote Act can halt this growing antidemocratic threat.
by Will Wilder, Derek Tisler, Wendy R. Weiser
Publisher: Brennan Center for Justice
Essentially this article addresses laws and proposed legislation enabling partisan interference in election administration as part of a broader “election sabotage” or “election subversion” campaign, a national push to enable partisans to distort democratic outcomes.
Read Article
Laboratories of Autocracy
A Wake-Up Call From Behind The Lines
by David Pepper
Publisher: St. Helena Press
Recommended by: Cindi Sears
David Pepper shows that far more than the high-profile antics of national politicians and Trump himself, it’s anonymous, often corrupt politicians in statehouses across the country who pose the greatest dangers to American democracy. Amid all the chaos, these statehouses are hard at work, every day, hacking away at core principles and protections of our democratic system. And they’re getting more audacious every year.
Because these statehouses no longer operate as functioning democracies, these unknown politicians have all the incentive to keep doing greater damage, and can not be held accountable however extreme they get. This has driven steep declines in states like Ohio and others across the country. And collectively, it’s placed American democracy in its greatest peril since the dawn of the Jim Crow era.
But Pepper doesn’t stop there. He lays out a robust pro-democracy agenda outlining how everyone from elected officials to business leaders to everyday citizens can fight back.
Read Review
Strongmen
Mussolini to the Present
by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the “strongman” playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin—enabling her to predict with uncanny accuracy the recent experience in America and Europe. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future.
Read Review
Ruth Ben-Ghiat interviewed by Dean Peter Arnade at University of Hawai
There’s Nothing For You Here
Finding Opportunity in the 21st Century
by Fiona Hill
Publisher: Mariner Books
A celebrated foreign-policy expert and key impeachment witness reveals how declining opportunity has set America on the grim path of modern Russia – and draws on her personal journey out of poverty, and her unique perspectives as a historian and policy maker, to show how we can return hope to our forgotten places.
Fiona Hill grew up in a world of terminal decay. The last of the local mines had closed, businesses were shuttering, and despair was etched in the faces around her. Her father urged her to get out of their blighted corner of northern England: “There is nothing for you here, pet,” he said.
The coal-miner’s daughter managed to go further than he ever could have dreamed. She studied in Moscow and at Harvard, became an American citizen, and served three U.S. Presidents. But in the heartlands of both Russia and the United States, she saw troubling reflections of her hometown and similar populist impulses. By the time she offered her brave testimony in the first impeachment inquiry of President Trump, Hill knew that the desperation of forgotten people was driving American politics over the brink—and that we were running out of time to save ourselves from Russia’s fate. In this powerful, deeply personal account, she shares what she has learned, and shows why expanding opportunity is the only long-term hope for our democracy.
Read Review
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How to Citizen with Baratunde
By Baratunde Thurston
Recommended by: Bob
Here are some sources of ideas from a podcast by Baratunde Thurston, which began in 2020 and has four seasons of episodes. The overall theme is encouraging thinking about “citizen” as a verb. The four
pillars for doing this are:
- To participate, not just vote, but to show up for each other and publicly participate by discussing concerns, debating policy choices, advocating, etc.
- To invest in relationships, by deepening our interconnections with our community, family, neighbors, etc..
- To understand power, by learning about the fluidity of power and the various ways we the people can use it for our collective benefit.
- To value the collective, by working towards outcomes that benefit the many, not just the few.
The four seasons of episodes (ranging from 11 to 16 episodes each season) consist of interviews with folks who are thinking about and demonstrating democracy-building activities. It’s a wonderful resource for ideas. They include international, national, statewide, and local leaders.
On Tyranny
Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
by Timothy Snyder
Publisher: Crown
Timothy Snyder provides a stark warning for the future of American democracy. Too easily we are ignoring the ways in which tyranny starts to eat away at democracy. As our political system faces new threats – not unlike those faced by democracies in the 20th century – we must look to the past to safeguard our future.
INTERVIEW: Listen to Professor Snyder discuss his book at Politics and Prose Bookstore
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Strategizing For A Living Revolution
by George Lakey
Publisher: History As A Weapon
Recommended by: Bruce R.
This article is a comprehensive strategic framework for nonviolent revolution, combining historical case studies, practical organizing guidance, and theoretical insights about movement building.
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Archive
The Movement Action Plan
A Strategic Framework Describing The Eight Stages of Successful Social Movements
by Bill Moyer
Publisher: History Is A Weapon
Recommended by: BruceR
Within a few years after achieving the goals of “take-off”, every major social movement of the past twenty years has undergone a significant collapse, in which activists believed that their movements had failed, the power institutions were too powerful, and their own efforts were futile. This has happened even when movements were actually progressing reasonably well along the normal path taken by past successful movements!
The Movement Action Plan (MAP) was first published as the Fall 1986 edition of the Dandelion. Twelve-thousand copies were published and distributed. This is a revised edition of that article. People are invited to participate in the continuing development of MAP and help spread it to local groups.