This is just an intro, there are hundreds of groups local and national, domestic and foreign. We have the numbers. We need to show up and be counted.
“Peace cannot exist without justice, justice cannot exist without fairness, fairness cannot exist without development, development cannot exist without democracy, democracy cannot exist without respect for the identity and worth of cultures and peoples.”
Rigoberta Menchú Tum
This is just one study, one scholar’s attempt to explain the Trump-headed coup that we are in now.
“Thomas Jefferson probably never said “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”, but that doesn’t make it less true. Since President Trump’s second term started 12 weeks ago, I’ve been keeping track of the actions of his administration as best I can. I’ve previously mapped actions across five broad authoritarian categories and dug a little deeper into some aspects, particularly his attacks on science and universities . Today I want to show how his administration is directly undermining the key pillars of democracy.
The data tells the story. Of the 192 actions I’ve tracked over the first 12 weeks, here I’ve mapped 69 of them across five themes that are each corrosive to democracy:
- Weakening democratic checks and balances
- Weaponising state power against personal ‘enemies’
- Undermining the rule of law
- Suppressing dissent
- Controlling information” Christina Pagel
Do a Search from your angle on representative government to find your place to plug in.
How Trump is dismantling democracy with Christina Pagel
subscribe to christina pagel’s substack
https://christinapagel.substack.com/p/a-republic-if-you-can-keep-it-but
the link to the details
So What Can We Do?
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.”
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr
Pushback, what can we do? What are other folks doing?
- Fastest way: Do an internet search for “democracy in the USA” or similar. Find your people, go to work.
- Longer, when you have time: We can start with just blocking the moves that the fascists are taking to destabilize the USA. That is a start, but to dismantle the overall effort we have to understand the big picture. If your doggy poops on the carpet we put it outside, then clean the floor, and then work on it’s potty training or make it an outside dog. The resources I found specialized in understanding democracy and it’s dependencies, and had measures to track it’s stability.
Here are some resources that go into the weeds to tell a fuller story
Look to the past to see where our democracy is headed
By David StasavageJune 02, 2020
.https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/look-to-the-past-to-see-where-our-democracy-is-headed
https://redwine.blue/ 600,000 mostly women taking on extremism all over the USA.
Good Trouble for Democracy Activists at RedWine.Blue
Defending Democracy Together: We are Republicans, former Republicans, and conservatives committed to protecting every American’s right to vote.
On Inauguration Day, President Trump swore an oath to the Constitution. We need your help to hold him and his administration accountable. With top lawyers and changemakers, Democracy Forward is more prepared than ever before to push back on attacks against people and our democracy and is battle-tested and ready not just to defend our rights but to build for a brighter future for all.