This simple analogy will completely change how you see these dark days
11 minutes Sometimes a breaking news alert rocks me back on my heels, and I find myself thinking: How did we get to this point?
We’re witnessing the hostile takeover of our government by a fascist regime. That feels surreal to say aloud, but unfortunately, it’s not hyperbole—it’s reality.
Even so, the resistance around us continues to grow. People are making phone calls to their reps, sometimes daily. Folks are rolling up their sleeves and figuring out how to do what needs to get done, whether that’s how to get a permit for a rally or getting old college buddies to sign a letter to your alma mater asking them to stand up to this regime. And everywhere I look, new coalitions are coalition-ing.
All this fills me with hope. 💗
And yet…
If we don’t reflect on how we got to this point, we risk this fight turning into a game of Fascist Whack-a-Mole. Right as we knock down the current ugly threat, another one could pop up and fill that vacuum.
We need to trace our path from the Whack-a-Mole machine, through the dust bunnies and the tangled mess of extension cords, to see where it’s plugged in so we can yank it out.
We need to answer the question: How did this fascist machine suck so much power to itself, away from us, the people? 😬
Imagine this: You’ve lived in your neighborhood for a long while, and you love it.
Every day while walking your dog, you pass by the crown jewel, smack dab in the middle of the neighborhood: a community garden. This garden is vibrant, providing a home for pollinators, fresh vegetables for people who need food, and a sense of togetherness for the folks who maintain and sustain it. 🌱
But over time, you start to take the garden for granted. It earns a passing glance, if that. And eventually, you stop noticing it altogether.
Then one day, tragedy strikes.
A bulldozer shows up and starts demolishing the garden. 💔
Only a few people notice at first, but when they do, they spring into action, surrounding the garden to protect it with their bodies. As neighbors walk by, these fighters plead for others to join them.
Most people keep walking, but you decide to join.
And as you step up to the border of this revered community garden that served so many people in countless ways, a fresh realization smacks you in the chest.
The bulldozer wasn’t the first threat.
Because now, you can see that weeds were already choking out the once-thriving plants. Rodents and vermin were left unchecked, greedily consuming whatever bounty was able to push through the thicket of weeds. People—your neighbors?—have been dumping trash into the garden, from greasy fast food containers to big black plastic bags pockmarked with teeth marks and tears. 😞
This community garden is like our democracy, and we lost sight of the number one rule for both: Everyone pitches in.
Here’s how it happened with me.
In my college years and my 20s, I knew how to call my reps, nagged all my friends to vote, and even wrote a letter to the editor here and there.
Then I became a parent, and I assumed someone else would take care of our democracy. I was busy and didn’t have any extra time that wasn’t already spoken for. And sometimes, I let apathy and cynicism convince me that it didn’t matter either way. That my action (or inaction) didn’t matter.
After talking to several folks in Molly’s Army and to more people at rallies and events, I know I’m not alone in this. 🙋♀️
The hard truth is: We let our community-building muscles atrophy.
If—no, when—we manage to knock down the current threat, we’ll be at a crossroads.
In that (glorious!) moment:
- We can decide to put blinders on again and pretend our democracy will protect itself. And before long, we’ll end up right back where we are now.
- Or, we can recognize that for a healthy democracy that serves all our people, every one of us needs to stay engaged in protecting and building that democracy.
👉 Because this isn’t a one-time deal.
After the dentist gives you a painful, bone-rattling root canal, you don’t walk out into the sunshine and proclaim, “Thank goodness! Now I never have to brush again!”
Nope.
You brush better. You floss harder. You buy a stupid Waterpik.
Because you never want to get another root canal again in your life, thankyouverymuch.
The good news: Serving as a steward of our democracy is a lot more fun than flossing. 💃🏼
You’ll make friends, you’ll see positive change, you’ll grow your own hope. And sometimes people bring peanut butter pretzels to share!
Even so, it’s not a checkbox to check off but rather a way to live.
Maybe you get a group of friends together to hold a bake sale once a quarter and raise funds for a cause you care about. Maybe you make a name for yourself as the resident library superuser who can help folks get library cards and learn how to check out e-books. Or maybe you organize a rotating schedule of care calls in your neighborhood to share the work of regularly checking in on seniors who live alone.
Doesn’t matter what you do—as long as you pick one thing you care about and make it part of your routine.
And as your community-building muscles get stronger, you’ll feel good. 💪
If we want a thriving democracy, we need to nurture it.
After we beat the fascists down, we can’t go back to ignoring what’s been eating at the roots of our democracy.
Because we’ve got important work to do.
First, we’ll clean up the mess by rebuilding our civic institutions that are currently being dismantled. Then we’ll work towards an even better future—a true democracy that serves all of us. 🇺🇸
And holy mackerel, that’s a lot!
It’s certainly not going to happen overnight.
So just like with a community garden, our democracy needs us all to pitch in, now and every day.
And if at any point you feel overwhelmed and you need a neighbor to step in and take care of your metaphorical plot so you can take a breather—that’s okay. Rest is important, and we’re in this together. ❤️
You bring the gardening gloves, and I’ll bring the peanut butter pretzels.
Get this in your inbox: When you join Molly’s Army here, every week, you’ll get simple, doable steps we can take to save our democracy even when we’re busy and overwhelmed by the firehose of bad news.
What’s inside
Inside our latest update, you’ll find these sections:
- Do this + feel better: 3 things you can do right now. Taking any action (even if it’s tiny!) will help dispel feelings of hopelessness and overwhelm.
- Get a shot of motivation: A quote that resonated this week.
- Hey, look! We did this: A quick run-down of what folks in our little group of rabble-rousers have been doing to help.
- Your turn: What small actions have you taken lately? Let me know so we can celebrate with you!
Do this + feel better
Here are 3 things you can do right now. As a bonus, taking any action (even if it’s tiny!) will help dispel feelings of hopelessness and overwhelm…
1. Tell your alma mater
This week, more than 400 college and university presidents and officials responded to attacks from this fascist regime by signing a public letter to protest the “unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.” It’s like a mutual defense pact but for colleges. 🛡️
Is a public “buzz off” letter the absolute bare minimum colleges should be doing right now to protect our freedoms and our students? Yes.
Would it be helpful to applaud this step in the right direction? Also yes!
Let’s give our higher education leaders a pat on the back, and our encouragement will embolden them to continue stepping up and speaking out.
And if your college—current or former—didn’t sign the letter? Be the squeaky wheel. 📣
When the letter was first published, they had a smidge more than 150 presidents and officials signed on. But because people are demanding their alma maters join in, the letter is up to nearly 450 signatures—just two days later. Speaking up works.
👉 Here’s how to find out where your college falls:
- Check the letter to see if they signed on. (To prevent death by endless scrolling, press Ctrl-F or Cmd-F in your browser to search for a key word in your college’s name.)
- If you do find your college on the list, hooray! Send a message to say you appreciate them signing onto the letter. Deliver the verbal equivalent of a gold star. 🌟 The contact form on their website works, or send a handwritten note in the mail if you feel fancy.
- If you don’t find your college, fire off a message demanding they sign onto the open letter from the American Association of Colleges and Universities, posthaste. If you need inspiration, channel your inner Professor Elspeth Stromwell to Elle Woods. You know they’re capable of better, and you’ll accept nothing less. If you want, include a quote from the letter itself since it’s already written in professorial-speak.
🎯 Graduate with honors: Take it one step further and make your letter an open letter. Ask your college buddies to sign onto it with you, share as a view-only Google Doc, and boom—you’ve turned one voice into a chorus. Follow these instructions from someone who did that here.
2. See what’s happening May 1
The next national day of action is coming up next week on Thursday, May 1. Some groups are holding rallies, some will march for democracy, and some will volunteer in the community.
👉 Here are a couple ways to see what’s happening near you:
- Visit Mobilize.us and click the Filters button at the top, then enter your location in Near and set the Date to May 1. If you see an event nearby, fill out the RSVP fields and add it to your calendar.
- On May 1, we’ll take a nationwide stand for the rule of law. Visit National Law Day of Action and scroll below the map to enter your ZIP code and find a planned event near you. This event is for every American who believes in the rule of law.
3. Boost your party skills
We can’t show up every four years to phone bank and door knock and expect that to be enough to rebuild our democracy. We need to talk to the people we already know, now. Friends, neighbors, the parents we wave to in the school pickup line.
Plenty of folks support democratic values but might not pay as much attention to the news. Other people are worried about what they’re seeing but don’t have anyone they feel they can talk to about it. Still others want to do something but aren’t sure how or even what to do.
Enter: a house party. 🥳
According to organizing experts, house parties can:
- Spark conversations with friends and neighbors who support democratic values and want to fight for them
- Welcome new people into our (growing) tent
- Inoculate folks against the onslaught of right-wing media and misinformation
I may be an introvert, but even I like a good house party. They have yummy food! And fun beverages! And I get to leave my kids with a babysitter and have an uninterrupted conversation with other grown-ups! 💫
I’m sold.
👉 Join me in this virtual workshop, and let’s learn more together:
- What: Workshop: Yes, you can host a house party
- Date: Monday, April 28
- Time: 9 pm to 10 pm Central (click to see in your time zone)
- RSVP: Go here
Note: This virtual event is hosted by a group in California, but the house party strategy works no matter where you are.
Get a shot of motivation
A quote that resonated this week:
“Collective action also requires us to build trust. Trust is forged through an exchange of vulnerability. It is built through experiments in interdependence. For some of us, those experiments can be very challenging. But in order to accomplish tasks collectively, we have to learn to take chances, and to rely on each other.
That means I do my part while trusting that you will do yours. I watch your back, and trust that you’ll watch mine. We all stare down our enemies together, believing that we will help and defend one another. This kind of collective belief in one another doesn’t happen overnight. It is the product of countless exchanges wherein people allow themselves to depend on one another.”
— Kelly Hayes, a long-time organizer and co-author of Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care, in How To Be a Fighter When You Feel Like a Punching Bag
Hey, look! We did this
Here’s a quick run-down of what folks in our group have been doing to help lately:
- Susan RSVPed for a people’s town hall this Saturday to call out US Representative Michael McCaul for his complicity in this regime’s actions. Not only that, she plans to make her voice heard at the event by speaking up and asking a question live. 💥
- Karla, her husband, and a friend were nervous to attend the Hands Off picnic at the Texas State Capitol last weekend, but they did it anyway. And guess what? “It was fun, not scary, and great to see, talk to, and listen to so many like-minded people.” 🥰
- Lynnette shared her picnic experience too: “It was wonderful—comforting to be with 1,000 people who share my fears and are starting The Resistance, I feel empowered and encouraged. As always I love reading signs, a perk of group demonstrations!” That tiny step of showing up for the picnic sparked an idea to write postcards to the Supreme Court, plus one speaker—US veteran Dan Weber—so moved her that she’s planning to write letters as well. (She also shared Dan’s remarks with me, and I posted them here so you can read what he had to say.) ❤️🔥
- Cyral also showed up: “I really enjoyed yesterday’s picnic, and was intrigued by the 50501 actions elsewhere that included community service.” Now Cyral’s feeling inspired to work together at a future event to help the local food bank. 💪
- Sally attended a protest in her heavily-Republican hometown with her dad—and it was his first anti-Trump protest. She said: “I think it helped him feel less alone.” 🥹
- Amy met with members of the Ukrainian immigrant community to better understand their struggles and what support their loved ones in Ukraine need. ❤️🩹
- Renee moved to a new area and wanted to find like-minded folks to attend rallies and events with, so she put the call out, and fellow Molly’s Army member Lynn answered it. 👭
- Gia is launching a chapter of the group FORWRD (Flock of Reasonable Women Restoring Democracy) in Boulder on May 4. Huge congrats to Gia for this community-building effort! And as if that weren’t enough, she also is sharing Molly’s Army updates with friends to get them the encouragement they need to keep going. 👏
- Dana reserved a table at the Rock the Park outdoor concert in Austin on May 2 so she can spread the word about Molly’s Army and how folks can take meaningful action—and Kat volunteered to help staff the table. (I’ll be there too if you wanna say hi! Details here.) 💃🏼
Your turn
What small actions have you taken lately? Please drop a comment below (or email me) and let me know what you’ve been up to so we can celebrate with you. 🥳
