How to Save Democracy This Week

Week of 3/14/2022

Did I say I was going to post every other week for the time being? My mistake! There’s so much going on right now that I almost emailed you twice last week. I restrained myself, but just barely. The whole Substack thing is new to me, so I hope you’ll hang tight while I figure out the right tempo for these things. 

In case you can’t tell, I jumped into this whole Substack thing rather quickly - but I have been emailing friends and family and anyone who dared give me their email address about opportunities to save democracy for quite some time. I started out in 2020 because I knew that it was going to take all hands on deck to oust a megalomaniacal, corrupt, incumbent president. 

And while electing a new president and a new Congress dealt with the immediate crisis, the insidious forces in our politics that led to Trump continue to do very real violence to people across the country, and the world. Lives are at stake, and so is the democracy that allows each of us to have a voice, and the chance to build something better. 

The good news is that together we can make a difference. Our actions, our time, our energy, it all matters. From city councils and school boards to the federal government, we have the power to elect good people, to get good laws passed, and to hold those in power accountable. And while we won’t always win, every action we take to build power in our communities, to uplift each other’s voices, and to fight for ourselves and our friends and strangers whom we’ve never met makes a difference. 

To that end, the whole point of this Substack is to share ways that we can all make a difference, actions that take just a few minutes, or that can help you take action on something you care about, or join a cause and find a community. Here’s what I’ve got for you this week: 

Read 

With the astounding number of anti-abortion and anti-queer legislation coming out of Republican led state legislatures around the country, its incredibly important to keep up to date with what’s going on in your state. To that end, here are some media outlets that focus on these issues. I’d start by following them on your social platforms of choice, and then subscribing where you find the most useful info.  

• Rewire News is a “nonprofit media organization and the only national publication exclusively dedicated to reporting on reproductive and sexual health, rights, and justice.” You can also find their legislative tracker here. 

• Them is “a next-generation community platform, chronicles and celebrates the stories, people and voices that are emerging and inspiring all of us, ranging in topics from pop culture and style to politics and news, all through the lens of today’s LGBTQ community.”

• The 19th is “an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy.”

Volunteer

If you’re looking for something to do right now that will help take power from bigoted, misogynistic Republicans in 2022, I recommend you sign up to volunteer with Run for Something, which supports young progressives running for local and state office across the country with the goal of getting good people in office at those levels and creating a pipeline of diverse, progressive talent that leads to young, dynamic candidates running for office at all levels. 

• You can volunteer with Run for Something endorsed candidates here. 

• You can volunteer to help with candidate intake here. This is super cool - Run for Something gives you plenty of training and you help interview people who are interested in running for office and get them set up in the Run for Something systems. It’s an awesome way to talk to young people across the country who care about making this country and their communities better and I promise it’ll make you feel better about the world at large. 

Donate 

You can of course set up a recurring donation to Run for Something (which I do!) and support their work. This is a great option if you’re particularly concerned about things like school boards and city councils where library funding, book banning, and school curriculums are decided. 

You can also donate to abortion funds which help people get past logistical and economic barriers to abortion from helping cover the cost of the procedure itself to helping with transportation, childcare, doula services and other challenges. 

If you want to donate to candidates, Swing Left crunches the numbers to figure out who needs your money most and where your money will go furthest. You can access some of their funds here. 

As always, any thoughts, questions, concerns or ideas, please let me know! I want to hear from you about all of it. And if you’re not subscribed, I hope you will opt into getting these emails directly into your inbox. If you pick just one thing a week, it can and will make a huge difference.