It is time to ignore the adults in the room

How individuals who love democracy can build power and win the fight for the soul of our nation

If you're reading this, chances are you're one of the people who actually took the whole "democracy requires participation" thing seriously.

Maybe you won a race for local office because your community needed someone to give a damn.

Maybe you're thinking about trying to run at all, wondering if it's worth the hassle in this climate.

Either way, you've probably noticed something the champagne-and-fundraiser crowd won't admit: the rulebook they keep telling you to follow seems to have been written in invisible ink.

I’m not here to analyze of how we got here. I’m not here to tell you to trust the process.

I’m here to tell you how to stop waiting for permission to protect your community.

The State of Things, to be sure

America's democratic experiment is being dismantled with surgical precision.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - frozen.

The Department of Labor's investigative functions - suspended indefinitely.

OSHA - targeted for complete elimination.

The Department of Education - effectively dismantled, with Congressional representatives physically denied entry.

The FBI - gutted of anyone who dared investigate Trump's crimes.

The CIA - offered buyouts to purge dissenting voices.

One by one, every institution capable of checking executive power is being methodically hollowed out or eliminated entirely.

But institutional capture is just the beginning. The administration has moved beyond merely weakening oversight to actively weaponizing federal power.

ICE agents now conduct door-to-door inspections and seize children from schools and hospitals.

A new concentration camp rises in Guantanamo Bay.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is forced to remove LGBTQ+ children from its database.

Each action serves a dual purpose: targeting vulnerable populations while demonstrating that no legal protection is sacred.

Perhaps most chilling is the deliberate destruction of information access.

Government websites are being systematically stripped of climate data, January 6th evidence, and diversity initiatives.

Thousands of public datasets are vanishing from data.gov.

State-allied media outlets replace audio of public dissent with artificial cheering.

These perversions encroach beyond the typical reach of a censoriuous nanny state. They represent the creation of an alternative reality where resistance becomes impossible to imagine, let alone organize.

The endgame is no longer hidden.

Trump has twice verbally declared his intention to eliminate voting entirely. His administration openly extorts foreign nations, pauses anti-bribery laws, and grants unprecedented power to allies like Elon Musk, who now wields extraordinary control over both the Treasury and federal employee systems. When a judge dared to threaten Trump with consequences, Musk simply declared that the judicial branch shouldn't exist.

And where is the opposition? What has been their response?

Strongly worded letters. Committee hearings. Appeals to norms and institutions that are being dismantled before our eyes.

While fascism advances with ruthless efficiency, the opposition clutches their procedural pearls, seemingly unable to grasp that you cannot defeat authoritarianism by politely asking it to respect the rules it's actively destroying.

“The Instiutions Are All We’ve Got”

Well, a current Democratic senator might say that America's democratic institutions have weathered storms that seemed equally apocalyptic. During the McCarthy era, a demagogue wielded unchecked power to destroy lives and careers while the government apparatus bent to his will. During Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre, the president fired officials until he found one willing to obstruct justice. The system bent – but it did not break.

The Senator might say that this the cold reality of how power actually functions in America's federal system. They’d remind us that real power remains dispersed across a landscape far more complex than headlines suggest. They’d have us consider the quiet army of career civil servants – derided as the "deep state" by authoritarians – who continue to maintain the machinery of government despite political pressure. “Look at the federal judiciary,” they’d say “where Trump appointees have repeatedly ruled against his interests when the law demands it. Examine how state governments, even in deep-red territories, have resisted federal overreach when it threatens their autonomy!”

Or they’d point to military leadership who, despite repeated attempts at politicization, remain somewhat steadfastly committed to constitutional principles during the waning days of the Trump administration, when generals quietly reaffirmed their oath to the Constitution, not to any individual. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have maintained this position even as political pressure intensifies.

They’d of course, divert our attention to the age old Golden Word: pragmatism. They’d say that every action Democrats take outside normal channels validates the "both sides" narrative that authoritarians use to justify their power grabs. That is hands them propaganda victories that resonate with the very voters Democrats need to win over. The moment Democrats abandon institutional processes, they’d say, they lose the moral authority that gives their resistance legitimacy. They’d say it’s math: Democrats cannot win without building broader coalitions, and those coalitions depend on maintaining credibility with voters who still believe in the system.

The economic reality further complicates extra-legal resistance, they’d point out. Wall Street, for all its flaws, they’d say, abhors true instability. Major corporations, despite their occasional flirtations with authoritarianism, ultimately depend on the predictability that democratic institutions provide. International markets, which hold trillions in U.S. debt, require stability. This creates a natural brake on authoritarian excess – one that's already visible in how business leaders respond to democratic threats.

Most crucially, they’d say, many of the changes being implemented are temporary or reversible through normal democratic processes. Emergency powers have sunset provisions. Executive orders can be countermanded. Even court appointments can be balanced over time. The system is designed to absorb and correct extremes, but this process requires patience and strategic thinking, not panic.

The true danger lies not in moving too slowly, but in abandoning the very institutional frameworks that give resistance its power, they’d say. History teaches us that democratic institutions are more resilient than they appear in moments of crisis. They bend, they strain, but they hold – merely because enough people believe in and defend them through legal, legitimate means.

They’d proudly say, as they end their speech, that the moment we abandon this belief is the moment we truly lose.

But Are They? (You’re Not Blind, Deaf, and Dumb)

Let's dispense with the McCarthy and Nixon comparisons. Both crises occurred within a system where both parties still accepted democratic norms as legitimate. McCarthy fell because his own party ultimately turned against him. Nixon resigned because Republican senators told him they would vote to convict.

Today? Republican leaders openly declare that Trump should be immune from prosecution while he promises to weaponize the Justice Department against his enemies.

When Trump verbally declares his intention to eliminate voting entirely, his party applauds. When he demands $500 billion in rare earth minerals from Ukraine in exchange for military aid, his party opens the negotiating table. When he pauses enforcement of laws banning foreign bribery, his party is celebrating.

The vaunted "deep state" of career civil servants? They're being systematically purged on the scale of institutional execution.

But surely the courts will save us? Tell that to the judges watching Elon Musk – now granted unprecedented control over the federal treasury as judges blush at the remarks of the current Vice President who advocated openly to ignore jurisprudence unless it benefits the executive.

The fairy tale about economic constraints ignores how authoritarianism actually operates in the modern world. Major corporations don't resist autocracy – they adapt to it, profit from it, enable it. Wall Street doesn't demand democracy – it demands predictability, which authoritarianism often provides to the highest bidder.

As for the fantasy that these changes are temporary? What are …we crossing our fingers?

The assumption that we still operate in a system where normal institutional responses are viable ignores the overwhelming evidence that the system itself is being rebuilt from the ground up.

This isn't the time for patience. It's not the time for faith in systems being actively destroyed.

Okay so what do we actually do?

The brutal reality is that the national Democratic party leadership that would rather watch democracy die than upset their donor class.

But local Democratic officials – the working-class teachers, civil servants, and community members who actually ran for office to protect their neighbors – face a stark reality their millionaire party leaders can ignore: there is no gated community secure enough to protect you from what's coming.

When Trump's administration orders the erasure of all Diversity, Equity & Inclusion programs government-wide, that puts every local official trying to protect vulnerable communities in the crosshairs. When they remove LGBTQ+ children from the National Center of Missing & Exploited Children database, that forces every school board member to choose between federal compliance and basic humanity. When they manipulate water resources to punish states that oppose them, that leaves every local environmental official facing impossible choices.

The choice is simple: act now or accept extinction.

Here’s what this resistance could look like in practice.

First, survival demands connection. Local officials across jurisdictions must build anonymous coordination networks through encrypted systems beyond federal reach. When one community faces attack, others must be ready to respond. Create redundant communication systems that can't be shut down or monitored. Use signal groups, peer-to-peer networks, even old-school phone trees if necessary. The goal with this is to make surveillance and disruption as costly as possible to maintain.

Protection also requires preparation.

To do this, you must understand: grassroots organizations in your community are not subordinates – they are oxygen you are desperately in need of. They've been fighting these battles while the national party slept. They know which communities are most vulnerable, which protections are most critical, which actions will build real power. The old model of politicians directing community groups must be inverted.

Listen to them. Learn from them. Let them lead, for Christ’s sake. Better them than Nancy and Chuck, I promise you.

Work with them to bolster legal defense funds before they're needed. Pool resources across jurisdictions. Work with them to strengthen support networks for targeted officials that can provide immediate assistance when the state retaliates. Listen to them and let them dictate collective action triggers - clear red lines that, when crossed, activate pre-planned responses from multiple communities simultaneously. When fascists come for one school board, these groups can ensure they’ll face resistance from twenty.

Power needs infrastructure. These groups are experts in building parallel funding structures that can't be easily frozen or seized. They can also help establish rotating leadership models where responsibility and risk are distributed across networks of officials rather than concentrated in vulnerable individuals. When they target one leader, three more can be ready to step up.

We must also think beyond borders. Local leaders should establish sister city relationships with democratic allies abroad who can provide resources and support when domestic channels are compromised. You must try and create data backup systems hosted in friendly jurisdictions outside federal or state control. Additional, creating alternative credential and licensing systems that can't be easily revoked by hostile state governments will be key.

Resources are resilience. Work with your local organizations to tap into or create regional resource-sharing networks that can redirect supplies where they're needed most. If possible, no matter how small, establish local public banks that can operate independently of federal systems. (The FDIC is going away already, so what better time to try?). Establish alternative supply chains for essential services - food, medicine, fuel - that can't be easily disrupted. Work to elevate the actions of your local organizations to establish cross-jurisdiction response teams that can rapidly deploy resources and personnel where they're needed.

Oversight also requires independence. Create local civilian oversight boards with real investigative and enforcement power. Establish independent investigation capacities that don't rely on state or federal agencies for direction. Tap into local concerned citizens for the labor necessary to establish food and water security systems that can at least try and stabilize communities when resources are weaponized against them.

Each of these actions carries risk. Each one will face resistance. Each one might fail. But together, they create a web of democratic resilience that becomes harder to dismantle with each new connection forged.

The state will retaliate. They'll threaten funding, careers, even freedom. But they can't target everyone at once if everyone acts together. They can't monitor every channel if the channels keep multiplying. They can't break every connection if the connections are too numerous to track.

This is how resistance becomes resilience. No grand gestures or symbolic stands. Just patient, determined building of systems that can weather the storms ahead. Each small action, multiplied across thousands of communities, becomes a barrier to authoritarian control.

The time for half-measures has passed. The choice now is between building these systems of resilience or watching helplessly as every lever of democratic power is stripped away.

Build them now, while you still can.

OH BROTHER THIS GUY STINKS!

Look, I can hear the pushback already: "Another reformist fantasy about saving democracy through its own dying institutions? We need mutual aid networks! Community power! Direct action!"

Yes. Yes, we absolutely do.

And if you think I'm suggesting that local officials working within the system should replace grassroots organizing, you're fighting a straw man I didn't build.

Here's the reality: The right didn't win by picking their favorite tactical lane and staying in it. They built power everywhere, simultaneously, relentlessly.

When their school boards banned books, their churches provided the moral framework to justify it. When their corporations pushed anti-worker policies, their local officials cleared the way. When their media outlets manufactured outrage, their elected officials turned it into law.

Every level of power reinforced every other level.

We don't have forty years to replicate their generational project. But we do have the ability to learn from their tactical success.

Every local official who aligns with community organizers instead of trying to control them multiplies the power of both.

The mutual aid network feeding hungry families becomes more resilient when local officials protect them from federal interference.

The community defense organizations become more effective when city councils fund their initiatives instead of police militarization.

“Reform or revolution! You can’t have both!” you might cry.

I ask you to recognize that, in a fight for democratic survival, we need every lever of resistance moving in the same direction all at once.

Because while we debate tactical purity, they're building concentration camps.

Get off the damn mat

Let's be crystal clear: I do not care about preserving a Democratic Party whose leadership chose donor cocktail parties over democracy.

I care about protecting the elementary school teacher who ran for city council because she saw kids going hungry. I care about defending the postal worker who joined the county commission to fight for better roads. I care about supporting the nurses and teachers and social workers who stepped up to serve their communities while the Democratic elite retreated to their summer homes.

The multi-millionaire Democratic leadership has chosen their side through their paralysis. They'd rather preserve their class interests than save democracy. But for working-class local officials who actually have to live in the communities they serve, there is no such luxury of inaction. The only choice left is to build independent power through direct action and community alliances, or watch helplessly as every lever of resistance is methodically destroyed.

There is no middle ground left to claim, no cavalry coming to save you.

The national Democrats chose paralysis.

Locals who love democracy (that’s you) must choose survival.