Citizen Power: Turning Advocacy Into Impact

20 min readJan 5, 2025

The next four years is going to be rough for the average American, but there are things you can do to help.

Last Updated: April 4, 2025

Since originally publishing this article on January 4, 2025, I’ve reorganized it considerably. Because the article was getting quite long, I’ve added a Top Five section at the top summarizing five things I think are currently the most important things people should be doing to push back against the march toward authoritarianism.

Americans are experiencing the harsh reality of FAFO as the incoming administration and their extremist sycophants systematically work to destroy our democracy, dismantle the government, crush our freedoms, and destroy our economy.

Our democracy is truly in peril. The civil rights for women, LGBTQ people, BIPOC, and frankly anyone who’s not a white heterosexual Christian man, are threatened. Negative economic impacts are being experienced by everyone except the already extremely wealthy.

This is a horrific scenario for our country. However, I refuse to lay down in defeat and I hope you won’t either. But what can you do? A lot! The important thing is to not disconnect and to remain meaningfully engaged with the issues, legislation, and elections that will take center stage during the next four years.

My advice? Pick one or two issues or efforts to which you can dedicate some time and add your pebble into the ripples of the pond that will hopefully capsize the right-wing efforts to destroy our democracy and civil rights. Put simply, pick something, and then do it.

To that end, here are some things you can do. My plan is to update this post over time and when I do, I’ll revise the “Last Updated” date above. I’m also not putting this post behind a paywall so that it’s readily accessible to everyone. I hope it’s widely shared.

Top Five

Here are five things I think are the most important that people can do right now.

Protest. It’s important to keep protesting and that the numbers keep growing. Right now, the four organizations or efforts that seem to be having the more traction on generating turnouts are Tesla Takedown, 50501, Indivisible, and Women’s March. Find protests in your area and show up. The ACLU has a great guide to your rights when protesting.
Call. Every day set aside a few minutes to call your representatives to pressure them to work to save democracy. It doesn’t matter if your representatives are Democrats, Republicans, or Independents. Call them. It’s been proven that high volumes of calls to Congressional and other elected officials’ offices have tremendous impact in swaying their actions. I recommend you use the 5 Calls app to do this. Using the app, I complete my daily calls in less than five minutes each morning.
Join Indivisible. Apart from seeing what protests Indivisible is backing, their most important work is the creation of Indivisible groups all over the country. Indivisible is a grassroots movement of thousands of local Indivisible groups with a mission to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda.
Stay informed. I know there’s a lot of information coming at you quickly and it’s overwhelming. That’s the administration’s intent, to overwhelm you so you give up and just let them destroy our country for their own gain. Limit your news consumption but do not tune out. I recommend subscribing to WTF Just Happened Today. Every day you’ll get the major national political stories of the day summarized in a single paragraph with links to reputable news sources should you wish to dive deeper. In less than a minute, you can remain reasonably informed.
Donate. If you have the financial means, donate to the organizations doing the important work of pushing back on the Trump administration’s damage. Right now, much of that work is taking place in the courts. So donate to ACLU, Democracy Forward, and Democracy Docket. Also, since trans people are under direct attack, consider donating to the Transgender Law Center.

Do Something

In 2023, I wrote “Democracy is in peril. So do something.” (paywall). At the time it was to encourage Democrats winning in 2024 but as we all now know, that wasn’t as successful as many democracy-loving people would like. At the time I wrote this, and it still applies today.

However, part of the reason was also because I don’t believe in wallowing in despair for too long. I’d rather take action. I’d rather do something about the situation if I can. The good thing about politics is that every single person can do something to affect change for the better. I sincerely believe that.

Anytime you hear someone “Somebody should do something,” remember that you might be that somebody.

Do not succumb to cynicism

Steven Beschloss writes this in “Say No To Cynicism.”

But the only way we get through this period is by the majority sticking together, supporting elected officials and others in power who can reject the hostile attacks on our democracy and progressive way of life, amplifying the voices of journalists and other media members who are truthfully chronicling what’s happening, and fighting back when we see injustices leveled against immigrants and other vulnerable populations. This is a time when we need to advocate for independent thinking, for actions that strengthen the common good, and against the coming escalation of lies and hate.

Cynicism does nothing but fuel the efforts of those ready to stomp on our democracy and attack every marginalized group. Please don’t give the extremist right-wing elements in our country that satisfaction.

Realize This Is An Emergency

It’s clear the new administration is attempting a coup. This is an emergency situation. We must treat it as that. This is not the time for complacency or inaction. We must act now.

A respected political pundit posted approximately the following on social media when the administration first attempted to freeze federal aid. It’s excellent advice generally and can be applied across many issues.

- Be angry out loud. Sound the alarm on social media. What’s happening is not normal or business as usual.
- Join the legal fight. Support the ACLU, Democracy Docket, and Democracy Forward’s lawsuits challenging the federal aid freeze and other anti-democratic legislative efforts.
- Be in community. Tell your friends to get the word out and connect with mutual aid groups. They want us to be isolated, but together we can fight back.,
- Tell Congress to fight back. By freezing federal aid, Trump is stealing power from Congress. Call your Senators and Representative in the House and tell them to defend their authority.
- Alert the media. What’s happening right now is an emergency that will devastate the economy and millions of American families. Don’t let mainstream media bury the lede. Tag outlets on social and write letters to the editor urging them to cover this crisis accurately.

We also sometimes hear calls for a more solidified and united front pushing back against fascism and the decimation of our democracy and freedoms. I’m all for that. But this is indeed an emergency. Urgency is the watchword now. We don’t have the luxury of much time to address the anti-democratic and anti-freedom forces who are clearly well organized.

Adam Parkhomenko and Sam Youngman said it will in “Fight ALL the fights.”

It also means fighting every fight. We don’t have time to sit around with our thumbs up our asses trying to decide which battles will help us win elections. The answer is none of them. While so many people have struggled to learn the lessons of the 2024 election, the one that we learned is that right now the American people don’t give a damn about policies that help them. They want theater, drama, heroes and villains. They want pro wrestling, and we keep sending debate club champions to get body-slammed. It’s embarrassing.
It is past time for our party to change to a fighting posture. We can swing at every pitch. We can fight every battle. We can overreact to everything Trump and Musk are doing. We have nothing left to lose. Let’s act like it.
We might still fail. We might still get things wrong. We might not ever win another election. But that’s already true. At least if we fight, we can lose with some self-respect and maybe slow down our enemies in the process.

What can you do? Here are some ideas.

On his podcast, Adam Conover interviewed sociologist, professor of sociology, public speaker, and author, Dr. Dana Fisher. This “’Resistance’ Isn’t Enough for Trump 2.0 with Dr. Dana Fisher” episode tells it like it is about what’s necessary to effectively push back against authoritarianism in our country. You can also listen to it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It’s absolutely worth an hour of your time.

Esteemed attorney Andrew Weissmann has some great ideas on what you can do to resist and push back against the Musk and Trump takeover of our government. Check out his short 10-minute “What Can I Do?” video and check out the resource links in the video’s description.

Need Information and a Pep Talk?

If you need a great explanation of where we’re at right now (as of early February 2025), check out this great video from AOC (Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez).

Writer Rebecca Solnit posted on social media this from D.J. Mayfield’s Healing is My Special Interest Substack newsletter notes. It’s good advice.

Here’s my pep talk after studying authoritarianism:
1) They never truly expect a long-term resistance movement because they think people are a collection of trauma triggers who are easily controlled through terror.
2) If they can’t terrorize you 24/7 in your mind, they have already lost the war.
3) The single best way you can resist fascism is to not let them terrorize you constantly. Protect your mental health to ensure you are not constantly in a terrorized state.
4) Keep connecting to who you are at your core. Your values, preferences, ethics, and beliefs. Build up capacity to resist.
5) Remember they are like abusive parents: they only see us as extensions of them. They have no clue how powerful joy and community and self-expression can be. We can use this to our advantage — we can be the strong-willed child they never saw coming.
Spending time connecting to your true self is not selfish in these times — it’s intricately connected to a resistance movement that is tied to honoring our bodies, our communities, and to the land. We have to build capacity to resist by being exactly who we are!

Tips on Resisting Right Now

This article was originally posted on January 4, 2025, and a lot has happened since then. Robert Reich posted “What you can do” and it contains excellent advice about what you can do to push back.

1. Protect vulnerable members of your communities who are undocumented or whose parents are undocumented.
2. Protect LGBTQ+ members of your community.
3. Help protect public officials whom Trump and his administration are targeting for vengeance.
4. Contact your Democratic senators and urge them to block all Trump nominations.
5. Urge your Democratic senators to continuously demand quorum calls and object to unanimous consent, to deny Senate Republicans the ability to enact Trump initiatives.
6. Urge Democratic House members to vote against all Republican initiatives.
7. Write to your senators and members of Congress about the constitutional crisis we are in, urging them to stop all confirmation votes, stop hearings, and reclaim their appropriations authority.
8. Contact your state’s attorney general and urge them to file complaints, injunctions, and restraining orders against Elon Musk and his tech goons for committing identify theft, violating the Privacy Act, and riding roughshod over Congress’s spending power in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.
9. Join with others in your community to take on other initiatives in your locale and state.
10. Organize or participate in boycotts of companies that are enabling the Trump regime, starting with Elon Musk’s X and Tesla and any companies that advertise on X or Fox News.
11. To the extent you are able, fund groups that are litigating against Trump.
12. Spread the truth.
13. Urge friends, relatives, and acquaintances to avoid Trump propaganda outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, X, and, increasingly, Facebook and Instagram.
14. Encourage worker action.
15. Take care of yourself and your loved ones.
16. Finally, and not the least, keep the faith.

Engage directly with elected officials and local politics

Most importantly right now, call your Senators and Representative every single day. I use the 5 Calls app to easily do that. It takes just five minutes of your time each day.

Attend your local City Council meetings. Make an appointment to speak with your Senator or Representative. They’ll often assign you to a meeting with an office staffer, but that’s still vitally important because those staffers do report back to their boss. Contact your local town or city representative and ask how you can make an impact locally.

Every town, city, or state governing body has meetings at which the public is welcome to comment. They usually make those meetings known in their published meeting agendas. Show up. If there’s an important issue facing your local community and you have a strong opinion about it, show up and be part of the public comment portion of the meeting. I have personally witnessed my own local city leaders being heavily swayed by witnessing dozens of us concerned citizens showing up and speaking our mind.

When you offer such public comments, resist the urge to be outraged or overly angry. State facts. Clearly explain your stance and why you feel that way. Thank them for listening to you. Decorum matters in these cases if you want to be heard and have a positive impact.

Stay informed about legislative attacks on trans people

Since Trump and his administration have decided to stir up their base with hate against trans people, stay informed about those efforts. The best person reporting currently on trans issues and the legislative attempts to hurt trans people Erin Reed in their Erin the Morning newsletter.

Contact Elected Officials

Have a list of the names, titles, snail mail addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers of every public (elected or not) official from the President down to your local government. Use that list to write, contact, call, and email about everything that concerns you and your community.

Years ago, I wrote an article about the influence of letters sent to Congressional Senate offices. At the time, I interviewed Senators and staff members, and they said that for every letter they received they assumed at least 1,000 of their constituents felt the same way. Your contact with your officials matters. While phone calls and emails likely have some impact, my guess is nothing is quite as effective as a snail mail letter. It’s tangible. They can “see” it. It takes up space in their offices unlike digital input.

Gary Wasdin recently posted on social media some guidelines for communicating with elected officials that I think are excellent. He’s given me permission to add some of that information here. Wasdin suggests we build a habit of regularly contacting our elected officials, regardless of their party or stance. He points out that letters, emails, and faxes are all acceptable forms of written communication, but to use these guidelines for maximum impact.

Be original. Write your own communication. Templates are easier to use but try to write your own if you can because its uniqueness will stand out.
Be brief. An absolute maximum length should be 1 page (or its equivalent), but I contend shorter is even better. The letter will most likely be read by a legislative aide and summarized for the legislator. The more concise, the more likely it’s read.
State who you are and what you’re writing about. Identify yourself as a constituent (very important) and why you are writing in the opening paragraph.
Personalize your correspondence. If the legislation or issue you’re writing about will affect you personally, briefly tell the legislator your story and how the legislation or issue will or won’t benefit you or your community.
Personalize your relationship. The more you can personalize your relationship with the legislator, the more impact your communication will have. If you voted for the legislator, worked on their campaign, or donated money to the legislator or their party, say so. If you have met the legislator, briefly mention that too.
Be respectful. The easiest way to not have your message read is to be disrespectful. “Dear Idiot” will probably send your letter to the garbage. Do not use profanity.
Include your address in your closing. You should never demand a response. However some legislators will take the time to respond, but they cannot if you do not include your address. Including your address also affirms the fact that you are a constituent.
Address people properly, such as: Dear President; Dear Vice President; Dear Senator (Name); Dear Representative (Name); and so on.
Follow up. After you’ve contacted your elected official, follow up on what they did. If they voted the way you wanted, consider contacting them to thank them. If your legislator did not vote the way you wanted, consider contacting them and respectfully express your disappointment.

As I mentioned above, call your Senators and Representative every day regardless of whether they are Democrat or Republican. The Congressinal Switchboard is (202) 224–3121. If you don’t know who your Senators are, look them up here. If you don’t know who your Representative is, look them up here.

NOTE: If you call and their inbox is full, find their contact information on the website and email them. Phone or email, but make sure you contact them.

This doesn’t take long. As an example, I just contacted my two Senators and Representative. My message was to please push back HARD on Elon Musk’s unlawful takeover of our government and to treat this as the attempted coup it is.

I called one Senator’s office and the inbox was full. I found their online contact information on the website and sent a message. I called the other Senator’s office and was able to leave a recorded message. I called my Representative’s office and was able to leave a recorded message.

Entire time to do this: 5 minutes. Everyone has 5 minutes to spare.

Make sure the phone number for your Senators and Represetative are stored in your phone’s contacts. But you can also leverage the 5 Calls app.

You can also text 50409 and follow the prompts to generate messages or letters to your members of Congress (this might incur a texting fee). It appears they’re utilizing Apple iMessage, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram right now to do this. You’ll have to use at least one of those messaging platforms to use this approach.

Know our democracy’s founding principles

At a minimum, read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Bill of Rights. These are some of the foundation documents upon which our entire democracy and set of laws are founded.

If you want to dive deeper into American government and politics, find a good book or two to flesh out your understanding with more depth.

Read the latest Indivisible Guide

There are numerous organizations working to support democracy and resist Trump and the extremist right-wing. One well known one is Indivisible. In particular, read their Indivisible Guide which offers strategies, tactics, and tips for how everyday Americans can fight back together locally wherever you live.

LGBTQ? Run for office.

Not everyone can run for office, but if you’re LGBTQ and have any inclinations to run for political office, the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute can help. Through their training programs, they identify and prepare a diverse pipeline of LGBTQ+ leaders to advance equality through public service.

Support Labor Unions

Generally, labor unions side with democratic principles and fairness and equality. Most of them have excellent track records supporting the American worker and the marginalized in our society.

Join a union if you can. Adding to unionized membership rosters is important.

Focus and Avoid Distractions

The intent of the incoming administration is to overwhelm us with so much awful that we shut down completely and disconnect. Being overwhelmed by all of the horrific things happening is entirely understandable, but if you pick one or a few issues that are important to you and focus on those, you’ll rally your energy and efforts better than if you try to address everything.

Seth Masket wrote this in “On distraction and focus” and I agree.

But I would agree with others, including David Bernstein, that you really can’t focus on all of it. I’m no therapist, but I think the smart approach is to focus on just a handful of key issues that you think aren’t getting enough attention or are getting the wrong sort of attention. If you just want to focus on birthright citizenship, there will be more than enough news for you to focus on, (and there are already plenty of really bad takes that need correcting). If you’re concerned about Trump’s open alliance with the wealthiest people on the planet, you’ve got plenty to work on.

Build Community

If you’re going to resist the horrific onslaught right-wing forces are unleashing on our country, you’ll need a solid community foundation of friendship and collaboration from which to do that. We need each other now more than ever.

The Indivisible Guide points out that strong communities play a vital role in effective organizing.

This will play out differently depending on your local and state context, but one thing is clear: we will have to keep each other safe. Organizing locally — in partnership with and across communities under threat — is often where we’ll make the greatest difference. Local community organizing efforts will play a crucial role in building the volunteer and local infrastructure for mutual aid and support for people under threat, from immigrants to women seeking abortions to people who have lost their health insurance.

Make Time to Resist

In “Making Time to Resist,” I suggest that if we’re all going to best resist the horrors we’re now experiencing from the new administration, we need to carve out a bit of time each day to stay informed and take action.

Practice Compartmentalization

In a recent interview on the Pod Save America podcast, Rachel Maddow was asked if she has a habit or tip to give to anyone for maintaining their sanity through these next four years. I think what she said is wise.

I believe in compartmentalization. And everybody has to calibrate it differently, right? If you’re caring for an elderly parent, and also caring for your kids, and working full time, and trying to do something at school, you’re already compartmentalizing in order to get to a meal once a day.
So, everybody has different levels, and sort of different imperatives, about how they need to do that. But I think as a principle, that’s good.
There should be certain times of day when you are not doing things that you are otherwise doing in other parts of the day.
And so, for me, that means starting looking at the news at a specific time and trying to stop looking at the news at a specific time. It means spending time outdoors. I’m a person who likes being outdoors when it’s cold. I ice fish. It’s my winter recreation of choice, and so far it’s been an excellent ice season, and so, I try to just make myself do that. Conveniently, there is no cell service anywhere there’s also available ice fishing, at least where I live, which is really good.
All that stuff matters to me. For me personally, it’s important to read fiction. It’s important to exercise. It’s important to spend time outdoors, and with animals, and family, and loved ones.

Find your ice fishing, books you like to read, an exercise regimen, or plan for walks outdoors. You must balance your resistant efforts with also living a life. If you don’t live a life that brings you joy, you won’t have the energy to resist.

Protesting

There may be times when you’re called on to protest. If you’ve never protested before, now might be the time. As the recent 50 State 50 Protests effort organized originally on Reddit and then taken up by other groups demonstrated, it’s clear the American people are ready to protest in large numbers when appropriate.

Of course, be safe when you protest. Part of being safe is knowing your rights. To that end, the ACLU has some advice.

The First Amendment protects your right to assemble and express your views through protest. However, police and other government officials are allowed to place certain narrow restrictions on the exercise of speech rights. Make sure you’re prepared by brushing up on your rights before heading out into the streets.

If you’re going to organize or attend a protest, I recommend you read their entire webpage on this topic.

Protection and Resistance Resources

Choose Democracy offers some great ideas on how you can help stop the coup. Check out “What can I do to fight this coup?”

A list of resources has been created to help people protect themselves, resist oppression, bolster individual and collective security, and engage in nonviolent protest. They are things like general security, nonviolent resistance, digital security, medical and first aid, and countersurveillance and escape.

Also, the esteemed Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor and professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, recently published “Trump’s neofascism is here now. Here are 10 things you can do to resist” and it contains some great advice.

I’m going to quote verbatim the numbered suggestions Reich offers as meaningful ways to resist, but I recommend you read his entire article for a more robust explanation of each.

1. Protect the decent and hardworking members of your communities who are undocumented or whose parents are undocumented.
2. Protect LGBTQ+ members of your community.
3. Help protect officials in your community or state whom Trump and his administration are targeting for vengeance.
4. Participate or organize boycotts of companies that are enabling the Trump regime, starting with Elon Musk’s X and Tesla, and any companies that advertise on X or on Fox News.
5. To the extent you are able, fund groups that are litigating against Trump.
6. Spread the truth.
7. Urge friends, relatives and acquaintances to avoid Trump propaganda outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, X and, increasingly, Facebook and Instagram.
8. Push for progressive measures in your community and state.
9. Encourage worker action.
10. Keep the faith. Do not give up on America.

Other Ideas

Vote consistently: Ensure you are registered and vote in every election, including local and midterm elections, not just presidential ones.
Educate yourself: Stay informed about candidates, ballot measures, and political issues. Use reputable, nonpartisan sources to research.
Talk to others: Share your knowledge and discuss political issues with friends, family, and your community to encourage them to be informed and engaged.
Volunteer for campaigns: Support candidates or causes you believe in by canvassing, phone banking, or helping with events.
Donate: Contribute financially to candidates, political action committees (PACs), or organizations that align with your values.
Advocate for voting accessibility: Support initiatives that make it easier for everyone to vote, such as expanded early voting, mail-in voting, or voter registration drives.
Use social media wisely: Share accurate information and calls to action through your networks but verify facts to avoid spreading misinformation.
I have a personal policy of not reacting for 72 hours to new policies or the latest outrage of the day. Consider giving it a try. Urgency can cloud your judgment. Await further information and analysis after initial reports so you can place your reactions within an informed context.
Join grassroots movements: Participate in advocacy groups that align with your values to amplify collective voices and influence policy.

Publications I Trust

Increasingly, mainstream publications are doing a rather crappy job of in-depth journalism to push back against what’s happening in our country. Here are some of the ones I read. Many of these require subscriptions, but you can often read a few articles before they require you to subscribe. I consider the subscriptions worth it.

The Atlantic

The Guardian US

Steady / Dan Rather’s Substack. Rather and others write on this great newsletter page.

Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson. Nearly daily wonderful writing about current American politics, often placed within a historical context.

NPR. Historically one of the most trusted sources for unbiased news and commentary.

Alternative Video/Audio Media

I don’t recommend you consume cable or network news right now. Too many of them are normalizing what’s going on or continuing to engage in dangerous bothsidesism. Here are some suggestions for alternative political media to consume right now.

Third Act. A community of Americans over sixty determined to change the world for the better. Third Act harnesses an unparalleled generational power to safeguard our climate and democracy.

Chop Wood, Carry Water. A newsletter dedicated to saving democracy, addressing the climate crisis, preserving our freedoms, electing better lawmakers, and, in general, creating a better country — one simple action at a time.

The Dangerous Ones. The page has links to their social media you can follow and how to listen to the podcast.

The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart. Links to other social media to follow in the video descriptions.

The Politics Girl. The page has links to other social media to follow.

Brian Tyler Cohen. Independent political news and commentary.

The Contrarian / Jennifer Rubin. Brilliant political journalist.

The Bulwark. The Bulwark was founded to provide analysis and reporting in defense of America’s liberal democracy.

The Jim Acosta Show. After leaving CNN, esteemed journalist Jim Acosta is now an independent journalist.