An Open Letter to the Grassroots
How Can We Move Forward?
By Steve Schear
Hi Everyone,
The worst has come to pass. Final results from the House are not yet in, but it is highly likely that MAGA will have a Republican trifecta. Trump and his henchman will have unchecked power. The society George Orwell described in 1984 may have arrived in 2024.
As the New York Times Editorial Board wrote, we are entering uncharted waters. For the first time in history, the U.S. will have a fascist government. How history will unfold is now more unpredictable than ever. Trump and MAGA’s actions may or may not produce a backlash. Our democratic electoral institutions may or may not stand in future elections. Media outlets like the Times, the Washington Post, CNN and MSNBC may or may not be able to continue to report the news without MAGA restraints. Trump may or may not follow through with his vow to go after the “enemy within.” Trump may or may not cause the economy to crash.
There is not yet a plan for a response to a MAGA victory. Whether there is a viable path to retake power in four years is unknown. There are no easy answers. A fundamental problem is that wealthy oligarchs have succeeded in creating an extremely powerful propaganda machine that has led a majority of voters to fall prey to lies and hatred. Whether that propaganda machine will be able to continue to control how a majority of voters view the world is another open question.
The only hope I can offer arises from the unpredictability of events. We don’t know what the future will bring, what opportunities to rebuild democracy may arise.
What can we do? For the next couple of months, at least, we need to take care of each other emotionally. Those of us who can offer solace and support to those who are emotionally devastated by the Trump victory should do so.
Next year, we should act under the assumption that our democratic institutions will survive. There is a reasonable possibility that we will continue to have legitimate elections in 2026 and 2028. In the last couple of years, the Republicans have had a big registration advantage. One thing we can do is make an all-out effort to register new voters, both young people and older people who are unregistered because they have checked out of electoral politics. There are 72 million individuals who are eligible to vote but unregistered. A disproportionate number of those come from Black and other minority communities. We need not only to register those voters, but also to help develop local leadership that can help them learn how to vote in their own interest.
A second thing we need to do next year is to talk to Republicans and non-voters, and build relationships with them, to try and penetrate and expose the right wing propaganda machine.
There will be other ways to help our country survive a Trump presidency. It will be important not to give in to despair and hopelessness. We now have much more work to do in 2025 and 2026. The Grassroots Connector welcomes your ideas on how we can move forward in the next two years. Please put them in the comments to this article.
Warm and sad regards,
Steve
This comment came from Judy K:
I think we have to build our precinct organizations into something we haven’t seen before. It is neighborhoods that will become the heart of democracy.
I’d like to see the precincts consciously working on building three things: community, democracy, and resilience.
Community cuts across all activities that are done at the precinct and neighborhood level, as we bring people together to engage in these activities.
Democracy requires information about what people want from their government and what the government is actually doing. Democrats should become known as the party that listens to people. How about doing surveys – targeting Republicans and unregistered voters – about what they want from their new president. Ask them what markers they will be looking at to know whether this is happening. Then circle back on a regular basis to these same people and ask how it’s going. Introduce them slowly to new sources of information. Make this a familiar neighborhood project.
Resilience will be required as we face greater climate disasters and potential pandemics. Our precincts can become known for staging events on how to prepare for and respond to such disruptions. One of the best events I ever went to was sponsored for the community by the Mormons, who have a requirement to stash away enough supplies for a year. We could make sure people are trained in first aid. We could encourage vegetable gardening. We could explain the cost & benefits of residential solar panels.
Doing these things engages the skills of many different types of people. Working together builds community. Safety is a big driver for a lot of people. Let’s use all this to create something we haven’t seen before.
We had a report that the comments section wasn't working, but it seems to be working now.