Take Action:
1. Become Information Guardians
Archive crucial data: Use WayBack Machine to save government pages—enter agency URLs (EPA.gov, CDC.gov, etc.) and click "Save Page Now"
Secure your personal records: Download your Social Security Statement today and every 6 months; use encrypted storage like ProtonDrive, Tresorit, or Cryptomator
Support quality journalism: Subscribe to independent sources like ProPublica or The Marshall Project
Protect digital communication: Use Signal for messaging and recognize manipulation with Mind Over Media
2. Make Power Feel Your Presence
Contact representatives strategically: Use 5calls.org for proven scripts and direct numbers
Show up in person: Attend town halls (even empty chair townhalls)
Program democracy into your phone: Save your House Rep, Senators, and Congressional Switchboard (202-224-3121)
Vote in every election: Register, verify your status, and make a voting plan for all elections
3. Document and Report Violations
Witness and Create Evidence that cannot be denied: Use ProofMode app to add verification data to photos/videos, making them usable as evidence. Send footage to the ACLU, National Immigration Law Center, trusted journalists, and secure cloud storage that you control.
Report abuses to proper channels: Report civil rights violations to the ACLU by phone (212-549-2500), election issues (866-OUR-VOTE), hate crimes (1-844-9-NO-HATE), and immigration abuses to independent organizations like the National Immigration Law Center (213-639-3900) or RAICES (210-226-7722).
Create community witness networks: Form neighborhood text groups using Signal for secure communications, ready to document ICE or police activities
4. Know and Exercise Your Rights
Learn your rights thoroughly: Study the ACLU's Know Your Rights resources for police encounters, protests, and immigration interactions
Practice rights assertions: Role-play scenarios with friends so responses become automatic in stressful situations
Build a rights network: Connect with legal observers and National Lawyers Guild members in your area
Use FOIA strategically: Request documents through FOIA.gov about policies affecting your community
5. Apply Economic Pressure
Move money to aligned institutions: Switch to community banks or credit unions
Direct consumer power strategically: Use the Goods Unite Us app to see which companies fund authoritarianism and which fund freedom
Build financial resilience: Create emergency funds that allow you to take principled stands
Support targeted businesses: Shop at immigrant-owned and democracy-supporting businesses
6. Join Forces with Others
Connect with established organizations: Join Indivisible, Movement for Black Lives, or United We Dream
Sign your strike card: Visit generalstrikeus.com to join this grassroots network of regular people who know our greatest power is our labor and our right to refuse it (even if you are a retiree or student)
Schedule regular action: Use Mobilize to find and commit to democracy-defending events
Prepare for direct action: Have bail money, legal contacts, water, medication for 48 hours, and emergency contact numbers ready
Share this post:
⚠️ Our democracy needs you. New post explores what's at stake, shares inspiring stories, and offers 6 practical ways to make a difference. Add your voice to the movement. Listen now. #ActionOverDispair #OhHellNo #Democracy
https://btmdemocracyproject.substack.com/p/we-are-standing-at-democracys-crossroads-51a
Stay Loud, Stay Kind!
Let everyone see protecting is an American right, and you are showing everyone what democracy looks like.
Sources
Government Reports and Data
Government Accountability Office. (2025, January). Analysis of executive order implementation and legislative productivity: 2021-2025. GAO-25-173.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics. (2025). Annual report on aircraft safety incidents and regulatory oversight. U.S. Department of Transportation.
Office of the Inspector General, Department of Homeland Security. (2025, April). Review of recent immigration enforcement tactics and community impact. OIG-DHS-25-47.
Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General. (2025). Report on rollbacks of environmental protections and their public health impacts. U.S. Government Printing Office.
U.S. Congressional Research Service. (2025, March). Executive orders and their impact on the legislative process: A historical perspective (Report No. RS25-178). U.S. Government Printing Office.
Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. (2025). Immigration enforcement data: Deportations without hearings 2021-2025. Syracuse University.
Academic Sources
Barton, S., & McKenzie, J. (2025). Circumventing judicial review: Third-country deportations and the erosion of due process. Yale Law Journal, 134(3), 765-812.
Chenoweth, E., & Stephan, M. J. (2011). Why civil resistance works: The strategic logic of nonviolent conflict. Columbia University Press.
Harcourt, B. E., & Williams, P. J. (2024). Due process in crisis: Immigration enforcement and constitutional rights. Harvard Law Review, 137(5), 1211-1267.
Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How democracies die. Crown.
Snyder, T. (2017). On tyranny: Twenty lessons from the twentieth century. Tim Duggan Books.
Sunstein, C. R. (Ed.). (2024). Can it happen here? Authoritarianism in America (2nd ed.). Dey Street Books.
Independent Organizations and Research Institutions
American Civil Liberties Union. (2025). Report on judicial independence and executive branch interference in immigration courts. ACLU Press.
Center for Public Integrity. (2024). The dismantling of the administrative state: Federal agencies under the Trump administration 2021-2025. CPI Press.
Human Rights Watch. (2025, February). Beyond borders, beyond oversight: U.S. deportation practices and international detention agreements. Human Rights Watch.
Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. (2025). Global state of democracy report. International IDEA.
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2025). The state of scientific expertise in federal agencies: 2021-2025. National Academies Press.
V-Dem Institute. (2025). Democracy report 2025: Autocratization changing nature? University of Gothenburg.
Polling and Public Opinion Research
Gallup. (2025, March). Public trust in government institutions survey. Gallup Polling.
Pew Research Center. (2025, January). Public perceptions of democratic institutions and processes. Pew Research Center.
Tools and Resources
ACLU Know Your Rights: https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights
Cryptomator: https://cryptomator.org/
5calls.org: https://5calls.org/
Goods Unite Us: https://www.goodsuniteus.com/
Indivisible: https://indivisible.org/act-locally
Mind Over Media: https://propaganda.mediaeducationlab.com/learn/
Mobilize: https://www.mobilize.us/
Movement for Black Lives: https://m4bl.org/join-our-movement/
National Immigration Law Center: https://www.nilc.org/
ProofMode: https://proofmode.org/
ProPublica: https://www.propublica.org/
ProtonDrive: https://proton.me/drive
RAICES: https://www.raicestexas.org/
Signal: https://signal.org/
The Marshall Project: https://www.themarshallproject.org/
Tresorit: https://tresorit.com/
United We Dream: https://unitedwedream.org/our-work/
WayBack Machine: https://archive.org/web/
