You rush into organizing marches — most with modest turnouts. You ask everyone you know which famous people they are connected with — and you try to get those celebrities to make public statements decrying Trump. One of your efforts takes off on social media and goes viral. Over several months of work, your effort gets major entertainment celebrities and Democratic politicians to denounce Trump as a “threat to democracy.” With tens of thousands of likes and reshares, you feel good. But unease mounts.
The Trump train continues. He purges “disloyal” military leadership. He stops the Justice Department from investigating nearly all acts of racial bias and hate crimes. His Department of Education strips public education funding and pours it into private schools — before announcing plans to close the Department of Education itself. It’s chaotic.
Marching felt empowering. But the bad news afterward makes some believe that nothing they do can make a difference. You happen to have a conversation with one of your smarter friends. She points out that you’ve been preaching to the choir without building power. “The left wing of this country has a lot of knee-jerk moves that serve primarily as identifiers without developing a lot of additional power. Marches are expressions of opinion — but they don’t exert power, especially against an autocrat. He doesn’t care…” You wonder if she’s right.
