We’ve been instilled with the Hollywood notion that one thing is going to fix what’s wrong – we just have to find it and we’ll get a happy ending.
In the real world, change doesn’t happen like that.
We’ve been instilled with the Hollywood notion that one thing is going to fix what’s wrong – we just have to find it and we’ll get a happy ending.
In the real world, change doesn’t happen like that.
Timothy Snyder1, professor of history and expert on authoritarianism, has been speaking out for years about the danger our democracy is now facing. But how do we create the change that’s so critically needed? What can we do, as individuals?
Dr. Snyder often talks about “doing the thing”, the specific activity each of us takes on to support the cause of democracy.
Instead of Hollywood’s concept of a person finding that one big thing, we have to be comfortable with many people doing many “small things”. This work, by we the masses, is the way change happens. For example:
- Go to a local protest or demonstration
- Send post cards to voters in swing districts or states
- Help out at your local food bank, veterans org, homeless shelter, etc
- Provide childcare for a neighbor who has to spend time job hunting
- Join a Boycott, or two
- Start conversations with a neighbor who has differing views from yours and find common ground
- Make a sign and go to a highway overpass so that cars can see it
- Write a letter, a card or email to your Congressional reps and Senators about your concerns
- Tell others about the GenWe4D website
- Go to your City Council meeting
- Send money to a GoFundMe for a victim of ICE violence
- Learn something new about how democracy works or how it’s being restricted or hindered
We each have to “do the thing”, the stuff that we’re passionate about, and keep doing it.
If you’re especially motivated by something Trump does you can focus your activity on one of the areas below. Click these categories for more information. Then, contact the organizations listed to learn what you can do to further the cause and support them.
1 In November 2025, MSNOW (MSNBC) host Rachel Maddow held an event in Chicago with Prof. Snyder to discuss the ICE raids in that city and what we could learn from their success. There’s a podcast of this event here and the video is on YouTube.