Democracy Isn’t a Spectator Sport

Five years ago this week, on January 6, 2021, I watched in horror as a mob of extremists incited by the President descended on the U.S. Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power. Once they reached the East Steps of the Capitol, I exclaimed on the phone with my sister, “They’re not allowed to go up those stairs!” and she responded by asking what was stopping them. The answer, other than the overrun Capitol Police, was a chain rope-like fence and a small sign that said “Members Only,” which everyone had simply obeyed until that moment. In other words, there were few actual guardrails in place to stop the insurrection, other than the democratic norms, laws, and institutions that had governed this country for centuries.

Democratic norms are like the small chain fence at the Capitol. They provide a guide for how we should behave, and may act as a deterrent to bad behavior, but they don’t do much to stop or thwart the impact of disobedience. Our laws and democracy are not wholly self-enforcing, and people must take action to restore them once broken. Donald Trump shattered our democratic norms on January 6th, and in the five years since, and it’s up to all of us to recognize the serious threat this poses and take action to stop and reverse it.

Democracy isn’t a spectator sport, and we must get in the arena and use the tools of our democracy to defend it. The most meaningful action we can take is in the midterm elections. We must ensure Democrats take back control of Congress so they can restore checks and balances and provide oversight on the Executive Branch, given the GOP’s abdication of its authority and acquiescence to Trump. In the meantime, there are additional steps we can take to stand up, speak out, and advocate for our values. The most important thing is to not tune out and accept or normalize Trump’s trampling of our democratic norms and institutions.

The first week of the new year presented numerous examples of Trump acting with impunity in contravention of our democratic norms and laws, as well as international law. He launched a military operation in Venezuela and deposed its president, Nicolás Maduro, without the prior authorization of Congress. Yesterday, five Republican senators joined all Senate Democrats advancing legislation repudiating Trump’s actions in Venezuela and asserting congressional authority over the President’s war powers, to be voted on next week. This bill is meaningful in that it demonstrates that guardrails and the separations of powers can be restored – and congressional authority reestablished – if even a handful of Republicans are courageous enough to take action amid Trump’s persistent threats. We need much more of this in 2026.

Also this week, Trump declared his intention to “run Venezuela” and extract its oil reserves for “much longer” than a year, with no clear legal basis. The White House insisted Greenland should belong to the United States, and brazenly claimed no one would oppose the U.S. militarily should he decide to claim it. Trump seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic, escalating tension with Russia, and the same day withdrew from 66 international organizations, UN agencies, and commissions. The world has been thrown into disarray by Donald Trump’s actions in the first week of 2026, and NATO, which has maintained international order, security, and peace since WWII, now faces unprecedented challenges posed by the U.S.

At home, the President and his Cabinet provided public cover for an ICE agent who murdered a 37-year-old widow and mother of three, Renee Nicole Good, at point-blank range in Minneapolis. This horrific shooting, caught on camera for the world to see, appears to be an excessive use of force by an ICE agent targeting an unarmed American citizen defending her neighbors, who was simply attempting to drive away. This incident is indicative of ICE’s militarization and overly aggressive behavior nationally, as its inexperienced and untrained masked agents conduct broad sweeps of our cities, despite the fact that ICE can’t unilaterally deploy lethal force.

The White House has created its own set of “alternative facts” about the Minneapolis incident, claiming it was an act of self-defense and misconstruing the victim as a “domestic terrorist.” This narrative, which clearly contradicts the reality we can all see, is reminiscent of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” In this case, the White House is telling us to reject the evidence presented by our own eyes, and it’s not their suggestion – it’s a command.

So what can we do about it? Well, we don’t have to accept these Orwellian commands. But we can’t tune out or sit around waiting to see if the fragile chain preserving our democracy has broken. It was obliterated five years ago, on January 6th, and nearly every day of the past year. We can, however, use the tools of our democracy to rebuild it by standing up, speaking out, advocating, and organizing, ensuring our voices and votes are heard, and electing those who will defend democracy in November. This is what we’re doing at JDCA, and we hope you’ll join us.

Here are six specific ways you can get involved:

1. Write to your members of Congress, urging them to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, given the incident in Minneapolis.
2. Write to your Senators, urging them to support the Authorization for the Use of Force (AUMF) bill next week, reasserting the War Powers of Congress.
3. Join our regional networks to be a part of our organizing efforts, including phone banks, text banks, and canvassing in your area to elect Democrats.
4. Join our New England Regional Network Zoom Meetup with New Hampshire Rep. Maggie Goodlander on Monday at 5:30 p.m. ET.
5. Support JDCA today so we can expand our work advocating and organizing.
6. Become a 2026 JDCA member if you are not already, and be invited to exclusive events, including our upcoming January 22 briefing on “The State of American Democracy in 2026 with Marc Elias.”

American democracy requires our collective action to defend it. Get into the arena with JDCA in 2026. There’s too much at stake to sit on the sidelines.