SUNN Post Exclusive
For over two years, I’ve fought tooth and nail for what I believe to be the good of the nation. I’ve spent my car rides phone-banking, my Sunday afternoons canvassing. I’ve spent many weekday nights protesting at the Tennessee Capitol, my study hall periods emailing lawmakers to ask them to do what’s right.
On November 5th, I, along with millions of my fellow Americans, watched as the United States made a choice contrary to what I believe to be good and just. A divisive and vindictive former president was set to return to the Oval Office, and I felt hopeless.
Since President Trump’s inauguration this January, his executive orders, cabinet directives, and enabling of Elon Musk’s unofficial Department of Government Efficiency has sent the federal government into a spiral. Administration officials immediately pursued mass firings — many likely illegal — and gutted governmental organizations like USAID who advance countless fields of research and ensure human rights. In February, Republican lawmakers under Trump’s advising passed a budget that cuts funding to Medicaid, a healthcare plan over 72 million Americans rely on.
Even long-held precedents of our democracy are changing under Trump, such as who chooses the journalists allowed in the White House press room.
Then, at a press junket to close February, Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance in a series of false statements compelled Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to respond to their mischaracterizations and appeasement of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among other digs, Vance falsely claimed Zelensky had never thanked the U.S. for its aid, and Trump mocked Zelensky’s war outfit.
The administration seems to remind us daily that, true to expectation, they are still divisive, still vindictive. This period of such transformation feels like the entire world is standing on shaking ground.
However, I’ve begun to feel something that borders on hope, a conviction that we are all bearing witness to a new beginning. It stems from the very thing that failed us in the last election: local civic activation. While how the federal government operates itself remains important, across the country, lawmakers and everyday Americans alike are stepping up to fill the lapses Trump creates.
Local politics are especially standing strong. There are incredible local political leaders all over the country who continue to do their jobs.
Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, states have passed measures that protect the right to abortion and related women’s healthcare.
On Feb. 10, a group of Democratic legislators in Tennessee walked out of the Governor’s regressive State of the State address — a speech that parroted Trump’s policies.
On Feb. 21, Trump publicly confronted Maine Governor Janet Mills (D) at a governor’s event, pledging to withhold funding from Maine and alleging that she had been illegally ignoring his orders. Mills affirmed she intended to follow the law, not Trump’s orders, putting it simply: “See you in court.”
Private groups and citizens are also stepping up. The “50501” — “50 states, 50 capitals, one protest” — movement has organized two successful, national Anti-Trump protests since inauguration. The ACLU and other rights organizations continue to challenge executive orders the very second they come out. A national teachers’ union is suing the Trump administration for executive orders they allege are discriminatory.
Eras such as these are characterized especially by people who didn’t set out to change the world, but recognize that it’s time to roll up their sleeves. These local heroes see a problem, step up to solve it, and inspire others to do the same.
On Feb. 25, a county sheriff acting in his capacity as private security likely illegally removed a woman at a town hall in Idaho simply because she was asking questions her GOP representatives didn’t like. In the viral video, Republican lawmakers and voters can be heard encouraging the sheriff. His security company lost its security licensure as a result and is now under investigation for misconduct. The woman, however, became a folk hero.
Lawful resistance works. We as informed citizens will continue to work by building a house of unity, brick-by-brick. The United States is regrouping and reforming, and that means a new beginning is here.
The lessons of history tell us that progress bubbles up first from community engagement and springs up like volcanic magma to federal heights. Nashville, my beloved hometown, was one of the wellsprings of the Civil Rights movement. Students barely older than me sat at lunch counters until they got the rights they deserved. Seemingly separate, local efforts here were mirrored by others across the country. The suffrage movement came out of gatherings in living rooms and town hall meetings. In the early 20th century, a national 8-hour work day was won through consistent protests, strikes, and unity. It is this community work that pushes the ever-reaching arc towards progress.
Progress’s intrinsic appeal is that it belongs to everyone. Progressivism as a human right is rooted in the ideas of everyday people becoming frustrated with the state of the world, and working to change it.
That work doesn’t always look the same, either. Progress for students might look like joining a student government, writing an article in a school newspaper, participating in symbolic street art (colloquially known as “artivism”), or volunteering at a local food bank. For adults, it can mean staying informed, voting, and engaging petitions. The marches matter too, but the work doesn’t start or even end there; there are acts of defiance we can all take on a micro level, like reading news across the political spectrum and talking about what we believe openly with friends.
You don’t need a megaphone to change the world.
We are witnessing not just a reckoning, but a moment of activation. Striking a match in our individual communities will do so much more than we can imagine.
I see it in the yard signs and the pre-school kids showing up to the Sunday afternoon canvassing sessions with their parents. The United States is built on far too many interwoven communities to crumble. The fight for it cannot possibly be over yet. After all, we’ve only just begun.