Lead, Evolve, Or Get Out of the Way

Patience is wearing thin

The frustration has hit fever pitch.

Elon Musk and Donald Trump are dismantling the government at a dizzying pace.

Expert scientists and epidemiologists that keep us safe are being terminated en masse for no reason other than to boost an arbitrary body count. Around 325 employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nuclear stockpile, were fired – some mistakenly. They’re still trying to claw back the terminations, but apparently can’t find contact information for all of the essential employees they fired.

Musk’s band of 20-something tech marauders has gotten access to sensitive personal information about every American. American aid workers and their families have been ruthlessly abandoned overseas. Everyday people and businesses that had contracts with the federal government have been left holding the bag.

Musk is openly destroying agencies that were investigating him – or whose functions his companies want to absorb. Rank corruption is spreading through the government (from the top down), in plain sight.

JD Vance went overseas to personally deliver the message that per Trump’s directive, America is abandoning our allies. His speech in Munich led European leaders to have an emergency breakfast summit.

Meanwhile the Democratic minority leaders of the House and Senate continue to post on social media about the cost of groceries.

Considering all of the bet-the-country problems that we have going on right now, it’s surreal to watch leadership focus on the price of tomatoes. But that’s what happens when your polling data tells you the cost of groceries is important – and your default setting is to “lead by poll.”

Democrats tend to wait to see what public opinion may be on an issue, and then react to that already-formed sentiment. While that strategy may reflect popular will, it’s also reactionary; it’s passive. It captures something that already exists rather than creates something from whole cloth. And it diminishes our agency to create the world we want – after all, we can shape public opinion. (The GOP has been doing that for decades.)

Leading by poll is leading from the back.

But in this very urgent, very exceptional moment we need Democrats to lead from the front.

Leading from the front is formative, active, intentional. It’s creative and passionate and communicative and fiery and inspiring. It’s leading the charge and cutting the path, not pulling up the rear.

It may be holding the Senate floor, but it’s also forcing the conversations, demanding the coverage, causing the spectacles, holding the GOP publicly accountable. It’s using outsized influence to help those of us who individually have no influence at all.

It’s AOC clapping back at ICE on social media. It’s Pete Buttigieg coolly demanding flight safety information after the most recent FAA firings and plane crashes. It’s Elizabeth Warren telling Musk he doesn’t get to “slither around in the dark.” It’s House Democrat Robert Garcia announcing that he’s going to show a “dick pic” – then revealing a photograph of Elon Musk and explaining the dangers he poses as The Richest Man In The World.

Calling The Richest Man In The World a “dick” in a congressional hearing is … a significant shift from our typical strategy.

But as Garcia said, “This is an actual fight for democracy, for the future of this country. … [I]f [Marjorie Taylor Greene] is going to make a mockery of hearings, I want to make sure that us as Democrats are bringing that same level of energy.”

It’s that kind of scrappy opposition and in-your-face messaging that resonates right now. You can take issue with the theatrics. But considering the failures of our previous messaging strategies to persuade or break through the noise, you wouldn’t think it would be difficult to understand that we need more, not less, of that creative energy.

But I’ve begun to appreciate that, for many Democrats (so-called “establishment” Democrats especially), it is.

I was reflecting on that disconnect today when I saw an inspiring note from Beckett Johnson (if you’re not already following him, you should) where he quoted a line from an animated children’s film called The Wild Robot:

“In order to survive, sometimes you need to be more than you were programmed to be.”

I’ve not seen the movie. Even so, the quote stopped me in my tracks.

Sometimes circumstances force us not just to learn from them – but to transform because of them.

Frankly, we spend a lot of time as humans trying to go back to our “before” – whatever that may be. We’re like castaways, clinging to old structures and identities like the flotsam from a shipwreck, hoping they’ll buoy us and keep us safe.

But in our desperation to cling to the things that once were, we forget that we can swim.

The hardest part of evolving is recognizing that evolution is required. We have to first come to terms with the fact that things have changed. That’s hard.

But here, in less than a month Musk and Trump have taken a blowtorch to our institutions, to our security, to our economy, and to our reputation on the world stage. This is urgent; we have no more time for patience.

There is no going back to “before.” We have entered a new and precarious era that demands evolution. Democrats need to step up to this challenge. They’ll find people who are ready, willing, capable, creative, strong.

We just need their leadership – from the front.

And if they’re not willing to evolve, and lead?

Well, then they need to step aside. We’ve got work to do.

Let’s get to work.

Photo by rob walsh on Unsplash

Actions for the Week of February 18, 2025

Friend, things may be heavy – but you can lighten that load by doing something small – a “small deed” – to bring about the world that you want to see.

In doing so we tell the world, the universe, our leaders – and most importantly, ourselves – that we will not go quietly into that good night.

I call it Action Therapy.

That’s why in each Tuesday post I share a few “small things” – usually a Small Thing to Read, a Small Event to Attend, and a Small Call to Make or Action to Take. My intention here is to give you actions you can tuck into your week with ease – and know that you’re doing something today to make tomorrow better.

Join me in doing so, friends. It matters.

Small Action to Take: Call Your Senators – No On Patel

Your Representative is on recess already and should be in your district (more on that below). The Senate is still in session, and you should call your senators today to voice your objection to Kash Patel to lead the FBI. This is a simple call, and shouldn’t take you longer than three minutes. (You can read more about Patel here: https://indivisible.org/resource/call-your-senators-and-tell-them-oppose-kash-patels-nomination-fbi-director)

Script: Hi, my name is [your name] and I’m a constituent at [zip code]. I’m calling to encourage the Senator to vote against Kash Patel for the FBI Director. He has publicly announced his intention to weaponize the FBI against journalists, government officials, nonprofit organizations, and ordinary Americans, and would take the bureau in an unprecedented and dangerous direction. Thank you.

Small Event to Attend: Indivisible Anti-Musk Protests

No doubt you’ve seen coverage of the anti-Musk protests that are going on all over the country. That’s because Indivisible has led a push for such events during this congressional recess. (Your House Representative is on recess right now while the Senate remains in session.)

If you have a group and would like to host an event, check out the toolkit Indivisible created: https://indivisible.org/muskorus

For general information and messaging, you can head to: https://indivisible.org/coup

Because the “Musk or Us” protests are all over the country, I wanted to share Indivisible’s Mobilize link so that you can find some in your area. Here’s a link to their Mobilize page that already filters the results to “Musk or Us”. You can further refine the search to your own community.

Small Thing(s) to Read: Congressional Research Service Report + House Dems Committee on the Budget Resource

As the unjust, no-cause firings occur throughout the country, it’s increasingly important for us to understand the impact of these terminations on our local communities. When reaching out to elected officials – or when writing letters to the editor or commenting on social media, etc – it’s helpful to be able to point to data that shows how something that’s being directed nationally will hurt your city or county.

That’s why I love this very recent Congressional Research Service Report. The CRS is Congress’s research arm, and at the end of December it provided a very helpful snapshot of where the 2 million civilian federal employees live and work. (Interesting timing, don’t you think?)

It provides numbers of civilian employees for each state and territory, as well as estimates for how many civilian federal workers live in each congressional district. Uniformed military personnel and federal contractors aren’t included in the totals.

This is a good one to bookmark and save in your files. And, when you call your Senators or Congressperson, you can refer to these state/district numbers with confidence.

Here’s the report: https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47716

House Dems Committee on the Budget: Hey - credit where credit is due. The House Dems have put together a really helpful resource that again provides very localized information. The data that’s compiled and broken down is for Medicaid, the ACA, and SNAP benefits.

It breaks down how many people are enrolled in Medicaid in your district, how many use the ACA (and how much they save), and how many are on SNAP benefits. The citation reports are linked, so you can dig further into the information.

Honestly, it’s dead helpful for developing your localized messages for healthcare and SNAP. Bon appetit!

Find the resource here: https://democrats-budget.house.gov/legislation/republican-rip-off

Thanks for reading, friend – I’m glad to see you here! You’re making a difference, I promise.

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