Other ways to stand up for democracy

Wearing these buttons makes an important statement and can help grow and strengthen the movement to save our democracy, but what if you want to dive into more impactful actions that make real change? There are so many ways to plug into the movement that it can be impossible to know where to start, so here are a few that I think are particularly effective:

1. Call your representatives every day using 5Calls.

The more times your representatives hear a given message from constituents, the more likely it will influence their actions. The 5Calls website makes it easy to spend ten minutes a day calling several different politicians with important messages about preserving democracy and other issues - mostly liberal causes, but the Executive Overreach section of their big list of topics is fairly nonpartisan, and representatives of both parties certainly need to get involved if we're going to win this.

If this sounds scary, remember that no one will argue with you - staffers will always thank you and promise to pass on your comments, or you'll just get their voicemail and leave a message.

2. Join a local chapter of Indivisible.

A major player in organizing massive nationwide rallies like the June 14th No Kings protests whose logo appears on one of my buttons, Indivisible also coordinates continuous local action through well over 2,000 local chapters across the country (and new chapters are forming at a rapid pace). It feels really good to participate in regular protests and other creative actions that can make a much bigger impact than what you can achieve by yourself.

If you're politically conservative, you might feel out of place in these groups - but they will welcome your commitment to help put a stop to Donald Trump's grab for dictatorial power, and you won't be forced to fight for any cause you don't believe in.

3. Get your friends and family involved!

If we want to overcome the forces that are rapidly dragging our country toward authoritarianism, we need millions of people to participate in widespread actions that ultimately force Congress to take the unprecedented step of impeaching and removing our would-be king from power.

So once you try out the options above and discover how inspiring they can be, you can multiply your impact many times over by telling people you know about your experiences and inviting them to join you. Consider just offering them a button to start with, then suggest other actions later. You can even watch some No Kings training videos that will help you put together your own training session for friends and neighbors on how to get involved in non-cooperation work.