Hope in dark times, reinventing the fight for democracy, being there for each other

by Junna Base November 10, 2024

In the wake of Kamala Harris’ election defeat and Donald Trump’s comeback, we decided to focus on the democracy movement’s next steps and look to the future, rather than trying to diagnose the campaign’s problems at this early stage.

This week we heard from Protect Democracy founder Ian Bassin about how he remains focused on the task of ensuring democracy’s survival, and Rebecca Solnit about why and how to keep hope alive in democracy’s darkest times. We talked about the coming years of reconstruction, the need for the Democratic Party and those fighting for democracy to abandon their priorities and assumptions and embrace wholesale reinvention, and how to build an open and inclusive platform into one equally open and inclusive message can transform. And we talked about what we owe each other in the uncertain times ahead, and the need to build personal bonds that can carry us into the future, and to make the commitment to be there for the people – and the country – who are important to us.

We hope that The Ink will be vital to the thinking, rethinking, calculation and action that lies ahead. We want to thank you for being a part of who we are and what we do, and we promise you that this community will find every possible way to be there for you and for this in the times ahead Country to be there for what it can still be.

Attorney and organizer Ian Bassin, the founder of Protecting Democracy, shared with us his letter to his team about ensuring democracy endures after Trump returns to the White House.

We have always believed that on the other side of this crisis lies the potential for a Fourth Founding—a step forward for our country to finally achieve our ultimate goal of creating a thriving, pluralistic, multiracial democracy. That future is still ahead of us, it’s just going to take us longer to get there and the hill to climb will be steeper. I admit that in the present moment it is difficult to actually see this goal. The fog, shock and uncertainty of the moment hides it for many of us. But I am confident that it is there in the distance, and in time we will be able to see it clearly.

A pep talk about defending democracy

Anand appeared on “Morning Joe” to talk about what Democrats need to do to rebuild after Kamala Harris’ defeat — and why the party needs to heed James Brown’s advice that an audience must feel you before they see you .

It means, in effect, throwing out all the prejudices and priorities that the Democrats have been working with and perhaps rethinking the structure of the party itself. It means coming to a comprehensive understanding of what voters want and the stark reality of the traumas they have suffered over the last decade, from inflation to loneliness to the opioid epidemic to the colossal impact of Covid pandemic – in a real way. And it means a whole new understanding of what media means today and how people make sense of it.

What James Brown would say to the Democrats

The Democratic Party’s platform may be open and inclusive, but voters find it closed and judgmental – and that’s because they haven’t been able to do what the Republicans have done: tailor their messaging to that they meet people where they are.

For reasons we’ll explore for a while, the Democrats have somehow found themselves in a situation where their platform is about openness, but their stance appears closed to many voters. It feels – and right or wrong it doesn’t matter – like a judgmental movement for inclusion and justice. At the same time, Republicans have opted for a platform dedicated to closure—the border, the gates of citizenship, the generosity of the safety net, basic freedoms—but their stance strikes many voters as open, welcoming, come-as-you- is. For many, it feels like a non-judgmental movement for exclusion.

In the days ahead, it will be fundamental to recognize our obligations to one another and to build relationships that can sustain us in place of the systems we have relied on in the past.

In times like these, when it becomes more difficult to have kind systems, interpersonal kindness becomes more important. It shouldn’t be, but it will be. It will be more important to have each other’s backs. It will be more important to check in with your friends. It will be more important to let others sleep on your couch. Cooking for sick people is becoming more important. We should not be in a situation where the burden of care shifts so radically from the center to the margins, from a coordinated system to an ad hoc network, but we are getting there. And in the times to come, we will all be called upon to be to one another what the system would look like in a better time.

The things we can control

The temptation after loss is to diagnose, to perform a post-mortem – and that is exactly what many will do in the coming weeks – but it is already time to imagine the democracy movement that will emerge in the coming years of reconstruction becomes.

[I]In the pre-Vita work we should begin, the questions we ask will be bigger and bolder: What kind of democracy movement can actually compete with neo-fascist authoritarianism? What would the organizational infrastructure of such a movement look like without ties to current forms and expressions? What would the coalition culture of such a movement look like and how would disagreements be resolved?

Welcome to the years of reconstruction

The morning after the election, as we awoke to a dark day for democracy, we could not imagine a better thinker than Rebecca Solnit to remind us of the task before us, a task that none of us can give up.

They want you to feel powerless and give up and let them trample everything, and you won’t let that happen. You don’t give up, and neither do I. The fact that we can’t save everything doesn’t mean we can’t save anything, and everything we can save is worth saving. You may have to grieve or cry or take some time off, but you definitely have a role, and right now it’s worth gathering good friends and good principles. Remember what you love. Remember what loves you. In this flood of hate, remember what love is. The pain you feel is due to what you love.

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