“Can we count on you to rush a donation to help us WIN tonight?”
We’ve all gotten these texts, right? Some PAC with a name like “Democratic Fighters Freedom For The Future Fund” wants $15 RIGHT NOW, but they don’t say why.
Or it’s a “rare triple match opportunity” to help Democrats “take back the House in 2026.”
Maybe the text is “from” some big-name Democratic politician who is very, very disappointed that you haven’t chipped in yet.
Meanwhile, I’m very, very disappointed that the big-name Democratic politician hasn’t done anything to stop Elon Musk’s operation to ransack the federal government.
Why should I give $15 to people who are focused on winning an election that’s more than a year away? And why aren’t they focused on what is happening RIGHT NOW in my community?
The actions of the administration are causing irreparable harm every minute of every day. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.”
The 2026 election will be too late.
Last weekend, the US shipped hundreds of immigrants from Venezuela to a prison in El Salvador on the allegation that they are members of the gang Tren de Aragua. They were detained and deported without due process or even a legitimate investigation of the allegations against them. A judge had issued an order to prevent that action, which the government ignored. Since then, the Department of Justice has obstructed legal action through a lack of cooperation. The people in question remain in El Salvador, but the Venezuelan government says none of them have ties to Tren de Aragua.
If you are a candidate, a lawmaker, or a fundraiser, tell me what you are going to do for those people RIGHT NOW. Tell me what actions I can take to protect my neighbors from the threat of extrajudicial rendition.
On Friday, Trump announced that he was moving administration of federal student loans out of the Department of Education and tasking the Small Business Administration with taking over the programs. This came after SBA announced cuts of 40% of their staff. This maneuver is flatly illegal – the Higher Education Act of 1965 stipulates that the Federal Student Aid Office should be supervised by the Secretary of Education.
Next year my son and his classmates will be applying to college. What does this mean for them? What does it mean for the institutions they may seek to attend? I need candidates, lawmakers, and the message-bearers for my party to explain this to me and tell me how to prepare. I need to hear what they are doing RIGHT NOW to ensure that college is accessible to all students, not just the children of billionaires.
The acting administrator of the Social Security Administration was flatly resistant to a court order blocking DOGE staff from accessing personal data of Social Security recipients. He threatened to shut down the entire IT infrastructure of the agency, which would have prevented payments from processing. The Treasury Secretary went on tv and said only “fraudsters” would complain about missed Social Security payments.
What do candidates, lawmakers, and party leaders intend to do RIGHT NOW to protect the sensitive personal data of some of the most vulnerable Americans? What are they doing to assure people on fixed incomes that their income is, in fact, fixed? How can they be sure that their Social Security payments will not be yanked away like a ball in a sick game of political keep-away?
I need the future leaders of America to understand that the future is not what keeps me awake at night. It is our present that that fuels my nightmare. I need to protect myself, my family, and my community RIGHT NOW. America can’t wait until 2026 for solutions. That is the message we should send elected officials and candidates. Every call, every email, every protest sign should communicate the fierce urgency of now.
In the meantime, there are hundreds of organizations across the country that are on the ground offering help to people in their time fierce and urgent need. One of the best things we can all do is help the helpers. If you have the means, please support grassroots organizations like food banks and abortion funds and legal aid groups and independent media outlets that are doing the work every day.
Civic Action Hub of Maryland 