If This Is a Democratic Emergency, Where Is the Emergency Response?
A Call to America’s Democratic Organizations, Labor Movement, and Progressive Leadership
Earlier this year we called for a popular front—a mass coalition of all organizations that oppose fascism and will defend democracy. As a small non-profit, the Southeast Community Research Center (SCRC) can play a role in education and mobilization, but it will take the organization of thousands and millions of members to state with a unified voice, to mobilize their membership to make it clear, that we will not accept the slide into an authoritarian and fascistic state.
Ours is not the first western democracy to face the challenge of rightwing authoritarianism, and even fascism. They formed broad democratic coalitions — often referred to as popular fronts—these alliances that brought together labor organizations, civil rights advocates, religious communities, democratic political forces, community organizations, the broadest base of those who would not will not go quietly into oppression, just ordinary citizens… to resist authoritarianism and defend democratic institutions.
We now face a historic choice, one that will determine the kind of society we live in for, not years, but decades. We can halt the ongoing erosion of democratic institutions and constitutional protections, or we can continue down a path that concentrates power in fewer hands, weakens democratic accountability, and places fundamental rights increasingly at risk. The stakes extend far beyond the outcome of a single election cycle. What is at issue is whether future generations will inherit a functioning democracy capable of protecting political freedom, civil rights, and equal participation in public life.
Increasingly people are coming to the realization that the current course of the Trump administration represents a serious threat to democratic governance. No, this is not merely another round of partisan conflict. Nor is it simply a continuation of longstanding battles over race, gender, immigration, or economic policy (thought the rightwing would like you to believe this is all and only about transgender athletes). We are witnessing a campaign to weaken institutional checks and balances, undermine confidence in elections, concentrate executive power, target vulnerable communities, and normalize forms of political behavior that would have been widely rejected in previous generations.
Earlier appeals called broadly upon labor unions, civil rights organizations, immigrant rights groups, women’s organizations, LGBTQ organizations, environmental movements, faith communities, student organizations, and democratic civic institutions to unite in common cause. That appeal remains valid. But the political moment has become more urgent.
There is no longer time for fragmentation, competition, or organizational isolation. No single organization, movement, constituency, or political party can meet this challenge alone. The democratic response must be larger than any individual issue campaign and broader than any existing coalition.
The emergence of nationwide mobilizations such as the No Kings movement and the rapid growth of local organizing networks associated with Indivisible demonstrate that millions of Americans understand that democratic norms and institutions are under threat. These efforts mobilized large numbers of people and created important opportunities for resistance. Yet mobilization alone is not enough. Demonstrations, however large, must be connected to a longer-term strategy capable of coordinating action more broadly across organizations, regions, and constituencies. The Trump administration, and its republican enablers, has shown that they do not care about protests, about the voices of the American people (see for example the use of ICE as “paramilitary” police force that apparently follows no regulations and is answerable to one person—the president.
We need to immediately start building a national structure capable of bringing together labor, civil rights organizations, immigrant communities, women’s organizations, LGBTQ advocates, environmental groups, democratic reform organizations, faith communities, student movements, and local grassroots networks into a common strategic framework. The challenge before us is not simply to protest. It is to build the capacity to act together.
If democratic forces fail to organize effectively now, the damage to democratic institutions may take years, perhaps decades, to reverse. If we succeed, however, we can do more than defend what remains. We can begin the work of rebuilding a democracy that genuinely serves working people, women, minorities, immigrants, and all those whose rights and voices have too often been marginalized.
To the labor movement:
Sean Fain has spoken powerfully about the dangers posed by authoritarian politics. Liz Shuler leads the AFL-CIO, representing millions of working people. April Verrett leads the Service Employees International Union, one of the nation’s largest and most influential unions. Randi Weingarten has consistently defended public education and democratic institutions.
If democracy itself is now at risk, what additional responsibilities follow from that assessment? What role should organized labor play in convening a broader democratic response?
To democracy organizations:
The leaders of Indivisible, Common Cause, Democracy Forward, Democracy Docket, Public Citizen, the Brennan Center for Justice, and many others have devoted extraordinary effort to defending democratic institutions through organizing, litigation, education, and advocacy.
If the threat is as great as these organizations have warned, where is the permanent framework through which they coordinate strategy together? What are the plans for building towards a comprehensive fightback if the November election is stolen, set aside, declared unlawful by the president, his stooge at the head of DOJ, his lackey running the FBI…and even more troubling, a SCOTUS that, in his interest, removed most of the checks on this “imperial presidency,” (see for example, most recently, the removal of any protections for the heads and employees in federal agencies, protections that began to be put in place in the last gilded age, and became standard with the Hatch Act of 1939.)
To progressive elected officials:
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, progressive governors, mayors, and state legislators have repeatedly warned that democracy itself is under sustained attack. They have frequently used “fascism” to designate what is underway. However, how can they continue to see their work within the narrow terms of criticism, claims of “holding people accountable,” and support for progressive candidates?
If that assessment is correct, what is being built beyond the next election cycle? Where is the long-term democratic strategy capable of matching the scale of the challenge?
To the broader democratic movement: Women’s organizations. Civil rights organizations. Immigrant rights advocates. Environmental organizations. Faith communities. Student movements. Community organizations. Foundations committed to democracy.
Millions of citizens already recognize the danger. But recognition alone is not enough.
Leadership carries responsibilities. When democratic institutions face extraordinary threats, those entrusted with leadership have an obligation not only to defend their own organizations or constituencies, but to help build the broader democratic capacity that the moment requires.
This is not a criticism of the extraordinary work already being done across the country. It is an argument that the moment now demands something more.
No Kings demonstrated that millions of Americans are prepared to defend democratic norms. Indivisible has shown what decentralized organizing can accomplish.
Labor unions continue organizing workers under increasingly difficult political conditions. Civil rights organizations continue defending voting rights and equal protection. Democracy organizations continue challenging attacks on constitutional government in the courts.
The energy exists. The organizations exist. The leadership exists. The public concern exists.
What remains absent is a durable mechanism capable of bringing these democratic forces together into a common strategic framework.
The question before us is therefore no longer whether democracy is under threat. The question is whether democratic forces will organize with the urgency that threat demands.
We do not pretend to possess a complete blueprint for democratic renewal. Nor do we presume that any single organization has the authority to provide one.
But we do believe that democratic leadership requires moving beyond warnings toward coordination.
Accordingly, we offer the following five immediate tasks—not as a final program, but as a starting point for a broader national discussion among the organizations, institutions, and citizens committed to defending and renewing American democracy.
FIVE IMMEDIATE TASKS FOR DEMOCRATIC FORCES
A Beginning–Not a Blueprint
No single document can provide a complete strategy for defending and renewing American democracy. Nor can any single organization claim to possess all the answers.
The purpose of this statement is more modest—and, we hope, more useful. We seek to identify several immediate tasks that democratic organizations, institutions, and leaders should begin discussing together.
If democracy is indeed facing the emergency that so many organizations have described, then democratic forces must begin acting with a level of coordination equal to that challenge.
1. Convene a National Democratic Assembly
The first task is to bring democratic forces together.
Labor unions, civil rights organizations, women’s organizations, democracy advocates, environmental organizations, immigrant rights groups, faith communities, student movements, community organizations, progressive elected officials, and other democratic institutions should begin discussions aimed at convening a national assembly devoted to democratic strategy.
The purpose is not symbolic unity. The purpose is practical coordination.
No organization should be asked to abandon its mission. Rather, each should help build the relationships and strategic capacity necessary to defend the democratic foundations upon which all of their work ultimately depends.
2. Develop a Shared Strategic Framework
Democratic organizations will never agree on every issue. Nor should they.
But they should be able to reach broad agreement on the nature of the present threat, the defense of constitutional government, the protection of democratic rights, and the principles that should guide collective action.
Coordination does not require ideological uniformity. It requires strategic coherence.
3. Build Permanent Democratic Infrastructure
Democracy cannot be defended through election cycles alone. Nor can it depend upon temporary coalitions that dissolve once a particular campaign or crisis has passed.
Democratic forces should begin building durable local, regional, and national structures capable of coordinating communication, sharing resources, developing leadership, and sustaining collective action over the long term.
Authoritarian movements organize continuously. Those committed to democracy must do the same.
4. Make Political Education a Strategic Priority
A democratic society depends not only upon institutions but upon citizens capable of understanding the forces that threaten them.
Millions of Americans recognize that something is deeply wrong. Far fewer understand the historical, economic, technological, and political forces driving the present crisis.
Political education should become a central responsibility of democratic organizations—not as an academic exercise, but as preparation for effective democratic participation.
People defend what they understand.
5. Prepare for the Democratic Struggles Ahead
The coming years are likely to present challenges that cannot be met through improvisation alone.
Democratic organizations should begin discussing how they will communicate, coordinate, educate, mobilize, and respond collectively during future democratic and constitutional crises.
Preparation is not alarmism. It is responsible leadership.
The Democratic Strategy Forum therefore invites labor unions, democracy organizations, civil rights groups, women’s organizations, environmental organizations, community organizations, educators, students, faith communities, elected officials, and concerned citizens to help shape, improve, expand, and, where necessary, challenge these proposals.
The future of American democracy will not be secured by any single organization, political party, election, lawsuit, or demonstration. It will be secured only if democratic forces discover how to think, plan, and act together.
The work begins now.
IF THERE IS ANY DOUBT…. about why we characterize the present moment as a democratic emergency, consider what has occurred since January 2025.
The following overview summarizes representative actions and proposals identified by historians of authoritarianism, constitutional scholars, legal experts, journalists, scientists, economists, and democratic institutions as consistent with authoritarian or illiberal governance. Organized by institution rather than chronology, it illustrates how the cumulative pattern extends far beyond any single policy dispute or political controversy.
The evidence speaks for itself.
DOCUMENTARY OVERVIEW
Documenting the Systematic Assault on Democratic Institutions
Science and Research
- Political interference in scientific agencies
- Suppression or alteration of scientific reports
- Cuts to basic research funding
- Restrictions on climate research
- Political appointments replacing scientific expertise
- Elimination of scientific advisory committees
- Political pressure on universities and federally funded research
- Restrictions on academic freedom
Public Health
- Politicization of public health agencies
- Weakening disease surveillance
- Restrictions on reproductive health information
- Elimination of health equity initiatives
- Politicization of medical recommendations
- Reductions in consumer health protections
- Weakening public health infrastructure
- Curtailment of international public health cooperation
Courts and Rule of Law
- Personal attacks on judges
- Expansion of executive immunity claims
- Politicization of prosecutions
- Loyalty requirements within the Department of Justice
- Pardons benefiting political allies
- Weakening independent oversight
- Resistance to judicial constraints on executive power
- Increased concentration of executive legal authority
Elections and Democratic Institutions
- Restrictions on voting access
- Pressure on election officials
- False claims undermining election legitimacy
- Partisan election administration
- Efforts to increase executive influence over elections
- Gerrymandering
- Challenges to election certification
- Weakening independent election administration
Civil Service and Government
- Replacing career experts with political loyalists
- Expansion of presidential firing authority
- Weakening merit-based civil service protections
- Political loyalty requirements
- Increased centralization of executive authority
- Reduction of agency independence
- Schedule F–style employment proposals
- Politicization of federal agencies
Free Speech and the Press
- Political intimidation of journalists
- Retaliation against critical media organizations
- Efforts to weaken independent public media
- Expanded use of government pressure against news organizations
- Threats to whistleblowers
- Increased secrecy and reduced transparency
- Restrictions on public access to information
- Efforts to delegitimize independent journalism
Universities and Education
- Political intervention in university governance
- Restrictions on academic freedom
- Ideological oversight of curricula
- Political pressure on faculty and administrators
- Reduction of research independence
- Restrictions on diversity initiatives
- Interference with institutional autonomy
- Efforts to reshape higher education around political loyalty
Women and Reproductive Rights
- National restrictions on reproductive freedom
- Expanded governmental control over reproductive health decisions
- Limitations on access to reproductive care
- Restrictions affecting reproductive privacy
- Reduced federal protections
- Political interference in medical decision-making
- Curtailment of reproductive health programs
- Challenges to established reproductive rights
LGBTQ Rights
- Restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare
- Limitations on transgender rights
- Elimination of federal diversity protections
- Restrictions affecting LGBTQ students
- Rollbacks of anti-discrimination policies
- Political targeting of LGBTQ communities
- Reductions in civil rights enforcement
- Expansion of state authority over LGBTQ issues
Civil Rights
- Weakening enforcement of civil rights laws
- Reduction of voting rights protections
- Curtailment of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
- Politicization of civil rights enforcement
- Reduced oversight of discrimination claims
- Challenges to equal protection initiatives
- Expansion of executive discretion in civil rights enforcement
- Weakening institutional safeguards
Immigration
- Expanded detention authority
- Increased deportation initiatives
- Curtailment of asylum protections
- Expanded executive authority over immigration
- Family detention proposals
- Reduced refugee admissions
- Expanded immigration enforcement powers
- Increased use of emergency authority
Labor and Workers
- Weakening collective bargaining protections
- Restrictions on federal labor protections
- Political pressure on independent labor agencies
- Reduced workplace enforcement
- Expansion of employer discretion
- Weakening worker organizing protections
- Reduced union influence within federal policymaking
- Curtailment of worker participation mechanisms
Economic Inequality
- Expansion of tax policies favoring concentrated wealth
- Deregulation benefiting dominant corporations
- Privatization of public functions
- Weakening consumer protections
- Reduced oversight of financial institutions
- Expansion of corporate political influence
- Increased concentration of economic power
- Reduction of redistributive policies
Environment
- Rollback of environmental regulations
- Weakening climate initiatives
- Reduced environmental enforcement
- Expansion of fossil fuel development
- Curtailment of conservation programs
- Political interference in environmental science
- Reduced international climate cooperation
- Weakening environmental review processes
Corporate Power
- Expansion of corporate influence over policymaking
- Reduced antitrust enforcement
- Increased regulatory capture
- Privatization of public services
- Expanded lobbying influence
- Reduced corporate accountability
- Weakening oversight of concentrated economic power
- Increased public-private consolidation
Surveillance and Policing
- Expanded surveillance authorities
- Increased monitoring technologies
- Reduced oversight of surveillance programs
- Expanded law enforcement powers
- Militarization of policing
- Increased collection of personal information
- Reduced privacy protections
- Expanded emergency policing authorities
Foreign Policy and Democratic Alliances
- Weakening democratic alliances
- Reduced support for international democratic institutions
- Politicization of foreign assistance
- Retreat from multilateral cooperation
- Reduced commitment to international human rights
- Expansion of unilateral executive authority
- Increased transactional diplomacy
- Weakening democratic partnerships
Government Ethics and Accountability
- Weakening independent inspectors general
- Reduced transparency requirements
- Politicization of oversight institutions
- Conflicts of interest
- Expansion of executive secrecy
- Reduced congressional oversight
- Increased use of emergency authorities
- Weakening institutional accountability
Constitutional Structure
- Expansion of executive authority
- Weakening separation of powers
- Challenges to congressional oversight
- Increased use of emergency powers
- Unitary executive proposals
- Reduced institutional checks and balances
- Concentration of presidential authority
- Challenges to constitutional guardrails
Democratic Culture
- Delegitimization of political opponents
- Normalization of authoritarian rhetoric
- Political intimidation
- Erosion of public trust in democratic institutions
- Increased political polarization
- Acceptance of anti-democratic norms
- Weakening democratic civic culture
- Replacement of democratic pluralism with political loyalty
The examples above are illustrative rather than exhaustive.
Each category can be expanded through executive orders, legislation, court decisions, administrative actions, policy proposals, investigative reporting, and scholarship documenting developments affecting democratic institutions.
No single action listed above, taken in isolation, explains why we characterize the present moment as a democratic emergency.