Democracy is not a spectator sport. Whether you want to exercise your right to vote, join a protest, call your elected officials, run for office, or keep tabs on the week’s hottest issues and protests, The Contrarian has you covered.
Here are our top suggestions for getting involved in the days ahead. These are heated times; we encourage non-violent and lawful activism.
Keep Up the ICE Funding Fight
A partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security appears imminent — as the showdown over funding ICE, its detention camps, and the machinery of mass-deportation continues. The expiration of funding on Feb. 13 will ratchet up pressure on Democrats to cut a deal. Keep calling Congress to demand reforms with broad public support. Indivisible offers talking points and advice for contacting your senators and representatives.
Consumers can also pressure companies that empower ICE. If you’re looking to move your own money, Resist and Unsubscribe offer a one-stop resource.
Demand Epstein Accountability
Pressure your representatives to reveal the full rot of Epstein’s sex-trafficking network and hold criminals accountable. Europe is showing how easy it would be to purge Epstein cronies from government. And, after her absurdly combative, see-no-evil performance before Congress, Attorney General Pam Bondi should also be shown the exit from the Department of Justice.
World Without Exploitation, a coalition fighting to end human trafficking and sexual exploitation, has a petition seeking the full release of the files. “We are demanding answers about rape, trafficking, and abuse — and why the justice system failed to pursue those crimes,” it reads. “The [DOJ]’s actions mirror the very dynamics that allowed Epstein’s crimes to persist: secrecy for the powerful and consequences for everyone else.” (Read an essay from World Without Exploitation Co-Founder and President Rachel Foster here.)
Impeachment 3.0?
50501 is organizing a Feb. 17 “day of action” for citizens to visit the district offices of their members of Congress and lobby to impeach Donald Trump for a third time — citing the “unconstitutional military strike” on Venezuela, the paramilitary excess of ICE, and obstruction of justice for Epstein survivors. Practicalities of a new impeachment aside, organizers are determined to send a message about the president’s overreach: “It’s not getting better and Congress is not meeting the moment.” Find a calendar of events here.
Help Targeted Community Members
The administration has announced a drawdown of its violent immigration surge in Minneapolis, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can turn up in anywhere. When agents are out in force, many immigrants and citizens of color alike are afraid to leave their homes. Some ways to show solidarity:
Distribute know-your-rights cards.
Learn the SALUTE method for documenting the presence of federal agents.
Hand out whistles to blow if deportation agents are spotted in your neighborhood. (You can connect with activists distributing free, 3D-printed whistles here.)
Print out zines (in English and Spanish) with advice for reporting ICE activity.
Create teams to monitor neighborhoods near schools and bus routes for federal agents.
Organize school carpools or grocery runs for vulnerable families.
Record federal agents (from a safe distance) and distribute evidence of abuses. Watch an ACLU-led “Eyes on ICE” training here.
Contact the House Judiciary Committee’s whistleblower tip line to report illegal activities by a federal agency or agent.
Feb. 14 Self Care
Whether or not you have a Valentine, take a moment to practice self-care. The fight to save our democracy will be long and hard. Go for a walk — or lift weights to remind yourself how strong you and America are. Have a taste (or two or ten) of your favorite indulgence to stave off autocracy’s bitterness. Or have tea with a gaggle of friends to giggle about the utter failure of the first lady’s documentary.
Get Presidential at the Library
Monday, we celebrate Presidents Day. Visit your local library to find a biography of a celebrated statesman and remind yourself of what a real leader is. NPR has a good list of recommendations for books about Abraham Lincoln. Check out this list of recommendations for books about George Washington. Inside Hook has recommendations for works about Teddy Roosevelt.
Mark Your Calendars
The next No Kings protest has been called for March 28. (Watch Jen Rubin’s interview with Indivisible founder Ezra Levin to learn more.)
Below, find The Contrarian’s standing resources for empowering yourself in American civic life:
Contact Your Elected Officials
It can feel old-school (or even cringe), but calling your elected officials is effective in moving the political needle. This is true whether you’re calling to oppose an official’s stance or spur them into action that matches their rhetoric. Watch our how-to video here.
To reach the Washington, D.C. office of any House or Senate member, call the congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121. In the runup to big votes, you may have better luck reaching a human by calling the politician’s state or district office.
Common Cause has built a remarkable tool that lets you plug in your home address and receive a roster of contact information for the many politicians who represent you — from city council members to U.S. senators. When you’re ready to make a call, the League of Conservation Voters offers a comprehensive guide on best practices.
E-mail from constituents can be effective too. Democracy.io has a one-stop tool to email your Senators and Representatives.
Find out more at: Common Cause; LCV; Democracy.io.
Get Active with Neighbors
No group has channelled the energies of the anti-Trump coalition more effectively than Indivisible. The group focuses on empowering local activists who come together in periodic, nationwide mobilizations that stretch from big, blue cities to sleepy red-state towns. (Watch Jen Rubin’s interview with Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin on the tactics of effective resistance).
If you’re more comfortable organizing on a Reddit forum or a Discord server than a living room potluck, try the newest player on the activist block: 50501.org. And if you’re just looking to make a difference on your own, Mobilize.us offers an array of local volunteer opportunities, petitions, and events.
Find out more at: Indivisible.org, where you can read the handbook and find an active group in your area or start one of your own. Discover 50501.org’s “Welcome Guide” here. Or click your state at Mobilize.us to find an action that works for you.
Guarantee Your Vote
Trump & Co. are committed to gerrymandering and voter-suppression — including purging voter rolls of supposedly ineligible or “inactive” voters — because they’re afraid of the power of your vote. Don’t be intimidated. Vote.org offers a one-stop shop to double-check your registration status; if you’re not registered, you can sign up in minutes online. The group also offers a toolkit to begin a voter registration drive of your own. The Fair Elections Center has compiled a helpful, state-by-state resource (click the map) that will alert you to registration deadlines and help you find your polling location.
Find out more at: Vote.org, Fair Elections Center. A federal mail-in voter registration form is also available in many languages here.
Help Flip the House
The best near-term hope for restoring American checks and balances is flipping the House of Representatives in November. Swing Left is a progressive organization focused on 33 key House seats for the 2026 midterm —19 GOP-held seats to target and 14 Democratic seats to defend. Around since 2016, Swing Left solicits donations for these high-impact races and organizes grassroots volunteers.
Find out more at: Swing Left.
Support Pro-Democracy Organizations
In the fight against authoritarian overreach, the United States is lucky to have a robust civil society with institutional knowhow. Connect with groups that are engaged in the good fight on behalf of civil liberties, racial justice, immigrant rights, and veterans issues.
Find out more at: American Civil Liberties Union, American Immigration Council, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Brennan Center, Color of Change, Common Cause, Native American Rights Fund, Public Citizen, VoteVets.
Run for Office
If you’re ready to take a leap into politics yourself, Run For Something can help you get off the ground. The organization has built an impressive pipeline of progressive talent to reshape our politics — from local races up to members of Congress. Founded by millennial author and activist Amanda Litman (watch her interview with Jen Rubin here), Run for Something specifically recruits next-generation candidates. But the organization offers resources for first-time candidates of all ages, including logistical support to help run “efficient, strategic, grassroots, driven campaigns.”
Find out more at: RunforSomething.net
Embrace ‘Tactical Frivolity’
The serious business of defending democracy doesn’t have to be so, well, serious. As the inflatable frogs of Portland taught us, there is room — and, indeed, a need — for lightness and what academics call “tactical frivolity.” This carnival-like spirit, which may involve costumes or music or goofy protest signs, buoys fellow protesters even as it confounds would-be authoritarians who are counting on fear to reinforce the perception of their power. (Context is key, consider whether your inflatable costume will be out of place at a somber vigil.)
Learn more here.
Consider a Boycott
In capitalist America, one of the most powerful ways to vote is with your pocketbook. Withholding spending can send a powerful signal to corporations that they should think twice before collaborating with the Trump administration or complying with its culture-war marching orders.
Protests at Tesla dealerships played a role in pushing Elon Musk out of his destructive White House stint as unofficial co-president. The Rev. Jamal Bryant has led a consumer boycott of Target, which abandoned its once-robust DEI commitments after Trump’s election, leading to several quarters of reduced revenue. Home Depot, Hilton, and Amazon have all been hit by recent anti-MAGA consumer protests. These protests are effective. Boycotts of Avelo Airlines helped spur that budget carrier to end its deportation-flight contract with ICE. Spotify similarly stopped airing ICE recruitment ads after consumer backlash.
The activist group Choose Democracy has a solid boycott tracker. Also check out the list at BoycottHere.com.
Find out more at: BoycottHere; Boycott Central; TeslaTakedown; WeAintBuyingit; Groundavelo.
Combat Misinformation Online
Social media billionaires like Musk are rigging their algorithms to prioritize right-wing content — especially surrounding ICE operations. Report posts with false or misleading content, add or request “community notes,” and circulate or create factual content. RumorGuard — a project of the nonpartisan News Literacy Project — offers tools to recognize misinformation, including a catalog of hoax content that’s gone viral. Snopes.com also specializes in debunking misinformation.
Find out more: RumorGuard; Snopes
Declare Energy Independence
The planet is overheating and our foreign policy is a nightmare, significantly because of America’s addiction to fossil fuels. The Trump administration wants to keep American drivers hooked on Big Oil and keep the energy grid powered by fossil fuels — and has reduced pollution controls and phased out federal tax incentives for renewable energy and electric vehicles.
But with state-level support, the economics of green energy still make sense for millions of Americans. Kelley Blue Book maintains a state-by-state catalog of electric vehicle incentives. Homeowners can get a rough cost estimate for powering their homes with renewable energy at Solar-estimate.org. For renters, a group called Bright Saver is lobbying to make “balcony solar” — think: small, DIY solar arrays plugged into your home outlets — legal and accessible across the country.
Find out more at: KBB; Solar-estimate.org; Bright Saver.
Support Nonprofit Media
In an age of right-wing billionaire takeovers of once-great newspapers, broadcast networks, and social media platforms, supporting independent media outlets has never been more critical. Some of our favorites include ProPublica, Mother Jones, and local outlets such as the Barbed Wire in Texas, the Minnesota Reformer, the Tennessee Holler, and the Mississippi Free Press.
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