We're NOT Doomed: Feb 3, 2026

It's Up To Us

Yesterday, I came across the most infuriating post on Threads, unfortunately it’s gone very viral.

The premise of this post is that this person is doing everything. They already vote in every election, they are already aware of what’s going on, and they call their member of Congress (or maybe they don’t anymore, it always goes to voice mail.) And so they ask helplessly “WHAT DO WE DO?”

Now, it’s very possible this person is a troll, but I’m going to answer it anyway.

The reason people are under the impression that “voting doesn’t work” is because you alone cannot make it work. And that’s kinda the point. The US is (still) a Democracy for a reason.

You, single person, doing the right thing, doesn’t mean anything for everyone else. In 2024, about half of eligible Americans didn’t vote. In these small local elections I cover weekly? It’s about 20% that do, and that’s a GOOD week.

What do we do? We grow the movement.

The actions of the movement are not the problem it’s the small number of people involved.

And I have to say, that number is getting bigger by the day.

I am in awe of the general strike last Friday. Literally Wednesday night I hadn’t seen anyone talk about it off social media. By Thursday night, every single news station had carried it multiple times. My dad, who was going to go to a coffee shop with friends cause he didn’t see the momentum, woke up Friday morning and canceled his coffee date.

The protest closest to my house had over 1k people. A brand new protest location. I don’t think there has ever been a protest there before, not as long as I’ve lived here, anyway.

What do we do? THAT!

And look at Rep-elect Taylor Rehmet. Who won in an R +20 district by 34 POINTS. And he didn’t win because more Democrats turned out, only about 34% of voters were Dems. A majority were Republicans, there is no mathematical way we won that seat without them.

But you know what that means?

We’re making enough noise to change hearts and minds in a big way.

Our protesting and social media posts and our Dems uniting under messages like lowering costs and protecting your neighbors—

THOSE ARE HAVING AN IMPACT!

And as for calling your electeds, first off, I’m positive, based on that description, that you’re probably only calling one or two of your electeds.

Try, more than that. Try your member of US Congress, AND your two Senators, AND your State Rep, AND your State Senator. We need to stop calling as if change doesn’t happen at state level. And, sometimes your state legislators have the ear of your US electeds in a way you don’t.

But it’s great that you’re calling at all, thing is, not everyone is. When everyone calls, it DOES make an impact. We’ve seen it time and time again.

So, to this person, “WHAT DO WE DO?”

We keep growing our movement, get more people to do exactly what you’re doing. I always talk about the power of one, but it’s the power of one to start a movement, not do everything alone.

Because we are (still) a Democracy, many people have to come together to create change. That’s how it works.

So keep voting in every single election, and you don’t just vote you make sure others do too. You participate in protests big and small and maybe even organize one of your own. You call ALL of your elected officials, to make sure they are best representing YOU, AND maybe join a phonebank where you call people across the country to call THEIR electeds cause you can only do so much with your own.

THAT is what we do, you’re doing the right things, now get others to join you and do the same. And we keep doing it till we win, and then, maybe, the call to action will change.

Welcome to political activism 101.

Ohio

Wed, Jan 14 - Ohio Equal Rights has begun collecting signatures to get two measures on the November ballot. If they were to pass, they would amend the state constitution.

The Right to Marriage Amendment is exactly what you think it is, it would enshrine gay marriage into the constitution.

While the Ohio Equal Rights Amendment would add language to the constitution against a wild variety of possible discrimination including:

Race, color, creed or religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression regardless of sex assigned at birth, pregnancy status, genetic information, disease status, age, disability, recovery status, familial status, ancestry, national origin, or military and veteran status.

They have until July 1 to get 413,487 signatures on each measure from at least 44 counties.

If this story sounds kinda familiar, that’s because they already tried to do this, but Ohio AG, Dave Yost, told them that their one amendment was actually two. But they didn’t let it deter them and they’d back, and working to make sure BOTH get on the November ballot.

I think they can do it. And the persistence certainly makes me feel less Doomed.

Washington

Wed, Jan 14 - AG Nick Brown filed a dismissal of his lawsuit against Fidelity Information Services, who are in charge of SNAP benefits.

Why?

Fidelity complied.

The lawsuit, filed in July, was against Fidelity sharing confidential data from recipients with USDA. On Jan 24, AG Brown announced that the SNAP vendors confirmed, that they would not share data with USDA, as their contract stipulates. He didn’t believe them, so he did a full investigation and found that yes, they are following through.

AG Brown said in a statement:

When someone in Washington signs up for help putting food on the table, their confidential information is protected by law. No matter how many threats to privacy we face in these uncertain times, my office will act to safeguard Washingtonians’ personal information.

You don’t expect this from any federal vendors right now, so to hear this relieving, and hopeful and definitely reminds me We’re NOT Doomed.

And, you know, that voting for AG matters.

Casper, Wyoming

Wed, Jan 28 - Rep Harriet Hageman, who is the only Wyoming rep in congress, ended her town hall early after intense push back.

A student at Casper College asked her about Renee Good and Alex Pretti, to which she responded:

I haven’t talked about that. I spoke about the Laken Riley Act because it was one of the bills that we passed. I haven’t talked about what was going on in Minnesota.

You can imagine how badly that went down. She dug herself into a further hole after more jeers:

It hasn’t been the topic that we’ve been talking about today. So I think what has happened in Minnesota is a terrible tragedy for the woman and the man who were killed.

Soon after she packed up and just left.

This is not remotely surprising, but what is surprising is that this is Wyoming. And while it has a long and storied history of Equality—it’s nickname is LITERALLY “The Equality State”—that’s felt like very ancient history recently.

So to hear that things got so bad for Rep Hageman that she just left? That makes me feel less Doomed, for sure.

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So those are just some of the reasons We’re NOT Doomed. Never let anyone make you think differently.

Our voices are our superpower, but ONLY when we use them!