Anti-Trump protesters stand with signs in front of Trump Tower.
In 2024, Rise Up From Your Couch and Save Democracy
There needs to be an active, pro-democracy movement in the United States that is bigger, more visible, and more determined than the MAGA movement that seeks to destroy it.
When my editors at The Philadelphia Inquirer Opinion section asked me to write this short essay on my hopes for 2024, one colleague joked that I could probably keep it to just two words: “Trump. Jail.”
Have my columns become that predictable? (Don’t answer that.) Sure, it’s true that justice for an ex-and-possibly-future president who repeatedly broke the law, most famously in plotting an attempted coup that resulted in a deadly insurrection on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, is an outcome that I would absolutely love to see.
But that’s the thing: There are a lot of outcomes I’d be thrilled to witness over the next 12 months, including a humiliating defeat at the ballot box for Donald Trump by a President Joe Biden who got wiser at age 81 and listened to America’s young people about peace in Gaza and phasing out fossil fuels. But then, I’d be nearly as excited if my beloved Philadelphia Union finally stopped being so cheap and signed a world-class striker and midfielder in order to win the MLS Cup.
But soccer is a spectator sport. Democracy isn’t supposed to be.
My hope for 2024 is that the silent majority of Americans who still believe in freedom will stop wallowing in despair and waiting for the worst.
It’s easy to hope for outcomes. In fact, I think too many of us are doing exactly that—sinking deeper into our couches, open-mouthed and dumbfounded, as America gets ready to toss the principles that were forged right here in Philadelphia in the late 1700s right down the memory hole.
Many of us know people who are so resigned to the most negative outcome—that the United States becomes a dictatorship 20 days into 2025—that they are seriously talking about leaving the country. Many more are pinning their hopes for 2024 on judges in Denver, or jurors in Atlanta, or some other deus ex machina to swoop down from the heavens to save the American Experiment so they don’t have to.
About 40% of the American public are making it clear they want this nation to become a dictatorship, led by a “Red Caesar” who will suspend the Constitution to smite their enemies at the southern border, on college campuses, and in the “liberal media.” They are a minority, but an organized and determined one.
My hope for 2024 is that the silent majority of Americans who still believe in freedom will stop wallowing in despair and waiting for the worst. Instead, these voters should rise up from their couches, get organized, and start taking action to save democracy now, and not 10 months and one week from now when it will be too late.
There needs to be an active, pro-democracy movement in the United States that is bigger, more visible, and more determined than the MAGA movement that seeks to destroy it. They should be organizing right now, crafting new messages, posting on TikTok, making themselves known, knocking on doors, registering every voter, and talking to—and listening to—millions of disillusioned young people.
We can enter a new year with high hopes, and not existential dread, but we have to remember that hopes only come true through action.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just four days to go in our Spring Campaign, we are not even halfway to our goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
When my editors at The Philadelphia Inquirer Opinion section asked me to write this short essay on my hopes for 2024, one colleague joked that I could probably keep it to just two words: “Trump. Jail.”
Have my columns become that predictable? (Don’t answer that.) Sure, it’s true that justice for an ex-and-possibly-future president who repeatedly broke the law, most famously in plotting an attempted coup that resulted in a deadly insurrection on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, is an outcome that I would absolutely love to see.
But that’s the thing: There are a lot of outcomes I’d be thrilled to witness over the next 12 months, including a humiliating defeat at the ballot box for Donald Trump by a President Joe Biden who got wiser at age 81 and listened to America’s young people about peace in Gaza and phasing out fossil fuels. But then, I’d be nearly as excited if my beloved Philadelphia Union finally stopped being so cheap and signed a world-class striker and midfielder in order to win the MLS Cup.
But soccer is a spectator sport. Democracy isn’t supposed to be.
My hope for 2024 is that the silent majority of Americans who still believe in freedom will stop wallowing in despair and waiting for the worst.
It’s easy to hope for outcomes. In fact, I think too many of us are doing exactly that—sinking deeper into our couches, open-mouthed and dumbfounded, as America gets ready to toss the principles that were forged right here in Philadelphia in the late 1700s right down the memory hole.
Many of us know people who are so resigned to the most negative outcome—that the United States becomes a dictatorship 20 days into 2025—that they are seriously talking about leaving the country. Many more are pinning their hopes for 2024 on judges in Denver, or jurors in Atlanta, or some other deus ex machina to swoop down from the heavens to save the American Experiment so they don’t have to.
About 40% of the American public are making it clear they want this nation to become a dictatorship, led by a “Red Caesar” who will suspend the Constitution to smite their enemies at the southern border, on college campuses, and in the “liberal media.” They are a minority, but an organized and determined one.
My hope for 2024 is that the silent majority of Americans who still believe in freedom will stop wallowing in despair and waiting for the worst. Instead, these voters should rise up from their couches, get organized, and start taking action to save democracy now, and not 10 months and one week from now when it will be too late.
There needs to be an active, pro-democracy movement in the United States that is bigger, more visible, and more determined than the MAGA movement that seeks to destroy it. They should be organizing right now, crafting new messages, posting on TikTok, making themselves known, knocking on doors, registering every voter, and talking to—and listening to—millions of disillusioned young people.
We can enter a new year with high hopes, and not existential dread, but we have to remember that hopes only come true through action.
When my editors at The Philadelphia Inquirer Opinion section asked me to write this short essay on my hopes for 2024, one colleague joked that I could probably keep it to just two words: “Trump. Jail.”
Have my columns become that predictable? (Don’t answer that.) Sure, it’s true that justice for an ex-and-possibly-future president who repeatedly broke the law, most famously in plotting an attempted coup that resulted in a deadly insurrection on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021, is an outcome that I would absolutely love to see.
But that’s the thing: There are a lot of outcomes I’d be thrilled to witness over the next 12 months, including a humiliating defeat at the ballot box for Donald Trump by a President Joe Biden who got wiser at age 81 and listened to America’s young people about peace in Gaza and phasing out fossil fuels. But then, I’d be nearly as excited if my beloved Philadelphia Union finally stopped being so cheap and signed a world-class striker and midfielder in order to win the MLS Cup.
But soccer is a spectator sport. Democracy isn’t supposed to be.
My hope for 2024 is that the silent majority of Americans who still believe in freedom will stop wallowing in despair and waiting for the worst.
It’s easy to hope for outcomes. In fact, I think too many of us are doing exactly that—sinking deeper into our couches, open-mouthed and dumbfounded, as America gets ready to toss the principles that were forged right here in Philadelphia in the late 1700s right down the memory hole.
Many of us know people who are so resigned to the most negative outcome—that the United States becomes a dictatorship 20 days into 2025—that they are seriously talking about leaving the country. Many more are pinning their hopes for 2024 on judges in Denver, or jurors in Atlanta, or some other deus ex machina to swoop down from the heavens to save the American Experiment so they don’t have to.
About 40% of the American public are making it clear they want this nation to become a dictatorship, led by a “Red Caesar” who will suspend the Constitution to smite their enemies at the southern border, on college campuses, and in the “liberal media.” They are a minority, but an organized and determined one.
My hope for 2024 is that the silent majority of Americans who still believe in freedom will stop wallowing in despair and waiting for the worst. Instead, these voters should rise up from their couches, get organized, and start taking action to save democracy now, and not 10 months and one week from now when it will be too late.
There needs to be an active, pro-democracy movement in the United States that is bigger, more visible, and more determined than the MAGA movement that seeks to destroy it. They should be organizing right now, crafting new messages, posting on TikTok, making themselves known, knocking on doors, registering every voter, and talking to—and listening to—millions of disillusioned young people.
We can enter a new year with high hopes, and not existential dread, but we have to remember that hopes only come true through action.