1. Be a Protector of Democracy. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world.

a. Join One Million Rising: Strategic non-cooperation to fight authoritarianism. Register here for this series of virtual events on July 16, July 30, and August 14th. https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/803953/?fbclid=IwY2xjawLWCyRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETE0MHJMMEVFa1h5YUJUVlk2AR7bpUqURU4skC43YzErTpPFjQ21OkW3wU21Quwtk4yY2K9Opeot1K2T8R3ksQ_aem_9oqcwDcEuRTDgGACp1I9fw

b. Join the weekly Bridge Brigade over 94 at Cleveland every Thursday from 4:30 – 5:30 pm: https://mn50501.org/other-mn-events/

c. Continue to support the rally/protest in Saint Paul every Monday at 5 pm at Snelling and Larpenteur: https://mn50501.org/other-mn-events/

d. Join Good Trouble Lives On on July 17th, 6 pm. Hennepin County Government Center Plaza: https://www.mobilize.us/indivisibletwincities/event/810219/

e. Continue to peacefully protest at the Tesla dealer on Hwy 61 in Maplewood every Saturday at 11 am. Do NOT park in their lot, trespass, or vandalize private property. Instead, park in the lot one block north at 1194 County Rd CE. https://teslatakedown.com.

2. Call your Members of Congress.*

Thank them for everything they did to try to block the Huge, Horrible Bill.

Amy Klobuchar: DC: (202) 224-3244, MN: (612) 727-5220
Tina Smith: DC: (202) 224-5641, MN: (651) 221-1016
Betty McCollum: (202) 225-6631, St. Paul: (651) 224-9191

3. Vote with your wallet. Support companies that support democracy.
Shop local independent stores, co-ops, and farmer’s markets whenever you can.
Boycott Amazon (including Whole Foods). Cancel your Amazon Prime membership.
Also avoid Walmart and Target.
When you can’t shop local, instead choose Cub and/or Costco, both of which support primarily pro-democracy candidates. Trader Joe’s/Aldi are also OK.
Look on ebay and Etsy for items that you can’t find locally.
Choose Lyft over Uber and VRBO over AirBnB whenever possible.
Boycott any product made in El Salvador. Check labels of clothing before purchasing: many T-shirts, socks, and underwear are manufactured there.

4. Support independent journalists. Legacy media is now almost entirely owned by billionaire oligarchs (See ‘Amazon’, above) and is largely failing to uphold its job as the ‘fourth pillar of democracy’. A few non-corporate-owned national publications doing great work and not ‘obeying in advance’ include ProPublica, the Atlantic, and the Philadelphia Enquirer. For local news: Minnesota Reformer. Subscribe for free here: https://minnesotareformer.com/
Independent journalists are increasingly replacing legacy media with YouTube, Podcasts, and Substacks. Support them by listening and subscribing. (You can listen/watch without subscribing, but advertisers pay based on the number of subscribers, which is how they support themselves). Even better, pay a few dollars a month to become a premium member.

Recommended YouTube channels/podcasts/substacks: MeidasTouch, The Bulwark, Dave Pakman, Daily Beans, Wired.
Good subject matter experts to follow: Andrew Weissmann, George Conway, and Joyce Vance for updates on legal challenges, Tim Snyder (book: On Tyranny) and Ruth Ben-Ghiat (book: Strongmen) (authoritarianism experts), and Kara Swisher (Elon Musk/DOGE tracker).

Recommended Substacks::
Aaron Rupar: Public Notice: https://www.publicnotice.co/ (Great national scene indy reporter, but also happens to be a MN guy with a SAP connection)
Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/
Simon Rosenberg: Hopium Chronicles: https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/
Joyce Vance: Civil Discourse: https://joycevance.substack.com/
Jen Rubin & Norm Eisen: The Contrarian: https://contrarian.substack.com/
ProtectDemocracy: if you can keep it: https://www.ifyoucankeepit.org/
Robert Reich: https://robertreich.substack.com
Amy Siskind: The weekly list returns: https://theweeklylistreturns.substack.com/
https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com
(Substacks are email newsletters. Subscribing is easy: just open the links above. Some authors require a paid subscription, but many also have a free version.)

Another way to protect the free press from the oligarchs:
https://protectmypublicmedia.org/

5. Support the legal community fighting back in the courts.
Join the ACLU. Also support Democracy Forward, which funds Marc Elias (the lawyer who won the most cases against Trump in Trump 1.0) and his group. https://democracyforward.org/. Read their free newsletter Democracy Docket, including Marc’s incredible letter to ‘President Musk’: https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/my-open-letter-to-elon-musk/

6. Some suggestions if you choose to use social media:
Bluesky (highly recommended, independent alternative to Twitter): follow the activism groups, independent journalists, and subject matter experts listed above. Also follow the ‘Alt-government’ whistleblower accounts: altNIH, altNOAA, altCDC, altFDA, altNASA, and of course, the OG AltNationalParks.
There are also several ‘democracy starter packs’ available, including one by Marc Elias.
Reddit and Discord: 50501 National, 50501 Minnesota
Meta: Facebook, Instagram, Threads: join/follow Indivisible Twin Cities, 50501 Minnesota, Stop to Shop Project 2025

*Constituent pressure matters, even with our Democratic reps. Read about the general indivisible strategy here: https://indivisible.org/. In short, every Senator and Rep’s aides tally the number of phone calls received on each issue every single day and issue a summary report each day. And even ‘safe’ incumbent elected officials really do care about what their constituents are saying en masse. Join your local indivisible group for even more info: https://indivisible.org/groups. https://indivisibletwincities.org is our local group.

“5 calls” is a great app that automates these calls to make it even easier.

“Some believe that it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay”. – J.R.R. Tolkien

Finally, our protest signs of the week from the MN State Capitol: