Protests Won't Save America

How the #HandsOff event can catalyze or anesthetize us

While it was heartening to see millions of Americans take to the streets in hundreds of rallies throughout this country, as part of the #HandsOff campaign, it was also a reminder of how easily we could have prevented this fascist regime and how difficult it will be to overcome it.

As I saw the video and photo updates roll in, I admit that the cynic in me wondered if all these people had shown up to the polls a few months ago where we might be—and where they might be a few days from now. Will they be found in the painful trenches of transformation or will they have felt they checked activism off of their lists?

Rallies and protests are powerful, important things.

They are a necessary visual reminder that we’re not alone.
They help provide a sense of agency in dark days, to help our minds right-size the threats that seem so towering and beyond our reach.
They give us a chance to stand with a tribe of affinity and to be a tangible response to the things that burden us.
They connect us with people we live, work, and study alongside and give us the chance to forge partnerships and build coalitions.

Rallies and protests are awe-inspiring, goosebump-inducing, breathtakingly cathartic moments.

But rallies and protests don't vote and they don’t save democracies.

They can't craft legislation and they won't protect endangered people.
Rallies alone won't jettison corrupt leaders from their well-fortified perches of power.
They can't reach into the labyrinthine hallways and cloistered rooms where those charged with protecting us, decide our fates.
Protests can't tip the scales of our political process back toward balance.
They will not reject would-be dictators.

The Harris/Walz campaign consistently hosted rallies that were larger and more passionate than anything we’d seen since the Obama campaigns. The size and exuberance of the crowds were massive and the vibes were unmistakably beautiful. They were a glory to behold and breathtaking to be a part of.

And yet, here we are.

We either were the victims of massive election interference (which is quite possible) or people didn’t rally all the way to the polls.

Back in the Fall, I remember writing that it’s easier to defeat fascism at the polls before it arrives than to defeat it in the streets once it’s here. I still believe that. And I confess to wondering if we as a nation have the attention spans and intestinal fortitude to do what it’s going to take to emancipate America from the clutches of the monsters now dragging us into the Dark Ages. I don’t know if we’re prepared to abandon the fantasy of exceptionalism and the sedation of perceived normalcy and get our hands dirty.

The protests that took place this weekend were certainly inspiring, but they are the easiest possible ask of Americans. They also don’t matter a little bit to Trump and his gaggle of ghouls. Like so many times before, they simply allowed us to have an afternoon where we all felt a false sense of power and blew off steam and then largely returned to our lives currently in progress—while they continued to dismantle our Republic largely unabated.

Rallies and polls are indeed powerful things but they can't hold a candle to votes.

Rallies and polls can encourage imperiled people for a day. Votes can save them for a lifetime.

As beautiful as the #HandsOff protests were, if they don’t catalyze us into participating in and changing the political landscape and leverage our collective power into focused and strategic offensive weapons against this Administration, they will have been an exercise in self-medication. They will have proven to have provided a temporary high, that for a moment allowed us to escape but did nothing to alter the terrifying reality we find ourselves in.

So here in the afterglow of the initial hopeful explosion, the real work begins.

April 5th cannot be a landing pad, it must be a launching pad.

We the People of every color and religious tradition, every political affiliation and gender identity, every nation of origin and sexual orientation need to enter into the fray now and we must not stop.

We need to rally every Democracy-loving, humanity-defending American into the daily, mundane, and unspectacular work of fighting for change in the very neighborhoods and school board meetings and state houses and churches we walked past over the weekend.

We need to remember that transformative activism is found in sustained movements, not in soothing moments, and we need to find our place in the messy and local battles throughout this nation until we actually strike fear into the oppressors and oligarchs, and upend the new order they are constructing where we are truly powerless.

Then, we'll look back on these days not as isolated events that temporarily lifted but ultimately anesthetized us into inaction—but as the beginning of a new revolution that we set into motion.

Hands-on, good people.

In the comments, please share your #HandsOff experience, your feelings about the day, and what your hopes are for what can and should happen next.