The other day White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller declared the “Democrat party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization.” Just a day earlier Donald Trump directed the pentagon to establish specialized National Guard units to quell “civil disturbances” in each state. He further authorized Stephen Miller to create a means for civilians with law enforcement “or other relevant background or experience” to join federal agents in policing Washington. One wonders whether being a Proud Boy or an Oath Keeper constitutes “relevant background or experience?”
These events occurred just days after Trump had extorted Intel into turning over 10% of its shares, investigations were launched or threatened against former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former national security advisor John Bolton, and Trump attempted the removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.
The pace of the transformation of the federal government into a mafia-style fascistic kleptocracy is simply breathtaking. So is the administration’s lawlessness. This was also the week the government announced its intention to deport human traffic Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda, and the week Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson accused the administration of playing “Calvinball,” a reference to a game played by Calvin and Hobbes in their eponymous comic strip. Jackson wrote, “Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this administration always wins.”
This is also the week the Texas legislature voted to gerrymander its electoral map to deprive the Democrats of five votes in the midterm elections so the Republicans can maintain their hold on the House of Representatives. It was nice that Texas Democrats left the state for two weeks, but then they returned home and allowed the Republicans their redistricting.
Where is the organized Democratic party response to this all-out offensive? [Sound of Crickets] While individual Democrats rise to the occasion on any given day—this week it was Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu—we hear next to nothing from the national leadership—certainly nothing like a national strategy for civic mobilization—a mass march on Washington, a national strike, or an organized strategy of resistance. The chicken-hearted national Democrats can’t even find the courage to endorse Zohran Mamdani as a mayoral candidate in New York City.
We can’t depend on the Democrats for leadership. We ourselves will have to be the leaders. And we can’t be leaders acting individually—we can only do it through interrelationship—through collective activity with others who see this evolving mafia-style fascistic kleptocracy for what it is.
That’s why organizations like the Buddhist Coalition for Democracy, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, the Zen Peacemakers, Indivisible, Mobilize, No Kings, May Day Strong, Good Trouble Lives On, and others exist—as venues to inspire us and to exercise our collective power.
The Buddhist Coalition for Democracy Coordinating Committee has endorsed the nation-wide demonstrations occurring this Labor Day. Check out the Buddhist Coalition for Democracy’s events calendar page for information about it and similar opportunities to become involved in the future.
Don’t sit on the sidelines.
The future of democracy depends on all of us.