Sitting on my back patio with a cup of coffee here in Florida this morning, I finally reopened my Franklin Planner after leaving it dormant since the election. It’s time to set my personal goals for 2025. At the top of my list is to do whatever I can to protect our democracy – refusing to allow a fascist movement to engulf our nation.
The challenge is daunting, and the temptation to adopt a ‘wait-and-see’ approach is strong, but we must act now. The potential consequences of this new regime taking power are deeply concerning and will be far-reaching. And statements by incoming leaders indicate the threats to all UU’s hold dear will be immediate.
We must come to grips with the reality that this regime’s goal is permanent political control for themselves and their entrenched supporters. A nation built on an ideology of dominance, hierarchy, and exclusion! One where Christian nationalism is used as the permissive framework.
So it is time to act. Our best choice is to organize an effective national pro-democracy countermovement. Can you donate in support of that?
Each of us will need to find where and how we can contribute to such an effort, but one certainty is that we cannot do this alone. We can start now by building a strong network/coalition of UU activists and UU organizations.
Consider this set of first steps for your 2025 plan:
- Make a pact with 3-5 of your trusted UU activist friends to work together going forward – form a Democracy Action Team (DAT) to engage your congregation.
- Distribute the work by assigning each of your trusted members a network connection role:
- One member to lead your Democracy Action Team (DAT)
- One team member to join your UU State Action Network (SAN) board or attend their meetings.
- One team member to act as a liaison with UUA’s Side-With-Love initiatives, attending meetings or keeping the group updated on campaign developments.
- One member to join UUSJ’s Democracy “Leaders Group” which brings together national leaders to learn and share information each month.
- And finally, assign one team member to represent your DAT and congregation on emerging local coalitions of pro-democracy organizations.
- You can help support the development of a national UU pro-democracy network by donating to UUSJ.
These steps are not just tasks — they are part of a larger effort to build a strong, coordinated resistance movement that will help safeguard our democratic values. Specific strategies needed to resist the fascist threat will emerge over time as we share and learn from each other. But for now, we must connect, convene and collaborate.
So, take a breath and open up your planner. We learn by taking action. Together, we can turn our collective commitment into an effective resistance movement.
Dale Anderson
Board Chair, UUSJ
Sarasota, FL
P.S. For more on what Dale thinks, see “ How Will We Respond? ” and “ The Greatest Threat to Our Union Since the Civil War ”