Things To Do THIS WEEK While Democracy Burns in Texas
Forget the shares and likes. Here's how to turn your political rage into real local action before the redistricting wildfire spreads to your state.
When Democracy Breaks Quorum: Texas Shows Us Why Your Local Action Matters More Than Your National Outrage
You've shared the articles. You've expressed your outrage. You've watched democracy seemingly crumble in real-time as 50+ Texas Democrats fled their state to block a Republican power grab that would steal five congressional seats through mid-decade gerrymandering.
And now you're asking: What the hell can I actually DO about it?
Here's the thing - while we're all watching Texas, the same machinery grinding democracy down there is operating in yourstate house, your county commission, your city council. Right now. Today.
The Texas Playbook Is Going National (Unless We Stop It)
What's happening in Texas isn't staying in Texas. Democrats nationwide have threatened to respond to the GOP's efforts at redistricting in Texas with the same tactics in Democratic-controlled states like California and New York.
We're watching the death of the basic agreement that redistricting happens every 10 years after the census. Once that norm breaks, every election becomes a redistricting fight. Every majority becomes an opportunity to entrench power. Democracy becomes a winner-take-all death match.
The Texas Democrats who fled aren't the villains here - they're the canaries in the coal mine. When breaking quorum is not a criminal offense but the governor threatens to have you arrested anyway, when following constitutional provisions gets you called a "felon," we're not in normal politics anymore.
Here's What You Can Actually Do (Starting Tomorrow)
1. Find Your Local Pressure Points
Tomorrow morning, look up:
Your state representative and senator
When your state legislature meets
Whether YOUR state allows mid-decade redistricting
Who draws the maps in your state (legislature? commission? courts?)
Why? Because Texas is one of a few states that allows the state legislature to set up the congressional maps, and can allow mid-decade redistricting. If your state has similar rules, you need to know NOW.
2. Show Up Where Democracy Actually Happens
Forget Congress for a minute. Your city council, county commission, and state legislature are where the real action is. These bodies:
Set election rules
Draw district lines
Decide voter access
Control election funding
This week: Attend one local government meeting. Just one. Sit in the back if you want. But show up.
3. Become a Democracy First Responder
Right now, today, your local election office needs:
Poll workers
Election observers
Voter registration volunteers
These aren't partisan positions. They're democracy infrastructure positions. When authoritarians try to break the system, these are the people who keep it running.
4. Build Your Local Democracy Squad
You know those 5-10 people who always like your political posts? Time to move that energy offline:
Start a text thread
Pick one local issue
Show up together to one meeting
Make it regular
Democracy dies in isolation. It thrives in community.
5. Support the Fighters (With More Than Likes)
Those Texas Democrats are paying $500/day in fines for defending democracy. But every state has people fighting similar battles:
Find your state's voting rights organizations
Set up monthly donations (even $5 matters)
Volunteer for voter registration drives
Support independent local journalism
The Climate Connection No One's Making
Here's what the Texas story really tells us: When democracy breaks, everything else breaks with it. Those five stolen seats? They'll vote against climate action. Against healthcare. Against everything except the interests that paid for them.
Justice Kagan in her 2019 dissent said gerrymandering "helps create the polarized political system so many Americans loathe". That polarization makes solving any problem impossible - especially the ones where we're racing against physics, not just politics.
This Is Your "Ancestors Worth Honoring" Moment
The Texas Democrats sleeping on cots in Illinois aren't doing it for Instagram. They're doing it because they understand something fundamental: Sometimes democracy requires more than voting. Sometimes it requires sacrifice.
You don't have to flee your state. But you do have to flee your comfort zone.
This week, pick one:
Attend that local meeting
Sign up to be a poll worker
Start that democracy squad text thread
Set up that monthly donation
Write one letter to your state rep about redistricting
Then next week, pick another.
The Hope Hidden in This Mess
Want to know the most hopeful thing about the Texas situation? The Texas Constitution "enables 'quorum-breaking' by a minority faction of the legislature". The founders of Texas built in a safeguard against majority tyranny.
Your state has safeguards too. But they only work if we use them. If we show up. If we transform our online energy into offline action.
The house is on fire. Texas is showing us the flames. But your local fire department is right down the street, and they need volunteers.
Time to stop scrolling. Time to start showing up.
Your move.
Ready to bridge from awareness to action? Join thousands of recovering clicktivists at governyourself.org. Because if not us, who? If not now, when?
Resources for Action
Find Your Representatives
Become a Poll Worker
Voting Rights Organizations
Redistricting Reform
Support Independent Journalism
Your local nonprofit newsroom