Write. Call. Harangue.

Pressure your legislators to show up in person and answer for Trump's madness.

Photo by Max Letek on Unsplash

People are pissed. And the Republicans know it. So let’s turn up the heat and put a dab of sweat on their brows. Democracy ain’t dead yet and it still remains a potent vehicle for change.

Remember the Tea Party? How it rocked the political scene and upended the trajectory of Obama’s first term? All because he wanted to give people affordable healthcare!¹ If the Right can conjure grassroots outrage over an the expansion of an entitlement program, we can forcefully speak out against the slow moving fascist coup happening before our very eyes. Right? Right? It’s time to harness those feelings of rage and despair and put them to use.

Trump’s slim victory was not the bigly landslide he rabidly recites it to be - even slimmer is the current Republican House majority. A couple of “No” votes can bring his agenda crashing to a halt. If Trump is a runaway freight train, the House can pull up the tracks. There is a government shutdown looming and the Republican majority will need to shoot the moon to pass their budget. If enacted into law, it could end up cutting over $880 billion from Medicaid while lavishing the wealthy with an additional $2 trillion (yes, trillion with a T) in tax breaks.² This can be stopped by just a handful of votes - pressure is best leveraged where the margins are thinnest. It’s up to us to apply it.

This is how.

1. Identify an issue you care deeply about: Your displeasure needs to be specific. No worries there, we have oodles to choose from. Cite the pending budget, or the draconian DOGE (pronounced “doggy”) cuts or the whole host of unqualified hacks that were confirmed to the Cabinet. Don’t forget that the maelstrom consuming the federal government distracts us from the chicanery of local and state governments. Drastic changes are under way in our own communities: school budgets are being slashed, voucher programs are being expanded, and abortion rights harshly curbed. The coming slew of deportations will only be possible with the help of local law enforcement. We need to apply pressure at the top, the bottom and everywhere in between.

   1. Get to know your federal representatives: If you don’t, check this out.

   2. Get to know your local and state representatives: They will be far more reactive to you as a constituent than the knuckleheads insulating themselves in the Beltway. If you don’t know them, check this out.

2. Write, call, harangue:

   1. Contact reps in multiple ways: Call. Email. Then call again. Duplicate your message. If you use social media, tag their accounts when you post your concerns. If you call, have a script ready. Make your voice heard.

   2. Be concrete: Demand action. Demand a particular vote. Demand a town hall meeting. Demand they Animorph into any organism with vertebrae. The House will recess the week of March 17th and most of these reps will travel back home to their districts - what better time for some good ole constituent outreach?

   3. Be precise: Be wary of pissing into the wind. Know your audience - even though you’ve never liked your Republican state senator, he had no say on the confirmation of Kash Patel or the gutting of USAID. Find what he surely is responsible for mucking up and give him an earful or two. A glance at your state budget or their voting record should do the trick.

3. Encourage others: Share this with your friends, family and neighbors. Gently hold them accountable. If the town hall is scheduled, spread the word, attend and speak up. Contest the space - make them defend their actions or in most cases, their acquiescence. This whole process may not be as gratifying as raging on social media but practicing democracy just isn’t sexy. Maintenance usually isn’t - nobody likes to wipe their ass, brush their teeth or take out the garbage but its gotta get done. If we have time for hours of forgettable Netflix programming, Pepe the King Prawn memes and googling “Trump” 54 times a day, we have time for this. Remember our values are defined by our actions not our words.

4. Rinse and repeat: Until they dissolve these legislative bodies or the next elections come, we keep repeating the cycle and applying pressure on the only thing these clowns seem to care about: their power.

Let’s get it done.

These suggestions may not seem like much but trust me, it all adds up. We didn’t get here overnight and it’ll be a while before we are clear of this mire. What other choice do we have but to use the tools at our disposal?

If we look back in twenty years time, would we rather face the regret of doing too much? Or too little?

“ ‘He who would do battle with the many-headed hydra of human nature must pay a world of pain & his family must pay it along with him! & only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean!'

Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?”³

Until next time, stay informed, stay concerned and above all, stay safe.

- A Concerned Midwesterner

1. To be fair, the Tea Party was part of a larger backlash (Occupy Wall Street, anyone?) over the 2008 financial crisis that saw government bailouts in the billions go to automakers, banks, and insurance companies while the average taxpayer didn’t see a dime. Their anger was justified if not altogether misplaced.

2. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/25/republicans-spending-deal-medicaid-cuts

3. Mitchell, David. Cloud Atlas (New York: Random House, 2004), pg. 509