Hillel the Elder, born in 110 BCE, wrote: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” That quote has motivated people for centuries to look inward, view outward, and act. In my lifetime, it has never been more relevant.
Our freedoms, rights, opportunities, and democracy are gravely threatened by the current administration. A report last week from Keep Our Republic — a nonpartisan civic organization committed to the vitality of America’s democracy — frightened me deeply. According to former U.S. Senator Tim Wirth, the administration is working to declare that most critics — civil rights activists, the ACLU, Democratic activists, women’s groups, and others — should be treated as terrorists under an emergency government led by Stephen Miller.
The report explains that National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 — NSPM-7 was signed on September 25, 2025. Under NSPM-7, the administration has constructed a domestic surveillance and prosecution apparatus from scratch — with no congressional authorization and no grounding in existing law. The president simply declared the power to designate American citizens and organizations as domestic terrorists and then built a bureaucracy around that declaration.
The scale is staggering: ten federal agencies coordinating through a permanent joint command center, 328 new federal positions, a $166 million budget expansion— all pointed inward, at Americans with a mandate to “proactively identify” domestic targets. The categories of “domestic terrorism” include vague and politically charged terms like “gender extremism,” “anti-Christianity,” and “anti-Americanism,” broad enough to apply to virtually any progressive organization or activist. The IRS has been weaponized alongside the FBI, using tax enforcement against nonprofits. And a foreign intelligence surveillance authority — FISA Section 702, designed for foreign threats — has been opened to designate domestic groups as targets.
Then there’s the timing. On August 25, 2025, Miller appeared on Fox News and declared: “The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization.” One month later, he was handed the authority to coordinate the federal prosecution of domestic terrorist organizations. And last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center — the organization that first documented Miller’s white nationalist ties — was indicted.
This is just one of the many fronts on which this administration is attacking our democracy — and it ranks among the most terrifying. Reasonable people can disagree on tax policy, immigration, the role of government, and countless other issues. But what is described here is not a policy disagreement. It is the construction of a legal and bureaucratic framework designed to criminalize political opposition — one that should alarm every American, regardless of party.
If you have historically cared about civil rights, human rights, climate change, the rule of law, separation of church and state, religious freedom, voting rights, ethics in government, women’s reproductive choice, a bloated defense budget, First Amendment rights, due process, the survival of our democracy, and more, now is the time to act. If you are fortunate enough to have extra resources, now is the time to use them.
Act locally by supporting candidates for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, and state legislators who will fight for what matters to you. Support community nonprofits doing the work of advancing the issues you care about most.
Act nationally by supporting organizations working tirelessly to secure voting rights, register voters, protect the electoral system, preserve constitutional rights, identify candidates for Congress who need our support to win — not just the ones who text and email us incessantly — and defend our democracy from the very real and imminent threats seeking to destroy it. If you’d like specific suggestions, drop me a note and I’ll do my best to help. I welcome your own suggestions as well.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. warned us: “We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.”