We Must Be the Heroes Who End MAGA

Because they’re destroying America

“If you have to be a hero to do what’s right in a system, then the system is broken.” In my first year at Virginia Tech, my officemate Lorien delivered these sage words as we discussed food systems, and they have always stuck with me.

It is true that individual people aren’t usually the real problem, especially when they are not in positions of power. It is more effective and accurate to be angry with social and political systems than with the individual actors within those systems. This way, you channel your energy into addressing the root issue and make lasting change.

This persistent message carried on throughout my graduate career, and it hits me today a bit differently.

Now, as we’re pummeled in an election year with dictators, devastating wars across the world, rampant corruption in The Supreme Court, and a very real threat of fascism taking over our government, I hear Lorien’s statement as more of an alarm. I would edit it to read more like, “You have to be a hero to do what’s right in this system, because it is very broken.” It won’t last without a whole lot of heroes.

It is hard to believe that in the United States of America, a threat to our freedom is so profound that we require a groundswell of defiant action to protect it. That the foundational, collective values we have believed in and have been working towards of equality, religious freedom, freedom to make choices about our own health, and freedom of speech are so undermined that they could very realistically fall out from under us. Yet, we see clearly now that these things are true.

The presence of these dangers to our way of life is not a conspiracy, and it’s not hiding. Headlines in the news everyday show us that Trump, MAGA Republicans, and their cult members are fighting all the time through every avenue possible to fundamentally alter the freedoms that define our country, our home. Our American political system is broken.

It’s cracking more under every new pressure, and with each one comes a new hardship or injustice. It’s our land, our bodies, our schools, our kids, our livelihood. Where are our heroes? 

Look in the mirror. That’s where you’ll find them.

The right thing to do is to stand up, to speak out, to use every bit of leverage we have individually and collectively to set the systems straight. We have a duty to vote with a pressing understanding of the moment, and to unify our protest for this moment to the most glaring injustice we have ever seen–the attempt to undermine our democratic election. It is continuing today with the candidacy of Trump and the validation of his narrative by Members of Congress and judges.

That we must act in an extreme way to preserve our nation shouldn’t be the situation. We shouldn’t have to be heroes, but what is the alternative? There is a sense of urgency here. In this instance, there is a responsibility on the individual citizen.

Now I hear another wise woman’s controversial words ringing just as true: “Stop being victims. I think it's wicked, in a way, to be a victim. It's even wickeder to be a predator, but it's wicked to be a victim and allow it.” Jane Jacobs, a renowned author and activist in city planning, made this assertion as she was fighting to protect her neighborhood from outside development and her park from destruction. She worked with neighbors to protest and work against New York City planning villain Robert Moses to ultimately push out shortsighted plans to build a roadway through their community. They fought corruption and power, and they won.

This kind of action takes effort. It changes the momentum of a system geared to produce injustice. We too must do this work. We must counteract fascism at every level.

We must show up in school boards to keep books, civics, and histories in schools and guns out of them. Our kids and the teachers who care for them are the evergreen bedrock of our democracy, and we must protect them at all cost. 

We have to show up to planning meetings and fight for green space and demand resident-supporting resources. We must institute common community spaces that instigate cooperation and collective action, designing to bring out the best of human nature instead of the worst.

We need bold and honorable people in our school boards, city councils, and planning commissions, and working at the city and state levels. If you are one of them, you must use your courage to do what is right, and stand up against hysterical zealots who are brainwashed with MAGA lies and propaganda. 

We absolutely need to volunteer for candidates and campaigns who work for the people, and be a resource for signing up voters and getting them to the polls. We have to volunteer to help out as poll workers and make sure we prepare every available resource to overcome the Trump team’s inevitable challenge to our free and fair election. We must demand that our vote-by-mail system is secure and funded before the election. Knock on doors and show up.

We have to demand that Trump pay his over half-a-billion in legal fines and carry out any upcoming prison time. Protest this con man loudly, call out his enablers, and welcome back any friends or family who are finally willing to throw away their red hats. We need them to fix the system too.

Every inch of our democracy begs for our immediate attention. None of it is safe without us, and we now have a responsibility to act. We have roughly 4 months before our most pressing test of voting to keep our democracy, voting for Joe Biden, and for Democrats up and down the ballot. Republicans must be voted out by a landslide.

It’s a brave thing to act collectively, to believe that you can defeat a terrifying, awful thing. It is our first act of heroism, and it is the right thing to do. To do anything less is wicked.

We must be the heroes we’ve been waiting for.