Why I Help Defend Democracy

From Concerned Citizen To Active Volunteer

After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, I became increasingly alarmed, not only by the words and actions of the man himself, but by the pro-authoritarian figures he was placing in positions of great power. Like many thousands of others, I took to the streets in protest. It felt good, but what did it achieve?

Photo by Dyana Wing So on Unsplash

Over the course of the regime, while following every twist and turn of the Russia investigation, an impeachment, a botched response to the pandemic and finally the January 6th attack on our very democracy (and another impeachment), it was clear the MAGA movement was not going to disappear. And even when we voted him out of office, Trump and Trumpism were still looming threats.

In the summer of 2022, The Union was looking for pro-democracy volunteers with a variety of skills. It didn’t take long for me to take the plunge; I needed to do something that would WORK, not just make me feel better, and The Union indeed focuses on strategies to persuade and motivate the voters who will make a difference. As soon as I began volunteering for The Union, it was clear I’d made the right choice. I was immediately putting my skills to work for a cause I believed in 100% and for an organization that has a real impact. I haven’t looked back since.

Post submitted by Donna Kossy, a volunteer with The Union
Donna grew up at the peak of the baby boom, in a middle-class, liberal Jewish household in a suburb of Chicago. Her training was in math, and during the 1980s she worked as a computer programmer, but also got involved in the zine community of small publishers, and collage art. Later, she wrote two nonfiction books about “kooks” and their extreme ideas.

For the past 25 years, Donna has been an online seller of collectible and rare books, specializing in the kooky and weird material she researched and collected. She joined The Union in the summer of 2022 and serves on the Intel team and also helps with writing, editing and proofreading.

Note: The views and opinions expressed by volunteer contributors are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Union, a single-issue organization that welcomes all and is dedicated to protecting democracy.

If you’d like to help defend democracy in the US, we invite you to join The Union.