Are the protest gatherings, marches and rallies actually helping the cause of protecting American Democracy?

[lees1975]

Or is Trump and his MAGA cohort in Washington just ignoring all of this as noise, and pushing forward. Here's a poll for some reflection on this issue.

31 votes, 3 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	The protests, marches and rallies will get the attention of "marginal" Republicans in Congress and they will eventually stop Trump
	0 (0%)
	Trump's lack of ability to tolerate his own unpopularity will, at some point, break, and he will stop his criminal attempts to overturn the government.
	2 (6%)
	Neither he nor the GOP members of Congress are paying attention. Project 2025 is their agenda and they are pushing it, no matter the force of any protest.
	2 (6%)
	The protests must stay within the law, but need to become more directed at places where Republicans and Supreme Court Justices and Trump feel their effect.
	16 (52%)
	They need to be aimed at helping Democrats win back the Latino and Black votes we've lost, and getting people to the polls.
	1 (3%)
	They're not doing a damn thing.
	10 (32%)
	3 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[BlueTsunami2018]

1. They aren't doing anything.

It’s all preaching to the choir.

What needs to be done is never going to be done until people have no other choice. We shouldn’t let it get to that point but I fear we’re going to.

[FirstLight]

2. I can't decide whether to think the best or the worst

I'm hoping that the protests don't cause more escalation or don't end up getting people even more endangered or hurt or worse. It's just so up in the air I guess.. what's it going to take? For anybody to pay attention? It's going to get worse before it gets better I'm afraid. And it's already damn dangerous for a lot of people 😣

[Torchlight]

3. I think they often force the conversation

when other mechanisms fail to.

[Dulcinea]

4. I hope so.

I went with "The protests need to be more directed...need to stay within the law."

[leftstreet]

5. Look how protests ended the Iraq War

oh wait...

[CTyankee]

13. Protests ended the Vietnam War, along with persistent failure, grief at our losses and the reality of the situation.

It was a long time coming but it came.

[LuvLoogie]

6. The protests are for our own solidarity, uniting in opposition.

Join them or don't. The time for persuasion is passed. It's up to congressional leadership to deploy members to do the in-district persuasion and, to date, they are instead content to write letters or talk for hours behind a podium when everyone has gone to bed.

We waste our time trying to convince the GOPs or trump to do anything. They are unmoved by natural disasters wiping out communities or gunmen mowing down children.

These protests are for US to stand up and be there for those who need us. To show them that we are standing in the gap. People will join or not. The people in the streets are there because they want to be. It's that simple.

So my answer to your poll is none of the above.

[lees1975]

7. Not only does the rhetoric need to be made more shrill, the protests need to be felt.

Shut things down, promote strikes against companies owned by the billionaires on his coat-tails? Boycotts? I've already seen some stuff like that going on.

[Hekate]

8. This reads more like a push-poll for FUD. A question for all: Do you watch Rachel on Monday nights?

Have you signed up for notices from Indivisible? Have you participated in anything at all? Are you checking in to DU’s own forums Activist Headquarters and The Way Forward? Where were you last week when fieldworkers and protestors were arrested and brutalized by Trump’s Thugs?

Actions are accelerating. Are you aware that the Civil Rights movement succeeded in part because of the horrible responses of white racists that were caught on camera? Are you aware that white people died too? I can still remember some of their names. And that it took years?

Again I ask the OP and all respondents: Where were you when it all went down in the fields of Camarillo and Oxnard last week?

[Torchlight]

12. I kinda think you're right.

Marches have been ineffective in many cases, but very effective in many cases as well.

Without an objective, measurable standard from which to measure, one person can says five yards while another says five meters-- without the blueprints, neither really holds merit.

[Hekate]

16. ADDED: Where were all of you when it went down in Camarillo?

A California professor (American citizen) is missing after kidnapping by 4 masked agents

Calif. professor reported missing after protest detainment https://share.google/SA9w7ktbYOU8xvYKR

On Friday, the California Faculty Association sounded the alarm on social media, reporting that 37-year-old Jonathan Anthony Caravello was “kidnapped by unidentified ICE agents” at 2:33 p.m. Thursday during a community protest at Las Posas and Laguna roads.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220484448

[cally]

9. I think the responses suggested misses the point!!!! They are the only thing that works!

Listen to this podcast for how history shows up change happens. Hint: takes a sustained, creative protest movement including strikes, economic boycotts as support grows. The movement must maintain and grow support in the face of stark authoritarian pushback. It took 3.5 percent of population.

The database is history, not prediction but it is enough for me to see this as the ONLY path forward.

[Ping Tung]

10. A journey of a thousand li begins with one step. Lao Tse

[some_of_us_are_sane]

11. It lifts spirits... gives hope

and THAT is the way we break through the despair. Once there is hope, the horizon opens up again!

[Think. Again.]

14. Here's some more info for "reflection"...

(Thanks to Cally https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220484462 )

The following video is of a TED Talk from 11 years ago ...

https://m.

Between 1900-2006, campaigns of nonviolent civil resistance were twice as successful as violent campaigns. Erica will talk about her research on the impressive historical record of civil resistance in the 20th century and discuss the promise of unarmed struggle in the 21st century. She will focus on the so-called "3.5% rule"—the notion that no government can withstand a challenge of 3.5% of its population without either accommodating the movement or (in extreme cases) disintegrating. In addition to explaining why nonviolent resistance has been so effective, she will also share some lessons learned about why it sometimes fails.

[ibegurpard]

15. The protests create community

Give people a collective voice, draw attention to issues, and give previously demoralized or apathetic people energy and a sense of purpose.
They are extremely valuable but they were never going to make the fascist regime stand down on their own.

[Think. Again.]

17. See replies #9 and #14.

Protests can and do overcome fascists regimes.

[tavernier]

18. Yes, let's not do anything.

Much easier.

What I don’t understand is Why is this even a question on this forum??? This would be much like people canvassing doctors and nurses in a hospital and asking them if patient care is really helping the cause of patient health.

We are ultimately the care givers of our country. Maybe what we are doing doesn’t seem like much to some, but I bet it matters a great deal to people we have elected to help us, as well as to people in business who rely on our dollars for their livelihood, as well as to countries all around the world. You can believe they are watching.

I beg you, if you can’t support us, at least don’t try to make it sound like what we do doesn’t matter.

[lees1975]

19. Interesting responses thus far. The majority think the pressure needs to be ramped up a little bit.

Comments are fair, though it's not necessary to get whiny. There are those who think that the 3.5% rule is effective, and with some past history to support that thought, it's credible. On the other hand, the number of people out has been huge, compared to anything the other side ever motivated or mobilized, and they're so bent on the Project 2025 attack against democracy that they are ignoring opposition, some of them already to their detriment.

And the difference between Republicans, when they are the minority part, and Democrats, when they are the minority, is noticeable. They agitate, complain, use every legislative lever available to them and have a measure of success in getting Democrats to back away from some things. Democrats just sit there, make a few loud speeches, and can't seem to keep some of their own in line. Even when we had the majority, with the White House, as we did from 2020 to 2022, we wouldn't use the power we had that could have put a stop to all of this and prevented Trump from ever getting near the white house from his prison cell. But we backed down because that might appear political.

Hey, I'll go to the town halls and the marches as often as I physically can do so. But don't tell me my frustration isn't valid, or that the path being taken is "the right way." So far, we haven't achieved anything.