We Can and Must Save Democracy

Let's Do It Together in 2026, Not 2028

Donald Trump and his allies are now pushing an extreme legal doctrine called the unitary executive theory, which claims the president has total control over the entire executive branch — including federal agencies and prosecutors. In practice, it's a concerted effort to establish an American dictatorship where the will of one man can override the will of Congress, the courts, and ultimately, the people. To save our democracy, we must reverse this authoritarian concentration of power and return the power to the people.

The best way we can save democracy is to actually be a democracy instead of our current political oligarchy, where only Donald Trump and senior Democratic Party insiders have any control over the legislative agenda and political narrative, and corporate special interest groups wield the power of the pen to encode thousands of pages of dense legalese into law.

But we already have a mechanism to realize the collective power of our voices: the discharge petition. And there are a few structural changes that can help us regain control of our government.

A Plan to Save Democracy During the 2026 Midterm Elections

We the People Can Wield the Power of the Pen, Not Just the Politicians

It is possible to force the House of Representatives to act on behalf of the people, not partisan politics. We have the power to tell our representatives to start a discharge petition for a bill that we write and advocate for during the midterm election season (not a thousand-page omnibus bill made behind closed doors). We would likely have to wait for the election season to start for the advocacy to make the most impact, since most people don't start paying attention to politics until the mainstream media tells them it's election time, but that shouldn't stop us from starting early to spread the word. There's also no need for an extensive political infrastructure to activate advocates; all we need are a bunch of people who can decide on a local level when and how to peacefully advocate for their congressional district. Maybe county-level Democratic Party organizers can take the lead on this instead of the DNC, who has failed our party for 10 years straight.

If we can get a majority of representatives in the House to sign onto the petition, we can force the House to vote on the bill. Once it's on the floor of the House, we will see who is blocking it from passing. For all swamp creatures that vote Nay, we will organize! Local newspapers, write articles! Local radio stations, put them on blast! Local residents, flood the office with calls and emails, and get on the ground and organize! If we can get an unvetoable majority of representatives to vote in favor of the bill, then the representatives can do a standing filibuster. The House can storm the Senate — not with zip-ties and violence, but instead with votes and voices — and refuse to leave the Senate chamber until the bill receives an unvetoable majority of senators to vote in favor. If we can pass a law that receives an unvetoable majority in both the House and the Senate, then it will become law, regardless of what the White House wants. If the government will not do its job, then it is incumbent on us to do their job for them.

Even if we can't get an unvetoable majority, this process would make it politically difficult for the White House to reject the bill on pure partisanism alone. No one could characterize it as a "liberal wish list" or claim that "no one knows what's in the bill." To the contrary, since all bills going through Congress are easily accessible online through Congress.gov or GovTrack.us, it would be extremely easy for anyone to verify that the official version circulating in the House of Representatives indeed matches the version of bill we're advocating for.

I reject the notion that the "sausage-making" of public laws can only be made from shady backroom deals in the Washington swamp and written by special interest groups and corporate entities who spew thousands of pages of dense legalese. To the contrary, I believe that most major bills should be done through discharge petitions during election campaigns. This would allow us to have real, productive conversations with the general public about the enormously consequential laws we're trying to pass as a nation. Furthermore, election season is when people are paying the most attention to politics. Far more important than Beltway bipartisanship is for millions of Americans to engage, understand, and participate in the democratic process. And even after the election, using discharge petitions for small, but substantive bills can help desegregate the House of Representatives, increase public engagement and transparency, and encourage any member of the House to present a winning idea, not just party leadership following the Hastert Rule.

Let's Decentralize the Executive Branch of the Government

Together, We Can Take Control of the Deep State and Force It To Do Our Bidding

Donald Trump promised to be a dictator on day one — and he's certainly governing like one. Backed by the far-right Project 2025 unitary executive theory, which claims that the president of the United States has total, unchecked authority over every agency in the Executive Branch, Donald Trump and Elon Musk have taken a sledgehammer to the very institutions that execute hundreds of invaluable government programs and services for millions of Americans.

The administrative state — which includes agencies like the Department of State, Department of Defense, Department of Education, and Social Security Administration — is not a formally defined entity in the Constitution, but it has long functioned as the professional backbone of the federal government that executes the day-to-day governance, interpreting and implementing laws passed by Congress. In doing so, they serve as a quasi-check on the power of the president — a de facto 4th branch of the government and a stabilizing force within the Executive Branch. What we're witnessing is that Trump is trying to destroy the very part of the government that is specifically designed to execute the laws passed through Congress, which is a direct assault on our democracy.

But we can fight back by establishing a Legislative State: a legislative-branch counterpart to the administrative state. This new institutional architecture would focus on legislation, funding, oversight, and policy design, while respecting the constitutional rule that the execution of laws still rests with the Executive Branch.

And to force the White House to execute the laws, I also propose the Impeachable Offenses Act — a statute that would codify specific abuses of power as impeachable crimes, including:

• Willful refusal to execute laws that were duly passed by Congress
• Initiating sanctions, tariffs, or acts of war against another country without congressional approval

Together, the Legislative State and the Impeachable Offenses Act would allow us to fight back against the tyranny and "de-nazify" the federal government — not in the twisted, propagandistic way that Putin justifies invasion, but by rooting out the real authoritarian rot at the hands of "America's Hitler" and restoring democratic oversight to our institutions.

Let's Increase Legislative Transparency by Publicizing the Writing of Laws

If the Laws are Public, then the Sausage-Making Should Be Publicized

Far too many laws are drafted behind closed doors — not by elected officials, but by corporate lobbyists and special interest groups. These groups often shape legislation to serve their own agendas rather than the public good.

It's time to shine a light up in there.

I propose that we require the drafting and editing of all bills to be publicly visible before they can even be introduced in committee. This could be as simple as using a collaborative platform like Google Docs, where multiple contributors have edit access, and the public can view the full revision history or leave comments. Or it could involve live-streamed drafting sessions, broadcast on a C-SPAN-style public platform.

Not only would this make it easier for other lawmakers and the general public to vet the contents of the bills being written, but also make it harder for the special interest groups to secretly rig the rules in favor of their own interests at the expense of the American people.