Protect Democracy: The Movement for Freedom — March 17, 2026
Protect Democracy, March 17: Senate Republicans push a voter suppression talkathon, AIPAC floods Illinois with $20M, and tariffs cost families $2,500 this year.
🗽 Protect Democracy: Fair Maps, Fair Votes, Our Future
Powerful interests manipulate voting maps, weaken oversight, and rewrite the rules to protect themselves while silencing the public. This week, that means Republicans staging a Senate talkathon for a voter suppression bill designed to purge 21 million Americans from the rolls, AIPAC flooding Illinois primaries with $20 million in dark money to buy out progressive challengers, and a White House imposing a $2,500 tariff tax on working families even after the Supreme Court said no. These tactics are deliberate, coordinated, and increasingly normalized. Voter suppression, gerrymandering, and policies designed to make it harder to register, vote, and be counted are not random. They target Black and Brown communities, low-income families, the elderly — everyone historically pushed to the margins — because silencing the most vulnerable is how the powerful stay powerful.
That’s why Protect Democracy exists — to inform, connect, and mobilize. We break down the policies reshaping our democracy, name who benefits from voter suppression and dismantling democracy, and give you clear ways to push back. Freedom is a daily act. And democracy survives only when the people defend it.
Why the Grassroots Resistance Can’t Wait
💥 Your Power in Action: What You Can Do Today
➡️ Take Action: Stop the Republican Attack on Voting Rights
⚖️ Take action: Tell the DOJ to remove Trump’s banner from headquarters
🛡️ Take action: Tell Social Security to stop sharing data with ICE
📂 Take action: Demand transparency and release the names in the Epstein files
💳 Take action: Tell Congress to cap credit card interest rates at 10%
👑 Bonus action: Sign up for the next national No Kings Day of Action and show up in solidarity with everyone whose rights are under attack.
🗳️ Bonus action: Register to vote, vote in every election, and help your community do the same. Our freedoms are won and lost at the ballot box.
The movement for defending and protecting democracy starts here.
📰 What’s Happening: Stories Shaping Our Democracy Right Now
🗳️ Republicans Launch a Senate Floor Takeover to Debate a Voter Suppression Bill They Know Will Fail
Senate Majority Leader John Thune launched a days-long — possibly weeks-long — talkathon this week to debate the SAVE America Act, Trump’s self-declared “No. 1 legislative priority.” The bill would require every American to present a passport or certified birth certificate to register to vote, locking out an estimated 21 million Americans who lack those documents. Thune himself admits it can’t reach 60 votes. Sen. Thom Tillis put the odds of passage at “0%.” They’re debating it anyway — to build the narrative and set up a stolen-election claim if Republicans lose in November. (Seattle Times)
Why it matters: The SAVE Act is not about election security. It is a voter purge bill, designed to knock the most vulnerable Americans off the rolls before they can cast a ballot. Call your senator today and demand a NO vote.
💰 Trump’s Tariffs Will Cost Your Household $2,500 This Year — Even After the Supreme Court Said No
After the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s sweeping tariffs as unlawful, the administration immediately rebuilt its tariff architecture using other legal authorities. A new study from congressional Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee finds the new regime will cost the average household $2,512 in 2026 — a 44% increase over last year — on top of Iran-war-driven gas price spikes. Sen. Maggie Hassan called it a refusal to provide relief to families even after a court order. The White House called the study “phony.” (Seattle Times)
Why it matters: When the Supreme Court says no and the executive branch says “watch us,” that is the authoritarian playbook in action. Working families bear the full cost. They always do. That is not an accident.
🏦 AIPAC Floods Illinois Primaries With $20 Million in Dark Money — Today We Find Out If People Power Wins
Today is primary day in Illinois, and it is a direct test of dark money versus people power. AIPAC-linked shell PACs have spent over $20 million across four Chicago-area congressional races, backing centrist candidates against Justice Democrats-endorsed progressives including Junaid Ahmed in the 8th District and Kat Abughazaleh in the 9th. Ahmed is running on $57,000 in PAC money against nearly $4 million in AIPAC-linked spending for his opponent. In a last-ditch move, AIPAC-linked PACs even ran ads boosting a fringe candidate specifically to split Abughazaleh’s vote. (Axios)
Why it matters: Twenty million dollars in anonymous money flooding four races in one state is not politics — it is the purchase of representation. “Right now, this race is unlimited money versus people power,” Ahmed said. Follow the results tonight. This is what the fight looks like up close.
🔍 The Broader Pattern for Defending and Protecting Democracy: This Is the Blueprint.
Step back and the shape becomes clear. A voter suppression bill debated in plain sight to prime a stolen-election narrative. Dark money pouring through shell PACs to purchase congressional seats before progressive challengers can take root. Tariffs ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, reconstructed overnight through new executive mechanisms. These are not separate stories. They are the coordinated outputs of a single playbook — Project 2025’s vision of elections structured to return only approved results, an executive branch answerable to no one, and the people most likely to resist priced out, locked out, and voted out before they can act.
Fascism thrives when people feel powerless. That is exactly why today’s Illinois primaries — where grassroots candidates running on $57,000 face $20 million in dark money — matter as much as any Senate floor vote. When communities organize, when voters show up, when candidates refuse to be bought, the blueprint fails. People Power United knows this. It has always been true. The work is ours, and we are already doing it. Don’t stop now.
🔥 What Comes Next: The Work Is Ours
For nearly 250 years, American democracy has never been handed down by kings or bought by billionaires. It has been built — and defended — by ordinary people. That lineage belongs to us. The next chapter is ours to write.
Democracy is not a monument. It is a practice. When we organize, vote, and resist together, we assert who we are: a people who believe that power belongs to the many, not the few. That freedom over fascism is not a slogan — it is a standard.
You already took action at the top of this page. Good. Now share this post with someone who needs to read it. Show up to the next action. Stay in the movement.
Freedom over fascism. Progress over fear. Power to the people — every single one of us.
Together, we can champion our rights, freedoms, and democracy, hold our leaders accountable to the people’s will, and inspire voters to make a meaningful difference.
Laurie Woodward Garcia (paid with hugs and kisses, not bought by special interests) Leader, People Power United
People Power United | In this community, we will always speak out against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, sexism, ageism, ableism, sizeism, elitism, transphobia, misogynoir, and bigotry!
This is our moment to rise, resist, and reclaim our rights, freedoms, rule of law, and democracy. Millions of Americans are already refusing to back down — in the streets, at the ballot box, and in their communities.
Every movement that was ever won started with people who refused to quit. We are those people.
The future is not lost. It is being built — by us, right now.