Protect Democracy: The Movement for Freedom — March 24, 2026
Protect Democracy — March 24, 2026: AIPAC's $21M primary blitz, Democrats block warrantless surveillance, and Klobuchar takes on corporate monopolies.
🗽 Protect Democracy: Fair Maps, Fair Votes, Our Future
Democracy doesn’t collapse overnight — it is hollowed out piece by piece, not by accident, but by design.
$21 million in outside money floods four Illinois primaries to punish any Democrat who dares question unconditional military aid to Israel. Republicans push to hand the Trump administration warrantless surveillance powers with no guardrails — powers already used against protesters, journalists, and immigrants. And the Trump DOJ hands Live Nation a sweetheart monopoly deal while firing the officials who demanded real accountability. These are not separate scandals — they are the same system protecting itself.
Voter suppression and gerrymandering 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. 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: Tell Congress to pass the War Powers Resolution and stop Trump’s illegal war in Iran
📢 Take action: Submit an official comment rejecting the criminalization of dissent
💸 Take action: This Tax Day, tell Congress to tax the rich and make life more affordable for working people and families
🗳️ Take action: Tell Congress to stop the SAVE America Act and defend the right to vote
🪖 Take action: Tell Congress to stop Trump from sending American troops into Iran and vote no on the draft
🛑 Take Action Now: Tell Congress: Block the $10 billion scam to fund Trump’s Orwellian Board of Peace
🗳️ Bonus action: Register to vote, vote in every election, and help your community do the same. Reproductive freedom is won and lost at the ballot box.
👑 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.
The movement for defending and protecting democracy starts here.
📰 What’s Happening: Stories Shaping Our Democracy Right Now
🗳 AIPAC Drops $21 Million in Illinois to Silence Democrats on Gaza
Five organizations linked to the pro-Israel lobbying group spent more than $21 million across four Illinois Democratic House primaries, targeting any candidate unwilling to offer unconditional support for Israel’s war in Gaza. AIPAC’s super PAC entered 2026 with over $100 million in its war chest — more than any single-issue interest group in recent memory. Democratic voters across the country are shifting — polls show surging opposition to unconditional U.S. military support — and candidates are listening. The New York Times
Why it matters for democracy: When a single outside group can flood $21 million into four congressional primaries to enforce loyalty to a foreign policy position, voters lose the ability to choose representatives who reflect their actual views. This is dark money doing exactly what it’s designed to do — buy silence and lock candidates into positions that serve donors, not constituents. Grassroots accountability is the antidote, and Democratic voters are making their views impossible to ignore.
🕵 Democrats Draw the Line on Warrantless Surveillance
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that every single House Democrat will oppose the procedural rule needed to advance a “clean” reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — a law that sweeps up the calls, texts, and emails of Americans in the process of surveilling foreign nationals. The provision expires April 20, and Speaker Johnson has already been forced to delay a vote as opposition mounts from both privacy-focused Democrats and conservative Republicans. The Congressional Progressive Caucus formally voted to oppose any reauthorization without reforms. Over 90 civil-society groups and Senator Ron Wyden have demanded Congress close the warrantless backdoor that has been used to spy on protesters, immigrants, and journalists. The Hill
Why it matters for democracy: Under an administration that labels political opponents “domestic terrorists,” handing the Trump White House unchecked surveillance authority is not a national security decision — it is a tool of authoritarian control. Democrats drawing a unified line here is exactly the constitutional accountability that democracy requires. Contact your senators before April 20 and demand real reforms.
⚖️ Sen. Klobuchar Fights Back Against Corporate Monopoly Deals
Senator Amy Klobuchar introduced the Antitrust Accountability and Transparency Act — legislation requiring courts, not just the government, to independently review antitrust settlements and ensure they serve the public. The bill comes directly on the heels of the Trump DOJ’s widely criticized settlement with Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which critics called a giveaway that left consumers paying the price. Two antitrust officials were fired for pushing back. Klobuchar’s bill would require the government to disclose side deals and prior settlement offers, empower state attorneys general to intervene, and extend court oversight to the Federal Trade Commission — where Trump has already fired independent commissioners. The bill is cosponsored by Senators Warren, Whitehouse, Durbin, Booker, and others. The Hill
Why it matters for democracy: Firing antitrust officials for doing their jobs, then handing a sweetheart settlement to a corporate monopoly, is pay-to-play corruption made visible. When the DOJ treats enforcement as a favor bank for political donors, consumers and small businesses pay the price and accountability disappears. Senator Klobuchar is naming that threat directly. We need to amplify it.
🔍 The Broader Pattern for Defending and Protecting Democracy: This Is the Blueprint.
This week’s stories look different on the surface — dark money flooding primaries, surveillance powers handed to an authoritarian White House, corporate monopolies shielded by their own regulator. They are the same fight. AIPAC’s $21 million primary blitz is Project 2025 electoral strategy made concrete: lock in donor-class foreign policy priorities, punish any candidate who represents voters instead, and drown out grassroots voices with outside money. The push for a “clean” FISA extension — no reforms, no warrants, no guardrails — gives Trump’s DOJ the exact infrastructure it needs to track, target, and silence opposition. And the Live Nation sweetheart deal is the authoritarian economic playbook applied to antitrust law: fire the officials who push back, reward the donors who comply, and leave ordinary people without recourse.
But we are connecting the dots. Democrats are drawing a unified line on surveillance. Senator Klobuchar is building bipartisan accountability for corporate power. And voters in Illinois and across the country are demanding that their representatives answer to them — not to outside money. Fascism thrives when people feel isolated and powerless. People Power United exists to make sure that never happens. When we see each other and stand together, no playbook can hold us back.
🔥 What Comes Next: The Work Is Ours
American democracy was never handed down — it was built and defended by ordinary people. Not kings. Not billionaires. Not $21 million in outside money. Us. And right now, that lineage is being tested by every dark-money primary, every warrantless search, and every antitrust deal rigged for the donor class.
Democracy is not a spectator sport. Contact your senators before April 20 and demand they reject a “clean” FISA extension — the surveillance powers on the table are the same ones used to spy on protesters and immigrants. Back Senator Klobuchar’s Antitrust Accountability and Transparency Act and demand that enforcement serve working people, not political donors. And stand with voters in Illinois and across the country who are refusing to let outside money purchase their representation.
Share this post with someone who needs to read it, show up to the next action, and 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.