Dear Friends and Fellow Democrats,

The suggestion of an “American dictatorship” still sounds hyperbolic, histrionic, and off-putting to many people. But consider where we are.  

Every branch of the government has largely been taken over by lackeys who have been given the mission of destroying the agency or department. The entire national economy has been subjected to chaotic mismanagement by madmen oligarchs who profit wildly while the rest of us suffer. And the federal police and military forces are headed by corrupt and incompetent functionaries whose only allegiance is to the corrupt and incompetent president of the United States.

In other words, everything is going according to the plan laid out by Phase I of Project 2025 – which is a straightforward blueprint for autocratic fascist government. If that still sounds uncomfortably extreme to you, consider that the intellectual authors of the plan do not even pretend otherwise. As Curtis Yarvin, one of the extremist ‘intellectuals’ and a good friend and mentor of JD Vance, has publicly said and written many times, Americans “need to get over their phobia of dictators.”   

So … the sole intent of this newsletter is to urge you to get involved. To offer your voice, your talents, your presence to the effort to save the rule of law, our traditions of democratic government, and our well-being and safety. No doubt our government has already been permanently damaged. Yet, there is still much to salvage, and the possibility that we can rescue ourselves from autocratic tyranny … if together we act now.

We urge you to make the Waterford Democratic Committee (WDC) the local focus of your efforts to save America. We ask you to help resist dictatorship, and to take part in our creation of a new, transparent, and responsive Democratic Party at every level. Our freedom and our nation depend on it.

Please contact us at info@waterfordnydemocrats.com for further information, or for the Zoom link to join our introduction and planning meeting Wednesday, March 5, at 6:30 pm.  

Why we need YOU!  

We need you to help us strengthen our local party; to help us plan and initiate actions to involve more Waterfordians, and to join with us in forcing our elected officials to lead. We need you to stand strong with us in service to our country and to our world, and to take whatever risks you are able in our struggle to sustain democracy at every level of government, from Washington to Albany to Waterford.  Because we believe this may well be the only shot that you have … that WE have … to make a difference in the struggle to come! 

That’s a big deal, because as you know, the first 46 chaotic days of the Trump regime has been far worse than most Americans feared it would be. As a result, people of good sense and good will across America are angry, rattled, and even panic-stricken. Here, at the end of just the first phase of Project 2025, we have seen:

• Mass layoffs in all governmental offices
• Replacement of civil service merit system by political cronyism
• Recruitment of oligarchs to head powerful unaccountable government agencies
• Assaults on freedom of press and expression
• Weaponization of multiple government agencies
• Cancellation of public health systems such as Medicaid and Medicare
• Abandonment of democratic allies and alignment with cold-blooded dictators
• Economic disruption from imposition of tariffs

We must fight this madness, because the “official Democratic Party” has not made any unified effort to resist. This is a problem. A recent video of our own Representative Paul Tonko’s Townhall went viral with tens of thousands of shares and multiple replays on popular news shows around the nation. In that video, Albany teacher and musician Michael Dickerson pleaded with Tonko to be a leader, saying: “If you ask us to show up, Congressman, we will!” A week later, however, Tonko responded with an email saying, “in the long run the best way to protect our future is to take back the House in 2026.”

Seriously? “In the long run?” Will we even have a democracy in 2026?”

Rachel Maddow had to goad House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently in an attempt to get him to explain what Dems are doing NOW!. Finally, after an episode of dissembling and becoming visibly angry, he pointed to 75 lawsuits against the administration as an accomplishment, even while noting that these suits were filed by organizations external to the Democratic Caucus. 

This two examples are a remarkable and unacceptable show of Democratic inability to adapt to new political realities!

Most Democratic voters understand that the current crisis needs a unified response now, and that we should not be told to take a deep breath, stay calm, and huddle in our huts for 20 months while hoping the barbarian hordes don’t get here first. And we understand that “Steady as she goes and please send us $30” is NOT a survival strategy! 

Jeffries and Tonko may be correct that legislatively there’s little they can do. But activists like Senators Chris Murphy, Bernie Sanders and Chris Van Hollen, and a handful of U.S. Reps like AOC and Jasmine Crockett, ARE speaking out forcefully, even as they also ask for donations to support the resistance. They clearly do not agree that nothing can be done. 

It’s hard to imagine that the Democratic caucus in both houses of congress can’t grasp that the United States and the world depend on active resistance by the Democratic Party. But it seems as if our current Democratic Party leadership is not inclined, or not able, to lead the resistance to fascists, plutocrats, religious fanatics, and bizarre conspiracy theorists.  

We the People must lead our elected officials to leadership … Because there’s no other group or entity that can do it. There simply isn’t. Zip. Nada. It’s us or nobody! 

And how can we do that? The ONLY answer is “collectively.” 

COLLECTIVELY we must lean hard on our elected representative to do their job and lead. Demand with our voices, our letters, our emails, our phone calls, our fearlessness to speak out as Michael Dickerson did, our willingness to hit the street when our leaders decide to finally lead, our ability to engage in reasonable civil disobedience when required.

And … this is critical … we must collaborate with like-minded people, our friends, neighbors, workmates, and yes, with the local Democratic Party. Because despite its obvious weaknesses and proven ineffectiveness, Our Democratic Party, the one we are recreating, is the only feasible vehicle to organize action.

As noted above, the WDC is having a planning meeting by Zoom this coming Wednesday (and every first Wednesday of the month). If you have received this newsletter by email, it means that you are a registered Waterford Democrat and thereby eligible to join with us. If you are a registered Waterford Democrat and you found this letter on the website or somebody shared it with you, we hope you will join us too!

Please send an email to info@waterfordnydemocrats.com to let us know if you’d like to attend our planning meeting this Wednesday, March 5, at 6:30 pm, and we’ll be happy to send you the Zoom link. Alternatively, the link is on our FB pages, “Waterford (NY) Democrats” and “Vote Waterford,” which we’d love for you to join if you’re not already a member of the group.

Do Not Surrender in Advance, and Keep the Faith! 

The Waterford NY Democratic Committee (WDC)

Our Future as a Free Democracy Depends on US. 

Please help us save America!