Thread by @EBKania

I started writing this essay for @ForeignPolicy on this day last year. I was nearly in tears and shaking with anger as I wrote it. I don't think I'd managed to do justice to the gravity of threats to our democracy that have only worsened in the time since. foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/07/uni…

I continue to struggle with the cognitive dissonance of looking at foreign policy and national security challenges from abroad, while ever more fearful about the urgency of the threats and failures at home. I am afraid we tend to be far too inured to these dangers. And I'm afraid

we have forgotten, far too quickly, the dangers that were so visible on this day last year, as the erosion of our democracy occurs daily in ways that are far subtler and more pernicious, as with attacks on voting rights and the normalization of tactics for voter suppression.

I am also afraid we were far too quick to allow ourselves to be relieved at the return to normalcy that appeared to come with a new administration promising a return to prior norms and politics as usual, a president who claimed "America is back," vowing to "build back better."

I fear we've tended to underestimate significantly the extent of the damage to the norms that were once agreed and believed to be foundational to our democracy, to trust in our institutions of government, to the capacity of the United States to function as we'd once expected.

I've been disappointed in the leadership (and the lack thereof) on so many levels. I've been troubled by the failures to proceed with adequate urgency in responding to the threats that are eroding our claim to be a genuine democracy. I've lost faith and perhaps friends as well.

Personally, I've struggled with the meaning of swearing an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic." This is a commitment that seems, in its totality, graver and weightier, now more than ever, no longer abstract.

Yet certain of our fellow citizens and elected officials maintain drastically different understandings of those same words, seeing the question of who are "enemies" to the nation and regarding the Constitution in ways that I find disturbing or incomprehensible. Who defines truth

and what kind of faith can we have in each other and our country after such profound disillusionment? when the future of American democracy is so terribly precarious? when we despair in some moments whether the deterioration we see is inevitable or irreversible on some fronts?

Truly, I don't know, and I still can't find the words for this occasion.

Today and every day, I believe we must neither ignore nor dismiss as alarmist the warnings, of which there are so many, about the erosion and decline of American democracy—and dangers to democracy worldwide. freedomhouse.org/report/freedom…

I am inclined to a degree of despair in many moments (as may be obvious from this rambling reflection), but I try also to hope this is a moment in our history where we do maintain a degree of agency as citizens and can look for ways to engage within and beyond our communities.

I'd volunteered in 2020 and through early 2021 on a hotline focused on voter protection. That was the most meaningful experience of the year for me. I plan to do so again, and I'd encourage others to look for ways to get involved, whether locally or nationally, in these efforts.

I am not the best person to speak to which are the most impactful organizations and opportunities in this space, but I am trying to learn more, follow the work of, and engage with if/when I can support various initiatives that contribute to bolstering voting rights and democracy,

I'm following: @US_Vote, @fairerelections, @electionline, @NatlVoterRegDay, @defendvoting, @fairfightaction, and @freedomhouse, among others, and I'm sure I'm overlooking other important initiatives focused on voting rights and democracy, so I always appreciate recommendations.