Democracy cannot protect itself. It needs constant attention and effort from all of us to keep it functioning well so it can continue to be a shield of justice for its citizens from the dangerous and selfish forces that are always working to destroy it. This is especially true now when we are seeing half of our country and our legislatures trying to enact laws and working to take away the rights of so many of us and trying to turn our democracy into an autocracy where the government can restrict and make laws to diminish the power of the judiciary, the media, and try to appoint and elect people at every level of government that will uphold whatever the corrupt leaders decide to do without accountability to anyone.

If enough of us take action against this assault on our democracy, we will be able to stop this assault and protect our fragile democracy so that it can survive for many more hundreds of years. This will not happen by itself, but only by the concerted effort of millions of people who decide to take action now.

This month the people of Israel took action and went into the streets to protest against their prime minister and their current government who are trying to make laws that diminish the ability of their legal system to protect the rights of their citizens. Citizens who watch their government and protest against injustice will ultimately have a better, more inclusive, and more responsive government. Now is the time that we in America must also watch what our government is doing both locally and nationally and protest when we see inequities like discrimination or the limiting of human rights, or the banning of books The next few years will determine whether we will still have our wonderful democracy or an autocracy that wants to control how we live, what we think, what we read and how we live our lives.

Here are some ways we can become better watchdogs of democracy.

Vote

Get involved in your community.

Educate yourself and others about the issues. That means knowing both sides of every issue.

Stand up against discrimination and intolerance.

Promote social justice and equality.

Respect diversity and difference.

Support grassroots organizations working for positive change.

Advocate for human rights and social justice issues.

Connect with others who share your values and ideals.

Take action.

People from all over the world have respected our democracy since 1776 and want to emulate it or become part of it, and they find it hard to believe that America is now in as much danger of losing its democracy as it was when it was fighting against the autocracies and dictatorships of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito. We won those battles and now we must all make an equally heroic effort to win this new and daunting challenge.