The Democratic party has found itself outmaneuvered on a massive scale, completely unprepared for the current situation facing our country. In just two weeks, Donald Trump has done exactly what he has told us he would do from the beginning – flood the zone, overwhelm the system, and push his agenda forward. Democrats seem bewildered and unprepared to counter the pace at which this agenda unfolds, holding fast to processes and rules that worked for a game no one is playing anymore. While lawsuits against Executive Orders (EO) must happen, and letters demanding answers have merit, more is needed from our elected leaders to halt the wave of actions taken by the Trump administration and their allies; actions that cannot be undone even if they are held illegal months later.

The most recent and egregious example is Elon Musk and his takeover of our federal payment system. The EO that established the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was for modernizing government software, yet Mr. Musk has used that as a flimsy excuse to tap into all payments from the federal government and make decisions about what payments will and won’t continue to be made. Payments from appropriated congressional programs, meaning money congress is supposed to decide how to use. He is an unelected foreign billionaire, with a clear conflict of interest across multiple businesses, stripping the tax and spend powers of our legislative branch. And yet, as this story unfolded in the press, democratic leaders and representatives sat in their offices. They did not walk down the street and stand on the steps of the Treasury building, or any of the other sensitive government agencies that Elon Musk entered, to demand answers and bar his way. Instead, they left the protest to people with something to lose – career civil servants, who lost their jobs standing up to Elon Musk.

Make no mistake, this kind of action by Elon Musk and others linked to Donald Trump will continue to occur. Democrats cannot just sit in their office sending letters or filing lawsuits. They need to remember our history of civil disobedience, of using their positions of privilege and power to lead resistance and provide a shield to those who would join a protest or otherwise voice their opposition. Democrats cannot continue their current course of sending fundraising emails as a means of taking action. We cannot have another Roe v Wade moment where everyday Americans lose their rights under a Democratic House, Democratic Senate, and Democratic White House, and all the party can manage is a fundraising email.

This petition demands our elected officials take visible, public action outside the safety of their Congressional offices or a Tweet to counter Trump’s agenda. Grow a backbone and lead from the front. This petition will be sent to the Democratic National Committee, as well as House and Senate minority leaders once it reaches over 100,000 signatures and the pace at which new signers slows to only a few per day.