“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.”
– a quote widely attributed to Theodore Roosevelt. He credits it, in his Autobiography, Chapter IX, to Squire Bill Widener of Widener’s Valley, Virginia. 

Many people, including me, wonder what we can personally do to stop the daunting wave of authoritarian fascism of the current Trump Administration. Personally, I have felt depressed about this since Donald Trump won the November 5, 2024.

Yes, I strongly believe and tried to live by this Joan Baez quote for the last 13 years:
“Action is the antidote for despair.”

Since that election, I have contacted and met with my state legislators, member of Congress, attended numerous town halls, spoke out on social media, and attended protests in Portland and Gresham, Oregon. Yet, I still feel overwhelmed and sad much of the time.

Recently, I saw a video that I sparked me back to action. Author, professor, and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich recently posted on YouTube: “Five Ways to Fight Trump’s Fascism.” I thought the video gave spot on tips. Some of them I recommended myself in previous blogs and social media posts. I will probably recommend them in the future. No perfect list exists on what you should do right now. The main thing is to step up your game and TAKE ACTION!

Robert Reich’s video inspired me to create my own list of my personal top 5 tips to restore our democracy right now. Let’s be clear: my list is not meant to be the be all, end all list. That’s ok. You may disagree with some or even all the items on my list. I look forward to your comments and responses. However, don’t just criticize me and do nothing. ACT! If you want to create your own list that is better than mine. Great! That’s what I want. If you decide to make a better list than mine, act on it, and it inspires others to act, then that’s the win-win-win situation I want. Whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to my list, just act! That’s all I want in the end.

Now that I said it, here’s my list:

1. Check on your family, friends and neighbors
2. Remember Self Care!
3. Speak Out
4. Listen to others!
5. Thank people who are organizing

My Personal Top 5 Tips to Restore Our Democracy Right Now

1. Check on your family, friends, and neighbors to see how they are doing

You don’t know the state of mind of your family, friends, and neighbors unless you knock on their doors, call them, text them, or even email them. Don’t just assume they are ok. They might be struggling with depression, anxiety, despair, loneliness, and a lack of energy to feel happy or even contribute to society right now. I love this Dale Carnegie quote:

“Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.”

To be candid, I struggled since depression since I was a child. I especially felt triggered with feelings of sadness, lack of motivation, trouble focusing, and nihilism since the November 5, 2024 election. Yes, I present myself in public as jovial, enthusiastic, and hopeful in public. At home though, I often feel worried and anxious about the state of our democracy.

Yes, I attempt each day to think of others with writing letters, emails, phone calls, and texts to let family and friends know that I love them. This often masks my feelings of inadequacy, lack of self-confidence and esteem, and frustration with the world. I knocked on over 3,600 doors in the purple legislative districts in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon last summer and fall to urge voters to vote for Oregon legislative Democratic candidates. All the Oregon state level candidates I knocked on doors for won. Yet, Donald Trump still won the Presidency and Republicans won the U.S. Senate, House, and control of Congress. I felt exhausted by November 5, 2024. I don’t know what more I could have done. Yet, what I did was not enough because Donald Trump won. It still feels like a crushing blow nearly a year later.

On top of that, I feel irritated that I volunteered super hard for several climate and environmental organizations over the last 14 years, yet it never led to a full-time paying job. I blogged about this in in January 2025, “I struggle with climate despair, in a different way.” In April and May 2025, I worked again as a paid canvasser for East County Rising to knock on over 1,720 doors to try to persuade voters to vote for local school board candidates and a ballot measure to increase the bond for Mt. Hood Community College. Many of these local school board candidates won and the Mt. Hood Community College bond measure won by 131 votes out of over 42,169 votes cast, 50.16% victory.

I have traveled a lot this summer, but I have still not found a paying job with climate or democracy organizing. After 14 years of banging my head against the wall, I feel tired and burned out. I have little desire to volunteer for more climate and environmental groups when it continues to box me in as a volunteer. I went to a social meet up of an Oregon environmental group in the first week of August. I was continuously introduced as “Brian the Super Volunteer.” Damn it! I am tired of being labeled this way.

When I shared my dilemma with a friend when traveling in Washington D.C. in July, he responded, ‘Why would they want to pay you when they can work you for free?’

Great point! However, outside of getting paid to work on election campaigns, I am tired of volunteering for free. It has me unmotivated to fight for our democracy when we need citizens fighting for our democracy the most. No, I am not ok. I am more than happy to check in on you. At the same time, don’t forget to check in on me! I am feeling down right now.

2. Remember Self Care! Take care of yourself first!

We have all heard this message from flight attendants during the safety speech as the plane is leaving the gate: “In case of a sudden loss of oxygen, oxygen masks will be released overhead…Be sure to secure your own mask before assisting others.”

We all know that we must take care of ourselves before we can help others. Since January 2025, the current news has been a constant stream of terrible updates about the threat to our democracy. We were all subjected to the Steve Bannon philosophy to “flood the zone with shit.”

It feels head spinning and deflating, which is their point, if you have not figured that out yet. As I have said for the last 8 years,

It is vital that you find a way in these dark times to maintain hope. Yes, I am just as mad, outraged, and sickened as you are by current events. However, we must not become so hopeless that we are then useless. Our family, friends, neighbors, community, and nation need us right now. To save and restore our democracy, you must take care of yourself first. When it feels like the world and our nation is spinning out of control, take time to breathe and for yourself.

I can think of many ways you can do this:

• Go for a hike or a neighborhood walk. My wife and I go for walks daily and on hikes on our weekends together. Often, I leave my phone at home, so I am not distracted by current events, text alerts, and other distractions from my phone.
• Play joyful songs. Music that reminds you of fun times in your youth or as a young adult. Our home internet was not working from July 23rd to August 10th. It was 18 maddening days being disconnected to the world. I compensated for this by playing the CDs of songs of my favorite musicians such as Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, and Rush.
• Find an entertaining film, documentary, or TV series to watch. Last weekend, my wife and I watched a 3 and a half hour 20025 PBS American Masters documentary, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan . I was never a Bob Dylan fan. However, I respected that nearly all the major music performers I love were influenced by Bob Dylan. Yes, the politics of the 1960s were highlighted in this film. Thus, I could not totally escape the turbulent events then and compare them to today. At the same time, the documentary gave me a new appreciation of Bob Dylan as an artist wanting to do things his way and not to be just pigeonholed as an insightful folk singer.
• Get together with friends and family to just hang out, have dinner, talk, and even play boardgames together. Sure, talk politics if it helps you or them to vent. But, don’t get trapped or mired down in the vortex of just talking politics.
  
  If you find yourselves stuck in that conversation of the terrible state of the world, ask them, “What is something that gives you hope?” Try to elevate that conversation to a more positive and hopeful place for their sanity and yours.

As many people say these days, these next four years will be a ‘marathon not a sprint.’ Yes, be active in speaking out, organizing, and protesting. At the same time, don’t let it consume you. You don’t have to attend every protest march, political event, constantly contact your elected officials, continuously post political memes on social media. Take a break now and then for your health and your loved ones’ wellbeing.

Fifteen years ago, I struggled with how I would communicate about climate change in a fun manner that could inspire folks to act. My friend Naomi Eklund and I had a conversation about this in Ashland Oregon in November 2009. She clearly saw how I struggled with this dilemma. She asked me bluntly, “What do you really want to do with your life?”

I blurted out, “Fine! If I could do anything, I would like to be the Climate Change Comedian!”

Naomi nearly fell out of her chair laughing and replied, “I want you to go home right now and grab that website domain. I did. My friend John helped me build a website months later in the spring of 2010. The website, www.cimatechangecomedian.com, is still around today.

I then made some goofy YouTube videos with my wife Tanya and my parents, Fran and LeRoy Ettling. Those videos led to an appearance on Comedy Central’s Tosh.o in August 2016. After that 2009 conversation with Naomi, I discovered a way to talk about climate change using humor that made it fun for me to advocate on that very serious and dire subject.

If you need a quick ‘pick me up’ funny video, maybe watching my Climate Change Comedian – Web Redemption – Tosh.0 video will help. Or maybe not. At least, it might get you thinking about selfcare and humor or lack of it for a few minutes to get your mind off the news. Let me know if you like it or not. If you don’t like it, the joke is on you because I still get residual checks from the show now and then. I am still, as they say, ‘laughing my way to the bank.’ Ha Ha!

3. Speak Out!

Let your family and friends know that you are very worried about our democracy. Please share your thoughts in person when you chat with people and on social media.

35 years ago, a friend gave me a keychain as a joke, “Everyone has the right to my opinion!”
I lost that keychain, but it still makes me laugh everything I think about it.

Dictators, autocrats, and tyrants count on people not speaking out against them. Don’t let them win! Speak out and speak up as often as you can.

When you speak out, it gives others the courage to do the same. Don’t underestimate this superpower!

4. Listen to others!

Be curious to hear about what others say with an open mind.

This may seem like this counterintuitive to my previous tip but strive to be a great listener. Be genuinely curious about what other people want to say.

Learn to have these sentences handy in a conversation with another person:
“Tell me more”
“I am curious: What led you to think that?”
“Let me make sure I heard you correctly. What I heard you say was…”

If a family member or friend is silent, ask them: “What are you thinking right now?”

One of my favorite unattributed quotes is,
“People don’t care how much you know—until they know how much you care.”

If you want to be a better listener, it’s something that all of us can work on to be better. In 2023, political commentator David Brooks wrote a book I recommend, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. In the book, he stresses that none of us are as good at conversations and listening as we think we are. We all have room for improvement.

In 2022 and 2024, I knocked on thousands of doors in the eastern suburbs of Portland Oregon to try to persuade local voters to support Democratic legislative candidates. When I canvassed, my phone app showed me the Democratic or even independent household names that I needed to chat with them to urge them to vote for their Democratic legislator. Now and then, the person we targeted would not answer the door. Instead, I would encounter a burly white man or older white woman who was a staunch Trump supporter. They could tell by the t-shirt I was wearing with the legislator’s campaign on it and my scruffy beard that I am a Democrat.

These Trump supporters were somewhat miffed to see me. At the same time, they wanted to directly express to me their anger with Democrats and their loyalty to Donald Trump. These were delicate conversations for me to engage. It almost felt like I was trying to diffuse a bomb. In those incidents, I would listen to them with an open heart. I attempted to ground myself in a Zen state devoid of any hostility. I did my best to hear them out. Look to understand what they said to me, even with saying annoying remarks, such as ‘people like you and all Democrats who don’t like Trump have “Trump Derangement syndrome.”

I strove for a calm presence. A big reason was that the Democratic or independent voter I wanted to chat with was probably home. Those targeted voters were probably busy, unavailable, or not interested in answering the door. I treated these MAGA folks like family, like they could be my mom or dad or aunt and uncle that I adored. I knew that if this conversation with the Trump voter became a heated argument, I would probably lose the actual targeted voter.

Often, these Trump voters would confess to me that they could not talk to their adult children and grandchildren about politics. It was too volatile to discuss in their family. I would have empathy for them and respond, “That is a shame.”

When these Trump voters saw that I was not a threat, they would start to like and have a trusting rapport with me. We would chat about the weather. They would tell me that they had a respect for me knocking on doors on a hot day. Some even offered me water. As the conversation started winding down because I had more doors I wanted to knock, I told them, “I enjoyed my conversation with you today. This will probably be one of my best conversations. In fact, I will probably have some Democratic voters later today who might agree with me on everything but will immediately slam their door in my face when they see me.”

Trump supporters then would say, “Wow! That’s awful!”

It felt like a huge success to turn a conversation from animosity to empathy. No, I didn’t change their minds about politics. However, I enabled them to think of at least one liberal Democrat as fellow human beings that they could possibly develop a friendship.

What can be better than that?

5. Thank People who organize for our democracy

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”
– attributed to 12th century priest and mystic Meister Eckhart

When I was a canvasser knocking on doors in the eastern Portland suburbs in 2022 and 2024, it felt like very hard work, even soul crushing work at times. It was not just the extreme heat of the summer, using hats and sunscreen to not get sunburned, downpours of rain going into autumn, aggressive dogs charging at me, tripping and slipping on people’s porches, and other obstacles. The worst part was all the doors slammed in my face. Few of the people who slammed their doors in my face were Trump supporters or hardcore conservatives. Most of the folks who refused to talk to me were Democrats and progressives who felt angry simply because someone knocked at their door.

I tried to plead with some of these folks that I was not knocking at their door for the fun of it or to annoy them. I was there because I was very worried about climate change, women’s rights, protecting immigrants, Black Lives Matter, and our democracy. A few understood this message when I clearly stated it to them, but most could not see past their anger. I pleaded with some that I just wanted to hear their point of few, but they still told me to go away.

One of the hardest parts of canvassing was the lack of access to bathrooms. It is odd because every home I knocked on had a bathroom, probably even more than one. However, understandably, the people don’t know me, so why should they trust me to use their bathroom. As you are reading this, if you suddenly get the urge to use the bathroom, no problem. You walk a few steps to the bathroom and relieve yourself. Not so for canvassing. When that urge to the bathroom starts to tug at me, I had to get creative. Most of the time I could ignore until I went for a lunch break and drove to a nearby grocery store on McDonalds. Occasionally, I would find a port-a-john in the area where I canvassed, which felt like a miracle from heaven. Now and then I could find secluded woods or trees to go behind to empty my bladder.

My worst day of canvassing was Election Day, November 5, 2024. I canvassed in a middle class subdivision in southeast Portland of homes built in what looked to be in the late 1960s or 1970s. Very few folks were home. It was lightly raining with a bit of a wind. It was overcast and gloomy. The temperature was probably in the upper 40s, feeling cold and damp outside. It was a day where you would rather be inside. I was drinking water to keep myself hydrated. However, the colder temperatures meant my body did not seem to absorb the water as much as the hot summer and warm autumn days. As I knocked on doors for about an hour, I was slowly getting an urge to use the bathroom. The problem was that I was not parked near my car.

Suddenly, the need to use the bathroom became acute. I started walking briskly back to my car, but I did not make it to my car in time. My bladder could not hold it any longer and I peed in my pants. I was so angry. Months of canvassing to try to get people to vote and this happened on the last day. I went home to change clothes and I was in a very dour mood. I knocked on several more doors in a different part of Portland, but I felt like I had enough of canvassing for that election season. I sacrificed all I could for our democracy and had nothing left to give. The lack of accessible bathrooms in my months of door knocking finally caught up me.

On the other hand, a couple of times while canvassing in 2022 and 2024, the people I canvassed let me use the bathroom in their homes. When that happened it felt like one of the kindness and most generous gifts anyone ever gave me.

On the Pacific Crest Trail, the long-range backpacking hikers refer to “Trail Angels” to people who freely help them with water, food, shelter, supplies, and transportation on their journey. The few people who offered me food, water, or restrooms felt like angels from heaven to me. Their kindness was beyond words. It provided so much solace compared to the other people slamming their doors in our faces.

If you can, I encourage you to be an Angel to people organizing for political action. Yes, often times they want to engage you when you are preparing dinner, setting your baby down for a nap, getting ready to go to work, coming home from a long day of work, working at home in the middle of a crucial Zoom call, spending quality time with family, trying to knock out household chores in between a long work schedule, sleeping or napping due to an unusual work schedule, etc. No canvasser wants to disturb you when you are busy. We totally understand that you have a hectic life. We have no control over what is happening in your life when we knock on your door. At the same time, I invite you to be kind to political canvassers.

Like you, political organizers, want a better world.

Therefore, when a volunteer or campaign staff calls you or texts you, thank them for their work.
If someone asks you to sign a petition for a ballot measure for a future election, thank them for their efforts.

Please consider thanking a political canvasser, organizer, or candidate knocking on your door.

If you have time, feel like you are in a good mood, and discern that you feel safe with the political canvasser at your door, think about these suggestions to help them in their work:

A. Offer them water or snacks. I always had a water bottle sling with a liter of water with me. However, there was a few times that I ran out of water on a hot day. Or, I got thirsty if I talked a lot to voters at other doors. Thus, that bottle of water was beneficial. I ate the same food daily: sliced carrots, an apple, egg salad sandwich, and a blueberry or raspberry fig bar from Costco. Thus, it felt like a breath of fresh air when someone offered me a snack.

B. Ask if they would like ice for their water bottles on a scorching hot day. On cold days, see if they would like some coffee or hot tea. It was such a booster to get ice in my water bottles when I was canvassing during a heat wave. On a rainy day in October 2024, someone insisted that I sit on a bench on their dry porch while the rain pounded. They then ran inside to make a hot cup of coffee for me. I never drink coffee. I do not like the taste of it. However, I savored that cup of coffee on that cold day with the drenching rain.

C. If you feel safe and the canvasser looks trustworthy, invite them in to use your bathroom. Nearly all people would not feel comfortable letting a person they don’t know inside their home to use the bathroom. I totally understand that concern. I would have to think hard about letting a stranger inside to use my bathroom. But a few people offered me a chance to use their restroom in my years of canvassing. Thus, it is something to think about.

D. If you have a friendly dog or cat, ask the canvasser if they would like to meet them. Most cats are shy and leery about meeting new people. Many dogs are protective of their homes and only know to bark at strangers. On the other hand, I met some very friendly cats and dogs when I canvassed. Some animals have a deep love for people and want to meet someone new.

One African American woman in low-income housing was holding a beautiful kitten when I knocked on her door. We had a pleasant conversation, and I commented that the kitten was cute. She then asked if I would like to hold the kitten. I immediately said yes and held the kitten in my hands. This woman even took a photo of me on my iPhone with the kitten. It was such a blissful moment.

I reflected on this story yesterday with my wife and she responded and teased me, “In the photo, it looked like you were almost strangling the kitten.”

I laughed and replied, “Yes! That’s true! That’s because I had never held a kitten before and I didn’t know how to hold a kitten.”

Bottom line: Be kind to a political organizer and canvasser. They will never forget your kindness.

Again, here’s my list for My Personal Top 5 Tips to Restore Our Democracy Right Now:

1. Check on your family, friends and neighbors
2. Remember Self Care!
3. Speak Out
4. Listen to others!
5. Thank people who are organizing

As I wrote in the beginning of this blog, this is not meant to be the definitive list on this subject. I will probably come up with other totally different lists to save our democracy tomorrow and in the future. This is only meant to start a conversation. I want you to think of ways to save our democracy, even if it is totally different than my list. Then, after you come up with your list, share it with me. Put your list into action and let me know how it goes. Or, you can try implementing my list. See if it helps you to move the needle to restore our democracy.