My Journey with Bernie

The Fight We're In at America 250

As America approaches its 250th anniversary, we find ourselves at a crossroads. On one side is a growing authoritarian movement that concentrates power in the hands of billionaires, attacks democratic institutions, scapegoats vulnerable communities, and asks us to believe that ordinary people are powerless. On the other side are workers, organizers, union members, students, neighbors, and activists who continue to show up and fight for a more just and inclusive democracy. Bernie Sanders captured this spirit in 2016 when he wrote: "Election days come and go. But the struggle of the people to create a government which represents all of us and not just the one percent... that struggle continues." A decade later, that struggle is alive and well. Despite the daily headlines, there are reasons for hope. Democratic Socialists and progressive candidates are winning local elections. Workers are organizing unions at new workplaces. Communities are defending public schools, libraries, voting rights, and environmental protections. Across the country, people are rediscovering an old truth: democracy is not something we watch. It is something we do. That is the central message of *The Fight We're In*. The forces threatening democracy are real, but so is the power of ordinary people acting together. Two hundred and fifty years after the founding of this nation, the promise of "We the People" remains unfinished. The question facing our generation is the same one that has faced every generation before us: Will we stand on the sidelines, or will we show up?