Our democracy has always had fault lines running through it, beginning with the exclusion of Black people, Indigenous people, and women from the process. Over the past year, those fault lines have deeped. A sitting president worked to undermine our democracy, and armed white supremacists stormed the Capitol to try to stop a peaceful transfer of power. In 47 states, elected officials are now pushing legislation to restrict voting rights.
If we want to change this country for the better, we must make our democracy stronger and more inclusive. We can’t ensure all Americans have access to clean air and water, a stable climate, and healthy communities if dirty fuels executives and corporate polluters are allowed to run our country, flout the law, abuse their power, and drown out everyone else’s voice.
Fighting to strengthen our democracy can’t be separated from our work to protect the environment, explains Courtney Hight, director of the Sierra Club’s Democracy program.
“All these critical issues that our country faces—combatting the climate crisis, ensuring quality, affordable health care, creating good family-wage paying jobs, and achieving racial justice, to name just a few—have to be addressed by a strong democracy,” says Leslie Fields, the Sierra Club’s director of Policy, Advocacy, and Legal. Hear her talk about why we must act to strengthen our democracy. “There have always been people who fought for these rights. This isn’t new at all, unfortunately,” Fields says. But, “this is still a critical moment to protect our democracy.” In part, that’s because of rising threats from an emboldened extreme right-wing, and the increasing influence of corporate donors, Sierra Club President Ramón Cruz explains. Our democracy may be under attack, but bills in Congress offer us a chance to strengthen it and ensure that everyone is able to make their voice heard. Listen to Ashton Kuehnel, the Sierra Club’s Democracy Organizer in Missouri, talk about one of those bills, the For the People Act, and why it’s so important that it passes.