Democracy Forward, a national legal organization, has emerged as a prominent challenger to federal government actions since 2025, filing numerous lawsuits against the current administration’s policies. The organization’s president and CEO, Skye Perryman, is leveraging his platform to address widespread feelings of despair among Americans through a new book titled “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times,” set for publication by Penguin Random House on August 25.
Perryman’s work focuses on strategies for resisting authoritarianism at both individual and collective levels. Drawing from personal experience, including his grandmother’s decades-long project of planting magnolia trees across their Texas town, Perryman illustrates how meaningful change requires patience, sustained effort, and long-term commitment. He acknowledges the legitimate hopelessness many citizens experience when confronting multiple layers of governmental overreach—from immigration enforcement to Supreme Court decisions—and the sense that individual actions prove futile.
However, Perryman argues that resignation represents exactly what autocratic leaders exploit most effectively. Rather than voter suppression or election manipulation, he contends that convincing citizens they lack agency stands as the primary tool for consolidating authoritarian power. Despite acknowledging these feelings of helplessness, Perryman emphasizes that individuals and communities retain genuine power to effect change, urging Americans to reject defeatism and maintain their commitment to democratic resistance.
Originally reported by Rollingstone →
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