Introduction
The world is a really scary place to live right now. Unfortunately, there is no other place for us to be. Between corrupt politicians, war, women being silenced, civilian harm, and so much more, the world seems to be falling apart right in front of our eyes. No matter which nation you are a part of, you could be affected by the factors previously mentioned. Maybe your economy is messed up, or your country is not given enough resources to thrive. Either way, it can all seem hopeless when you look at everything going on and realize that you have no idea how to begin to make the world a better place for yourself, your country, and your people.
So, how do we defend our rights?
There are actually many ways for us to begin monitoring what happens to our rights and protecting them. I will break down just a few of the methods that you are able to use. However, the first thing that I will mention is simply knowing and understanding your rights. You aren’t able to do any protecting without having the knowledge of what your rights are and what they mean. You can learn these by doing research, looking up and finding classes on it, or reading and comprehending the constitution. Hillsdale College has compiled pocket-sized books that contain The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. This is a great resource if you want to read and learn about the rights that our Founding Fathers granted us.
Firstly, protesting is always an option if you disagree with something that people in power are doing. You are able to protest with marches, online community forums, and boycotting. Although the message is stronger when marching with other people, you can also march alone. You can make signs, wear specific clothing to represent what you are fighting for, and even come up with chants. Usually, you can find out online if there are marches happening near you by simply looking it up on the internet or on social media. You can also use social media and the internet to organize your own marches with those in your community. Protests can also take place in the form of online community forums. Forums are not as powerful but are still meaningful. You can simply talk to others on the same forum and post things that relate to what your community stands for. And lastly, boycotting. Boycotting is when you refuse to affiliate with a certain company, organization, person, etc. To participate in boycotts, look up companies who are using their power for evil, such as abusing workers’ rights, committing animal cruelty, or giving money to corrupt people. Then, just stop using their products or going to that specific company. For example, because of Target's resistance to DEI programs and their seemingly arbitrary firing of staff, many customers stopped buying from Target during 2025-2026.
Another way to defend your rights is by sending letters to government offices where your local politicians are situated. For example, if you are in the United States, you can look up House representative and Senate offices where your representatives and senators work. You can send letters expressing what you would like to see at either state level of federal level. If you want to step it up a bit, you can even write policy papers as well, papers dedicated to explaining a specific solution you would like to see used to help solve a problem. These proactive steps help your government understand what its civilians want.
Conclusion
Please, do not let this article scare you. Know that all will be right with the world in due time and that as long as we, the people, stand together, we can overcome anything that is happening. We can overpower the people trying to tear us down.
Thank you to Jasmine G. for editing this article!
