Blog #64. Bring the Long Game

Protest is powerful. We saw the proof of that over the weekend! But protest alone isn’t enough. If we want to protect democracy—not just for this moment, but for generations to come—we have to play chess, not checkers. We must think in decades, not just news cycles. In short, we must bring the long game.

Mrs. Rani Hamid, 80, is a rising chess champion. Photo by Susan Polgar

Yes, we show up for marches, call our representatives, and respond to the headlines—but we also build the scaffolding for what’s next. That means funding the smart, strategic defenders of democracy like the Indivisible network or the Women’s March, not to mention community colleges and universities, who seed leadership from the ground up. It means fueling platforms like Higher Ground, which are cultivating the next wave of movement storytelling and civic imagination.

We push for laws that don’t just preserve the past, but protect the future. We train and protect election workers, support nonpartisan observers, and get involved in our local election boards—not just on voting day, but all year round.

And maybe most radically of all, we begin, right now, to imagine the country we want to live in. One where rights are not rationed, where leadership reflects our diversity, and where justice doesn’t arrive decades too late.

This is our time to lay the groundwork. Because the moment will pass. The momentum must not. That means supporting organizations like Democracy Defenders, who are in the courts crafting the precedents that will carry us forward, not drag us back. They're not just reacting; they’re rewriting the legal DNA of the future.

We can cultivate candidates and initiatives through Emily’s List and Sister District Project, because school boards become state legislatures, and state legislatures shape national policy. If we want change at the top, we must build it from the roots.

And it means standing with champions of civil liberty and structural reform like the ACLU, Common Cause, and Democracy Defenders—groups that have long fought to ensure that access, accountability, and representation are not privileges for the few, but rights for us all.

This isn’t just about winning the next news cycle. This is about planting trees under whose shade our great-granddaughters will one day stand. As elder women, we may not live long enough to see that brighter day fully realized, but we plant the seed anyway. Because wisdom isn’t just reflection—it’s action taken with the future in mind.

And we know in our bones that transformation takes time, intention, and generations of hands tending the soil. So let’s bring the long game—with strategy, solidarity, and the unshakable belief that we are not done building this country yet.

Join me at WonderCrone.com, where we believe aging is not retreat—it’s rising. And we rise best when we rise together. And please share your preferred actions and organizations for future-proofing our inclusive, participatory, and just democracy.