2025: The Year We Refused to Look Away

If there was a single word that defined 2025, it was resistance.

This year forced millions of Americans to confront a truth that many had spent years warning about: fascism does not arrive all at once. It creeps in through executive orders, dehumanizing rhetoric, expanded police powers, and the normalization of state violence, especially against the working poor, immigrants, protesters, and anyone who dares to dissent.

Under Donald Trump’s renewed political influence and agenda, working people were once again treated as disposable. Economic policy favored corporations and the ultra-wealthy while wages stagnated, costs soared, and basic dignity at work became harder to defend. Union organizing was vilified. Strikes were framed as threats rather than democratic tools. The same people who kept this country running were told (yet again) to tighten their belts while CEOs loosened theirs.

Meanwhile, ICE enacted an intense campaign of fear. Families were torn apart in predawn raids. Neighbors disappeared. Communities lived under constant threat, not because of crime, but because cruelty had been repackaged as “law and order.” Deportation quotas replaced due process, and human beings were reduced to statistics in press releases meant to signal strength through suffering.

Perhaps most chilling were the repeated threats to deploy the military into American cities. Peaceful protest was increasingly portrayed as insurrection or terrorism. Dissent was conflated with disloyalty. The line between civilian governance and militarized repression blurred in ways that should alarm anyone who believes in even the most basic democratic principles. History teaches us that when leaders threaten Soldiers against their own people, democracy is already in crisis.

And yet, this is not a story solely about what was taken from us.

It is also a story about what we refused to give up.

Across the country, people organized. Workers unionized Starbucks stores, warehouses, hospitals, and classrooms. Students walked out. Journalists documented abuses despite intimidation. Immigrant communities protected one another. Mutual aid networks expanded where the state failed. Millions of ordinary people chose solidarity over silence, courage over comfort.

Local elections mattered. Ballot initiatives mattered. Court challenges mattered. Conversations at kitchen tables mattered. In a year when authoritarianism tried to convince us we were powerless, collective action proved otherwise.

In 2025, I experienced firsthand how costly it can be to speak plainly about constitutional limits on power. After publishing several videos reminding U.S. service members of their legal and ethical obligation to disobey unlawful orders, I was formally punished - not for misconduct, but for insisting that allegiance to the Constitution must come before obedience to any individual leader. I made clear that my position was grounded in military law, historical precedent, and the oath we take to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The message was simple: legality matters, even, and especially, when power says otherwise.

That stance followed me onto national platforms. In appearances on CBS News and MSNBC, I stated plainly that I would refuse an order to deploy military forces into Chicago to act against U.S. citizens, because I believed such an order would be unlawful. I did not say this lightly, and I did not say it for attention. I said it because history shows us what happens when soldiers are conditioned to obey first and question later. The punishment I faced was real, but so was the choice. And I would make it again. Because defending democracy sometimes means accepting personal consequences to prevent collective catastrophe.

The greatest lie of fascism is inevitability - the idea that resistance is futile and the future is already decided. 2025 reminded us that history is not written by strongmen alone. It is shaped by people who show up, organize, and refuse to accept injustice as the natural order of things.

Hope, in moments like these, is not naïve optimism. It is discipline. It is choosing to believe that a better world is possible because we are willing to fight for it together.

As we move into 2026, the work is far from over, but neither are we. We are more connected, more aware, and more prepared than we were a year ago. The forces pushing us further into authoritarianism are real, but so is the growing movement determined to stop them.

The future is still unwritten, and there is time to shape it.

If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that change does not come from waiting - it comes from organizing. From showing up for one another. From supporting candidates who don’t just speak about the working class, but come from it and fight alongside it.

That work continues now. It continues when we build power locally, support unapologetic leftist candidates, and invest our time, energy, and resources into movements that demand social, racial, and economic justice - not as slogans, but as commitments.

That’s why I hope you’ll join us on January 17th for The Real Fighters of American Politics, a political fundraiser bringing together grassroots, leftist candidates like Kat Abughazaleh, Demi Palecek, and myself, along with a stage full of some of today’s most prominent and impactful voices in American politics. Hosted by Steve Tapas (AKA @smallplates.ig) and open to all ages, this event is about more than raising funds. It’s about building community, sharing vision, and reminding ourselves that we are not alone in this fight.

Authoritarianism thrives on isolation. Democracy survives through solidarity.

Organize where you are. Support candidates who refuse corporate capture. Protect your neighbors. Show up when it matters. And if you can, stand with us on January 17th as we continue building the future together.

The struggle continues, but so does our power.

In solidarity,

Dylan

P.S. Thanks for reading Democratic Reformation! My New Years Resolution is to to post at least 3 articles per week in 2026.

The views above are my own and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the US Army or Illinois Army National Guard.