A college student fighting for democracy

A high school activist, strategist, and former youngest Illinois policywriter. Currently mobilizing to get young people into office.

[aydintariq]

I figured I should introduce myself. Hi there! I'm Aydin, a youth activist, organizer, policy writer, and journalist. I'm a high school senior from Illinois and I strive to be a leading voice in the movement to elevate youth voices. In 2024 I made history as the youngest policy writer in Illinois.

I've lobbied for bills from gun violence prevention to education. I've researched mental health and youth in government. I've campaigned for local elections and federal ones.

For the last year, I've remained nonpartisan, working as a leader in Illinois mental health policy for the state. But now that my term has ended, and the state of everything, I am going to use this blog to educate, mobilize, and organize.

It's not Democrat vs. Republican or this vs. that. There is an establishment ruling class that is threatening American democracy. It is up to all of us, together, to build a better future.

[aydintariq]

Combat in America: The War on Los Angeles

Today, the Trump Administration announced that it would withdraw 2,000 National Guardsmen from Los Angeles, about half of its originally issued forces.

They've been there for a month, and were originally mobilized for largely peaceful protesters that were egged on and enflamed by the actions of the LAPD and the announcement of the deployment of the California National Guard by President Trump. According to similar deployments, this likely cost U.S. taxpayers between $45-75 million.

Videos kept surfacing; horrible, awful videos of police officers trampling protesters with horses when they thought no one was watching. Officers intentionally aimed and shot rubber bullets at reporters and peaceful passersby trying to get to their apartments. Police command are knocking protestors down only to pick them up again and do it.

Let's be clear. The withdrawal of some troops will be lauded as a win, and the ever-moving Western news cycles will continue forward. But the disgrace to democracy that happened in Los Angeles will one day be referred to as a turning point, and if we all choose to move on, then the war of perception has already been lost.

The actions of a few protestors cannot and will not ever justify our military and police attacking journalists, peaceful civilians, and American citizens. It won't justify it because there is never justification for fascism.

[aydintariq]

Combat in America: The War on Los Angeles

Today, the Trump Administration announced that it would withdraw 2,000 National Guardsmen from Los Angeles, about half of its originally issued forces.

They've been there for a month, and were originally mobilized for largely peaceful protesters that were egged on and enflamed by the actions of the LAPD and the announcement of the deployment of the California National Guard by President Trump. According to similar deployments, this likely cost U.S. taxpayers between $45-75 million.

Videos kept surfacing; horrible, awful videos of police officers trampling protesters with horses when they thought no one was watching. Officers intentionally aimed and shot rubber bullets at reporters and peaceful passersby trying to get to their apartments. Police command are knocking protestors down only to pick them up again and do it.

Let's be clear. The withdrawal of some troops will be lauded as a win, and the ever-moving Western news cycles will continue forward. But the disgrace to democracy that happened in Los Angeles will one day be referred to as a turning point, and if we all choose to move on, then the war of perception has already been lost.

The actions of a few protestors cannot and will not ever justify our military and police attacking journalists, peaceful civilians, and American citizens. It won't justify it because there is never justification for fascism.

[aydintariq]

The First Amendment: Free Speech

The fact that an administration can pinpoint a student, a student who is a legal citizen of this country ineligible for deportation, and attempt to deport him simply based on his difference of opinion, should terrify all Americans, regardless of party.

The deportation of Mahmoud Khalil is illegal and unconstitutional. We must collectively understand that it isn't about deporting an undocumented immigrant, or an ICE crackdown. It is the attempted REVOKING of legal citizenship. If they can do this to one person, they can do this to all of us, simply based off of an expression of free speech.

Mahmoud is missing. ICE didn't seem to know his paperwork, and the location where his wife, an American citizen, was told he was, does not know where he is. He was last detained by ICE and American law enforcement.

The U.S Government has detained and dissapeared a United States citizen and all of us, politicians alike, are helpless to do anything about it.

Call your reps. Demand answers. If you can, volunteer, donate to the ACLU. Message me for opportunities to get involved. We must stand together.

[aydintariq]

Frontline of Democracy: America's National Parks

Yesterday, Park Rangers and employees at Yosemite National Park hung an upside-down flag at the top of El Capitan on one of its busiest days in an effort to protest staff cuts and the disrespect shown to our park rangers.

Recently the Trump administration fired 1,000 park rangers and 3,400 members of the Forest Service. This was part of DOGE's efforts to cut spending and save money, but the effects this will have on US tourism could be worse than the money saved by cuts. In 2024, the national parks brought in $55.6 billion in profit. In some parks, like Grand Teton, there are less than 5 rangers per park, and these cuts are devastating.

The National Park Service gets 1/15th of a percent of the federal budget. This wasn't about saving money, otherwise, the efforts would be on tax cuts for the 1%, inflated defense contractor money, and failed government audits.

An upside-down flag is a sign of extreme distress. It was hanging on one of our country's most popular tourist spots, the highest pinnacle of American natural beauty.

This is more than politics. It's not Democrat vs. Republican, let's make that clear. It's about democracy, and the President is fighting the judiciary on over twenty of his executive orders. Why should we, the working people, have our decisions made by a cabal of billionaires? Change starts with us.

[aydintariq]

Equal Opportunity

I said that this blog would be a source of education and action, and so right now I call on both.

Yesterday, Trump's Department of Education gave colleges 14 days to end any race-based programs, scholarships, or hiring practices or lose federal funding. This includes any scholarships offered to specific racial or ethnic groups, affinity groups, or centers set up for any specific ethnicities. This wipes out representation for millions of students countrywide. Let's be clear: this is not about equality, it is about erasure.

Erasure of history and identity.

In high school government classes, we learn that the premise of American democracy is equal opportunity. That's not possible without making up for the injustices faced by the marginalized in our country.

We can make a difference. Call your lawmakers. If you are a student in a group or scholarship affected, contact your local ACLU and file suit.

To them in power, it's a game. We deserve better.

[aydintariq]

A Vow To Organize

This statement, written by me and signed by activists and organizers from across the United States, feels like an apt thing to share in the wake of everything going on.

"On Tuesday, November 5th, Donald Trump was reelected as the 47th President of the United States of America. Many of us hoped to see Kamala Harris become the first female President. Many of us woke up Wednesday feeling sad, upset, or let down. Many of us fought to propel her into office.

The President-elect ran on a campaign built from fear. He relied on promises about the persecution of LGBTQ+ people, dangerous mass-scale deportations, failed trickle-down economic policy, climate denial, and foreign diplomacy that jeopardizes the sovereignty and safety of the citizens of Ukraine and Gaza.

In the face of that, we have an important message. To the women in America—we love you. To the LGBTQ+ folk in America—we love you. To the people of color and the marginalized in America—we love you. Let our words stand as a deep and unwavering hug of warmth and safety to always protect our communities from hate and violence. Let our voices sing the song of justice and unity.

As youth activists and leaders from across the country, we represent the future of America. Democracy chose a candidate whose Project 2025 blueprint echoes the dark hallmarks of fascism.

Today, and everyday, we, the young people, vow to never let hate overcome the bedrocks of our American freedoms.

To all the young people, we must keep fighting, keep organizing, and keep leading—because in times of darkness, where the deck of hate seems stacked against us, we still have our wall of love. What makes us special is we recognize that the principles of America are built on hope. And with hope, anything is possible.

We are proud to be Americans, but we are going to fight for an America that is proud to have us in it.

Signed with love, unity, and hope,

Aydin Tariq; Activist, Policy Writer

Esmée Silverman; Founder, Queer Youth Assemble

Ava Sunders; Students Demand Action

Grace Varughese; Students Demand Action

Reem Khalifa; Students Demand Action

Faith “Scout” Cardillo; Founder, Bulletproof Pride

James Crocker; Democratic Strategist

Jay’Shun Mathews; Founder, Black Youth Empowerment Network

Nahom Sisay; Community Organizer, United Nations Youth Advisor

Zadyn Grey; Head of Programs, Queer Youth Assemble

Vienna Cavazos; Queer Youth Activist

Laney Heggemeyer; Students Demand Action

Nessa Bleill; Students Demand Action

[plate2]

There's something about the trope where the genius delves so far into the need for creation that they get lost in their own mind and end up sacrificing their health (mental or physical) and their very Being in order to continue and in order to be something Great that just always gets to me

Like yes, go off and become something you don't recognize, as you don't know who you are outside of your need to be Known ! Fall from greatness in order to Be great in your skewed perceptions ! Scramble towards the divine and become something monstrous because of it !

[randomgooberness]

Whole-heartedly BEGGING writers to unlearn everything schools taught you about how long a paragraph is. If theres a new subject, INCLUDING ACTIONS, theres a new paragraph. A paragraph can be a single word too btw stop making things unreadable

[randomgooberness]

Ok So I’m getting more notes than I thought quicker than I expected! So I’m gonna elaborate bc I want to. 

I get it, when you’re someone who writes a lot and talks a lot, it’s hard to keep things readable, but it’s not as much about cutting out the fat(that can be a problem) so much as a formatting issue. 

You are also actively NERFING yourself by not formatting it correctly, it can make impactful scenes feel so, so much better. Compare this, 

To THIS. 

Easier to read, and hits harder. 

No more over-saturated paragraphs. Space things out.

[randomgooberness]

@s1ld3n4f1l​ WAIT WAIT WAIT SO TRUE LITERALLY LITERALLY 

[ardents418]

Oh, that wonderful feeling when you’re plotting and brainstorming and the dots just start CONNECTING all over the place and then it just spirals into this oh… oh???? Oh!!!! OH??!?!?? moment which is an unmatched high as a writer

[jisuto]

[aydintariq]

Advice for us all

[smoqueen-deactivated20251108]

*unable to ask if you want to get food with me* do you have any plans for what happens if you get hungry?

[not-safe-for-democracy]

"I've been doing this for 46 years and it's never been like this," says James Spann, an Alabama meteorologist. He says how he's been "inundated" with eerie messages telling him to "stop lying about the government controlling the weather or else."

They out here threatening the weathermen.

[foone]

I used to work for the US government doing weather stuff and this is nothing new. Back at the end of the 2000s there was a lot of people who were reacting to the end of the bush administration (where "global warming" and "climate change" were banned terms) by deciding to go all Truther on WEATHER. Anything we were doing was suspect. We had 20,000 weather stations across the country but they could all be ignored because of pictures of one of them being badly installed in Arizona (it was in a parking lot: a heat island!).

I had a coworker that had to spend a few weeks rewriting his code because when he'd first done it, it was too accurate. The precious calculations had been done in the 80s with FORTRAN, so when he converted the algorithm to Java, it took use of our new CPUs and now the averages were slightly different because the previous code had been very limited in how it did math. Naturally, as soon as we published new and improved calculations, endless fools claimed it was lies because the better rounding meant that it was now reported as 70.2 degrees in Newport in August 1987, not 70.1 degrees.

So he had to spend WEEKS rewriting all the calculations to use FORTRAN-equivalent math. Truncate everything, never round up or down, don't store more than 2 decimal points ever.

We had armed guards on the building, and not just because the IRS was there too. They had their own separate set of armed guards.

Weather has always been stupidly, stupidly political.

[aydintariq]

The fact that FEMA had to withdraw support for Hurrican Milton because AN ARMED MALITIA said to national guardsmen that they were "hunting first responders" should be a wake up call.

Imagine being a first responder risking your life after a hurricane, no sleep, and being hunted by the people you were saving. We need more love oml

[fuckyeahstufficareabout]

If we weren't up against the unfathomably stupid, his entire campaign would have tanked right here

[aydintariq]

He is dangerously unfit for office, how can we even be considering a man who talked about using the military on Americans who disagreed with him

[aydintariq]

im listening to Noah Kahan with my dad, windows down, on a crisp fall day. and as the wind whips past my face, blowing my hair in ways i know ill find annoying later, im thinking about how 4 years ago the future looked so muddy and impossible and now im going to a conference on mental health to talk about how young people's lives are worth living. it feels full circle, and its really beautiful.

[politijohn]

Source

[aydintariq]

These are my predictions for the 2024 election. I think Pennsylvania will go blue, and Wisconsin and Michigan will follow. North Carolina has been rapidly surging blue (45% red before Harris's run, 50% now), and I think it will flip this year.

Regardless this election is going to be nail-bitingly close. Everyone please remember to vote with your heart and your conscience, and remember that POLLS AMD PREDICTIONS DONT MATTER IF NO ONE VOTES 💜