Guiding Lights, Part IV: Marc Elias, Spotlight for Democracy…Or Bat-Signal

Posted on August 23, 2026 by gretchenwing

In the Department of Guiding Lights, there’s the North Star (see my piece on Heather Cox Richardson); the twinkly path-markers known as The Contrarian, and several more which offer both inspiration and guidance to folks like us. (Watch this space!)

But sometimes—these times!—you just need a freakin’ spotlight. Meet Marc Elias and Democracy Docket.

Marc Elias in 2024 (photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

According to Ken Vogel of The New York Times, “Elias has arguably done more than any single person outside government to shape the Democratic Party and the rules under which all campaigns and elections in the United States are conducted.” (October 30, 2024, as quoted by Wikipedia.org)

Marc’s political bio is far too voluminous for me to sum up here; please check out Wikipedia or Democracy Docket itself for all the details of presidents and almost-presidents he’s worked for, trials he’s worked on, resistance fighters he’s supported.

What matters to me now, and what I hope (assume? since you’re reading this) matters to you is: his law firm has taken the Trump administration (regime) to court dozens of times…and of the cases already decided, Elias Law Group is 23 and 0.

That’s 23 wins for Elias’ democracy warriors; 23 LOSSES for Trump.

Here’s Marc, describing one of those victories:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCBc3dIEYxA

A fighter who springs to action when democracy is threatened, like if Batman wore a suit & tie? That’s who I want on my side, heading into the scariest electoral period in our country’s history since 1860.

Marc? That you? (image courtesy Wikimedia)

I’m not a lawyer; don’t want to be. But I DO want to fight to keep the Trump regime’s mitts off my election data. I do want to keep their ICE thugs from intimidating my neighbors at the polls. I want the rule of law back.

That’s why I support Democracy Docket with a small subscription. I hope you’ll consider doing the same. Marc & Co left behind their lucrative former law careers to fight for us. The least we can do is be Robin to their Batman.

In the Chop: Choose Your Own Navigational Markers

Posted on July 23, 2026 by gretchenwing

My—and let’s face it, probably everyone’s—favorite public-engaging historian, Heather Cox Richardson, talks a good deal about “chop.” Living in coastal Maine, she sees it all the time (and her husband, a lobsterman, has to drive his boat through it). She means this:

Chop. Swirl. Eddies. Currents. Unexpected wavelets, even waves, hitting from all sides, throwing you off balance, interfering with forward movement. Obscuring forward movement. Where am I headed, anyway? Where’s this interference coming from? Should I drift for a moment or power through? What new challenges will either choice unleash? Which way should I steer?

I am neither historian nor lobsterwoman. But—in case you’ve wondered whether Wing’s World has fallen off the face of the earth—I’ve been living this metaphor for the last several months. Chop, for me, has set blogging wayyyyy back as a priority. Only now am I coming to realize I might need this blog as a navigational marker to sail on through this stuff.

I have always considered myself the person least touched by adversity of any I’ve met. I even wrote a song about it, from the perspective of someone who got all the bad shit I’ve avoided: “Who got my sunshine, who got my ease?/Does she realize her fortune? Will you tell her, please?” The song ends, “Hope she’ll be ready when her skies turn black.”

This year, my skies finally darkened.

In December, my high school bestie died, with no chance to say goodbye. A week later, a close local friend died. In February, the Mate’s health circumstances took a hard turn. And in early June, my amazing father, Peter Klopfer, died.

Add to that the national shitstorm we’re all living through, and…

Another favorite topic of HCR (Heather Cox Richardson) is navigational markers. In my personal chop, I have decided to focus on these few to guide me:

Interdependence on and with family, friends and the Mate, more intentionally than ever in my life
Using historians, legal minds, politicians and activists to keep myself inspired and motivated
Using my own resources of time, money and WORDS to amplify that inspiration and motivation

I won’t blog about the first marker. But the other two? Watch this space.

One Question for the Tuned-out Loved One in Your Family

Posted on January 11, 2026 by gretchenwing

“I’ve tuned out,” your adult son, your cousin, your sister-in-law tells you. “Politics is too f**cked up for me bother. And there’s nothing I can do anyway.”

I hope the first thing you do is to support your loved one for prioritizing self-care. But then I have a question for you to ask them.

What does the word “harvest” mean to you?

Wild blueberries? (Yes, this photo’s OLD. My knees don’t let me sit that way these days.)

That question popped into my mind last night while reading Joyce Vance’s Civil Discourse on Substack. She was asking legal expert Marc Elias (a lawyer who’s argued before the Supreme Court five times and counting) about what voters should be concerned about in 2026. Marc’s answer jolted me:

“According to Democracy Docket’s case tracker, there are about 170 active voting and election cases nationwide. Unfortunately, the majority of those cases (roughly 55%) are anti-voting cases that seek to make it harder to vote…”

Wait–who are these Bad Guys trying to keep Americans from voting? Will the feds crack down on them?

Nope. The Feds ARE the Bad Guys now. Says Marc:

“…One of the most important new developments this year is the Trump DOJ’s emergence as one of the most prolific sources of anti-voting litigation. In less than a year, the Department of Justice has filed 25 anti-voting lawsuits. While pro-democracy attorneys often found ourselves allied with the DOJ in the past, we are now forced to oppose them to prevent the federal government from trampling on voting rights.”

Joyce and Marc talking [Courtesy Civil Discourse]

“Okay, Gretchen,” you say, “What does this have to do with harvesting?”

Glad you asked. Because here’s the part that made me realize, even someone’s apolitical son, cousin or sister-in-law might want to know this.

When Joyce asked Marc how our federal government is going about the nitty-gritty of voter suppression, here’s what he told her:

“Trump’s Department of Justice is seeking a comprehensive database of sensitive personal information on virtually every person who might vote in 2026 and 2028. This includes names, addresses, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. In some states, it includes a voter’s race. In most places, it includes party registration, which elections a person has voted in, the method of voting they used, and whether they have moved.“

In other words: they’re harvesting our data. ALL of it. Not this kind of harvest…

…but this:

Marc Elias goes on:

“Never before has the federal government sought all this information from nearly every state. Never before has the DOJ sued more than 20 states (most of which lean Democratic) to obtain it...We are seeing the weaponization of federal power against American voters, and I think this voter data collection effort by Trump’s DOJ could become the major story of the 2026 election cycle.”

So, ask your disaffected son, your cousin, your sister-in-law: “Is that what ‘harvest’ means to you? Are you comfortable with your own government harvesting your voting data in order to keep themselves in power?”

If their answer is No…maybe suggest they look into Civil Discourse, or any other site that relies on lawyers, teachers and historians.

If YOU want to know more, join Substack and tune in to Joyce’s upcoming conversation with Marc, January 15th @ noon EST, where they will dive further into the questions of what’s going on with the data harvest, and what we can do about it.

They may not appreciate the question. But politics is choosing them, regardless of whether they choose politics. And as Leonard Cohen wrote, “There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.“

And as Joyce Vance says, “We’re in this together.” Let’s try to keep the conversation going.