The Coming Storm: Protecting Public Servants and Their Essential Expertise

Building a movement to preserve democracy

What happens when democracy's defenders - career civil servants, public health scientists, professors, community program leaders - become targets? And how do we preserve their essential expertise and leadership for our future?

We're entering a critical moment for the public servants who maintain America's health, education, and civic infrastructure. Having worked alongside federal colleagues, academics, and community leaders for decades, I understand that their expertise protects public health, promotes environmental safety, upholds legal standards, and maintains the complex systems democracy requires to function. Now thousands face being labeled enemies of the state they've sworn to serve, and their vital knowledge risks being lost.

Political philosopher Jason Stanley shows how fascist movements follow a specific playbook - first target educated 'elites' and civil servants as enemies, then undermine faith in expertise, finally replace professional bureaucracy with political loyalists. But understanding this strategy also reveals how to resist it.

Individual career coaching won't meet this historic challenge. The way to preserve democracy is to build movements that keep expertise alive, maintain institutional knowledge, and strengthen the bonds between those who serve the public good. As Lincoln reminded us at Gettysburg, our task is to ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth.

Trump's rhetoric has already spurred violence - from January 6th to threats against poll workers. Now his rallies brand federal workers as 'enemies within,' DeSantis purges higher education faculty, and Musk promises mass layoffs of civil servants. Vilification of federal workers and public sector servants is rising from all corners of the MAGA falsehood factory. This isn't random; dismantling public service expertise is key to authoritarian control. I worry we will soon see an uptick in threats against federal workers, professors and community nonprofit leaders as the Trump administration assumes power and continues amplifying these harmful lies.

For forty years, I've built communities that support people through profound change - from housing programs for rural families to employment initiatives for autistic youth, from re-entry support for inmates to career development for public service professionals. Each effort showed me that lasting change requires both individual support and collective identity formation.

This blog will continue exploring how personal troubles connect to systemic issues, but I'm building something more urgent - a movement to preserve democracy by supporting those whose expertise is critical to the public good. I'm creating a community where federal civil servants and other public service leaders can find support, share wisdom, and discover new ways to serve as they face targeted displacement.

My journey from tradesman to organizer to researcher to consultant taught me that times of upheaval, while threatening, can open unexpected paths for impact. Some will need to protect their families. Others will discover new arenas to apply their expertise. All can contribute to preserving the knowledge our democracy needs to survive and rebuild.

These transitions run deeper than career changes. Public servants facing displacement confront betrayal, anxiety about colleagues, family strain, and lost sense of purpose - challenges that standard career resources ignore. If you're navigating these waters, I invite you to join a growing community of leaders preserving public service expertise. While my formal program launches in 2025, I'm currently having confidential conversations with those ready to be part of this larger mission. Message me to explore possibilities.

Like many of you, I'm choosing to act rather than just analyze. Our democracy needs both - clear understanding of the systemic challenges and a powerful network of leaders ready to preserve and apply their expertise in new ways. Together, we can protect the knowledge and values that sustain democratic institutions, even in turbulent times.

*The views expressed here reflect my personal analysis as a researcher and coach, and do not represent the positions of my employer, clients, or affiliated organizations.