(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



It isn’t inevitable [1]

['View Profile', 'Greg Dworkin']

Date: 2026-04-16  

On sovereign lands across Arizona, families are sitting with a new kind of fear.

The SNAP benefits that helped put food on the table — gone. Veterans who served this country waiting months to see a VA provider because the funding to serve them has been cut. TANF — the last safety net for families with nowhere else to turn — evaporated. Trump’s budget bill didn’t just cut programs. It sent a message to our communities: *this is just how it is now. Get used to it.*

We refuse to accept that.

—

**The Numbers Are Real — And So Is the Anger**

Over 400,000 Arizonans have lost SNAP benefits. These aren’t abstractions. They’re families we know, neighbors we organize alongside, elders who have already given so much and are now being told there’s nothing left for them. The anger in our communities is real. The fear is real. And the temptation to believe that nothing can change — that this is inevitable — is real too.

That’s the narrative we’re fighting.

Because fatalism is a political strategy. When people believe their vote doesn’t matter, when they believe the system is too broken to fix, they stay home. And when they stay home, the people making these cuts win.

—

**But Here’s What’s Also Real**

For three consecutive election cycles, Native voters across Arizona have outpaced the rest of the state in Democratic voter turnout increases. In the middle of hard times — not in spite of them.

That didn’t happen by accident. It happened because voters in our communities showed up. They knocked doors, drove neighbors to the polls, and cast ballots for candidates who promised to fight for their families. Arizona Native Democrats has been on sovereign lands making sure those votes land, those voices count, and those candidates are held accountable.

The voters built that record. We just helped make sure the power got used.

—

**What We’re Up Against in 2026**

The cuts aren’t stopping. The narrative that this is all inevitable isn’t stopping either. And the communities we serve — on the Navajo Nation, across Apache County, throughout Arizona’s sovereign lands — are not communities that most campaigns bother to reach.

We do.

Our field team is on the ground doing voter education, petition signature collection, and outreach that connects anger to action. We’re not waiting for 2026 to start — we’re building the electorate now, one conversation at a time.

But we need resources to keep going.

—

**How You Can Help**

A $25 donation today keeps a field organizer in a community that no one else is reaching. It funds the voter education that turns fear into power. It’s the difference between a family that feels abandoned by the political process and one that knows exactly how to make their vote count.

This work is not inevitable. The outcomes are not predetermined. The families on Arizona’s sovereign lands are not giving up — and neither are we.

Support Arizona Native Democrats with your donation

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/4/16/800020969/community/it-isnt-inevitable/

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/