He once claimed he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it. He said he could grab women by the genitals and they’d let him. Now he’s routinely ordering the military to murder civilian non-combatants on boats, and they are doing it. He’s having masked thugs violently round up people in American cities and whisking them away to secret prisons.
Earlier this month, seven million of us took part in thousands of demonstrations across this country to protest his heinous behavior. He responded by releasing an AI video of himself, crowned and defecating on the American people. And now, he’s illegally demolishing the White House. The People’s House; NOT his. But why quibble over legal details when he has already ignored the law so many times, with no repercussions?
Remember, he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it? Well, he
probably wasn’t wrong.
It should be pretty obvious by now that no one is coming to the rescue of American democracy. The system of checks and balances written into our Constitution only works if good people, true servants of our nation, who are committed to democratic rule, enforce those systems. It is glaringly obvious that this cannot be said of those in the majority of Congress and the Supreme Court. So, Congress and the Supreme Court will not save us. (But kudos to the brave Congress people and the legions of lower courts that are trying their best.)
The mainstream news media is too cowed by his threats and lawsuits to cover his glaringly undemocratic, unconstitutional actions in anything but the most superficial and glancing ways. Corporate America has, more often than not, put the almighty dollar above doing the right thing. So, we cannot rely on the mainstream media, nor corporate America to help us in our hour of need.
So, who will save our democracy? We will save our democracy. We will simply refuse to give up. We will keep resisting. We will keep showing up — in whatever ways we can. By protesting out in the streets. By boycotting and choosing very carefully where we spend our money. (Please look at the corporations and billionaires that are enabling this madness and hold them accountable). By being citizen journalists, recording and exposing and spreading the truth about what’s really happening. By protecting the most vulnerable. And all of us must keep exposing the injustices, cruelty, and moral depravity of this administration, over and over again. Because regardless of political affiliations or party, we all know better. We are better than this.
When history looks back on this time, perhaps they will call it the “We the People Revolution.” We the people are rising up against this hateful authoritarian regime. And we the people will ultimately topple it. Then we the people will rebuild our democracy to be stronger, gentler, and wiser. Because we the people will have learned a valuable and painful lesson: It can happen here. It is happening here.
But we are not going to fall into line and we are not going to give up. We will not quietly give in. We the people will restore our democracy. And it will be better than before.
Eve Brown-Waite is a mother, writer, activist and co-founder of the League of Lady Liberties. She lives in Gill.