Never Imagined It Would Be Like This

Apr 13, 2025

Like an increasing number of Americans across the country last weekend, I spent part of my Saturday on April 5th at a workshop held in a church before participating in a “Hands Off” demonstration at a nearby park. It was a decidedly unpleasant, cold wintry day. Was it worth it?

A friend of mine the next day in a coffee shop asked me if I thought public demonstrations had any significant impact on bringing about actual change. It’s a valid question regardless of the reason or reasons it might have been asked, but one I think we should put to ourselves periodically.

Sure, one can bring up and quote Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King or for that matter John Lewis and Rosa Parks. How about the iconic Boston Tea Party in 1773. In 1688 a small group of Quakers in Germantown, Pennsylvania protested against slavery:

“This is to ye Monthly Meeting held at Richard Worrell’s. These are the reasons why we are against the traffick of men-body, as foloweth. Is there any that would be done or handled at this manner? viz., to be sold or made a slave for all the time of his life? How fearful and faint-hearted are many on sea, when they see a strange vessel,- being afraid it should be a Turk, and they should be taken, and sold for slaves into Turkey. Now what is this better done, as Turks doe? Yea, rather it is worse for them, which say they are Christians; for we hear that ye most part of such negers are brought hither against their will and consent, and that many of them are stolen…”

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I probably attended my first “demonstration” more than fifty years ago. Yeah, but what about 2025 in the United States? I know I responded to my friend’s question without hesitation. NO. Change requires so much more than a clever sign or a crowd of people, no matter how motivated. But it does matter, a lot.

It’s about how you create and how you use the moment you have, which is not always so simple and so obvious. This is especially the case if our government were to actually suspend the Constitution in the name of—whatever.

How Did We Get Here

How often have we been hearing, again and again ad nauseam, “I didn’t vote for this,” or “How can this be happening,” or “What about due process. We live by the rule of law in the U.S.” A good response was offered by Christina Green in the NYT recently that is at the end of my post.

Green, a political scientist that studies Black ethnic politics and public opinion, points out that the folks expressing a kind of surprise about what is happening in the United States are mostly white and liberal and not “used to feeling this fear of arbitrary, brutal state authority.” But this is not at all surprising to anyone that knows about the Black experience in America, from the very beginning according to Green. The only disagreement I have with Christina Green is that the “surprise” today encompasses far more than white liberals.

Oh I think our “Founding Fathers” were a remarkable collection of men that arose in the late 18th century and ended up creating something quite remarkable for its time. But it was never about establishing equality in any sense that we might understand it today.

But in 2025 it is a very real segment of American society that, for me, would clearly like to create in one form or another, a dystopian-like-Plato’s Republic for a new 21st century authoritarian United States. Do you find this hard to imagine?

While ideally no one ought to be completely shocked that these ideas persist at the present, we should be concerned that so many Americans have little sense or understanding of their country’s authentic history, the one where real people of all types have interacted with each other on this land for a long time. This historical ignorance is a problem. But perhaps not so glaringly obvious as some of us like to think it is.

**(Any level of education beyond secondary schoo**l)

What Do We Know About What If

Something like forty-one new anti-protest bills across some 22 states have been introduced in the past few months. They include some serious prison time and major fines. Yes, it’s very much about first amendment rights to the freedom of speech, assembly and petition.

Will they all be enacted? Probably not. Might some of them be watered down? It’s likely. Could a few remain in place? It’s well within the realm of possibility. Take a casual look at some of the proposals offered up by certain state legislatures. Are you aware of what is being proposed in your own state? And of course, who is proposing it?

As difficult as it may be to contemplate, best realize right now that the unexpected knock at your door could be more than mere hyperbolic paranoia. I know, I know it seems so unlikely doesn’t it. After all, you’re not an immigrant or a foreign visitor or of a “dubious nature,” and this is a country with the rule of law, and that legal phrase, er, due process, I think it’s called.

The truth is that men are tired of liberty. (Benito Mussolini)

The Insurrection Act is a curious law that began in the era of powdered wigs, muskets and Jefferson’s iconic yeoman farmers. It was enacted in 1807 and is, in reality, a collection of different statutes created by Congress between 1792 and 1871.

The problem today is that The Insurrection Act of 1807 doesn’t define precisely or limit when it might be used. A president has a lot of power to decide when and where to deploy military forces domestically inside the U.S. The other—not so small a matter—is the Insurrection Act does not clearly define what constitutes an insurrection, a rebellion or domestic violence.

This becomes more concerning when the Legislative branch has essentially relinquished its constitutional responsibility, especially the president’s own political party, and corporate America is by in large frightened of its own shadow.

For major law firms, those big, “prestigious” ones in particular, will they stand up and defend our supposed cherished Constitution or merely grovel and run to make a “deal” with this current American government, led by a felon and his assorted assemblage of enablers, billionaires and henchmen.

Last but certainly not the least, as our “guardrails” start to crumble, is our Supreme Court. We shall see what the John Roberts court ends up doing. Best spend your time on productive endeavors that will strengthen democratic institution, while the Supreme Court weighs the pros and cons of supporting our 238 year old Constitution.

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You Will Have To Decide In One Way Or Another

I believe it’s going to be difficult to ultimately sit on the fence or just hunker down to see which way the wind is blowing; however, I expect to see a fair amount of “hunkering down” on the part of our overindulged, privileged class.

While I’m not personally interested in returning to a kind of stable status quo where everything remains in place because it’s familiar, I need to be clear on, not merely what I’m against, but what I am truly for and then work with others to make it happen. This will extend beyond my lifetime. Do we all know what we are for, beyond ourselves?