A Congress of [No] Kings

Today will be a pivotal inflection point in the this want-to-be tyrant's agenda. With the types of numbers that will be out today, it's going to be wild. Even shutting down I-5 won't stop it.

The. Revolution. Will. Not. Be. Televised.

People are starting to get it now, and not just in the United States. So far, I’ve seen marches worldwide with anti-Trump and/or No Kings posters. It’s been surreal to see how quickly and how large this thing is blowing up.

We are becoming more aware of our history, and we are refusing to backpedal just so that a few billionaires can steal even more of our money. We’re tired of the corruption, we’re tired of the lies even more. And more than that, we’re tired of our tax dollars being used against us. That’s my money. I’m not okay with it being used to pay someone to terrorize me. In what kind of world does that make sense? It’s asinine.

Above all, we believe in the rule of law. That’s what No Kings really means. Some, and we know who, give lip service to the idea that “nobody is above the law.”

But this is America.

Of all the things we tend to disagree on, like what religion we should all be practicing, or which type of “ethnic” food is the best, or which football team we like the most, the number one most American thing we agree on: nobody is above the law.

That’s what the current regime fail to misunderstand, particularly Trump and his fascist ilk. They buy into their own narrative that women are weak and easily controlled, that minorities have no ambition, that [insert sexist, racist, misogynist trope], and fall victim to their perception of their own specialness.

They are not special.

That spirit, that desire to be free and to be in control of one’s own destiny, inasmuch as it is possible in civilized society, is in the air we breathe. It’s in the water we drink. It courses through the blood in our veins. The spirit of this nation isn’t based in myopic hatred of others, but in the desire for self-governance. We believe that we can make a better world for us and our children. That’s why every single family that immigrated to this nation ended up here, isn’t it? That incessant push toward a better life?

They rule by our permission. -Andrew Sweet

This is what they’ve forgotten: they rule by our permission. We are not subjects who desperately cling to the hems of the cloaks of tyrants. We are the power, and by this march today, we show the world and the corrupt regime trying to ruin America, that ruining America can’t be done. I say that confidently.

Why?

Because, just as Thomas Paine referred to in the Rights of Man, the true strength of America, as it had been in France in 1791 when he was writing his response to the bootlickers of the time, who were content to carry water for the ‘landed aristocracy’, the oligarchs of the time. He said that the revolution couldn’t destroy France, as the landed aristocrats argued, because the power in France wasn’t in the government.

It was in the people: in the bars where they sang songs, in the banks where they did trade, in the fields where they worked the land for food, and the shops where they sold their goods. His argument, as always, was that the people made the country work, and without the landed aristocracy, they would be no worse off. In fact, he argued, they would be better for it.

The above is true for America, and for any nation’s citizens who have the spoons or balls to recognize and exercise their strength. This is yet another of the reasons No Kings is so important. It reminds those who think we’ll be satisfied with their leftovers where the true power is. It reminds them that money is just a thing, a convenience, and a tool. All of the money in the world won’t keep a country running without the workers’ consent, and the workers are rising!

The. Revolution. Will. Not. Be. Televised.

Because to televise the revolution will not teach those who need to learn about the true nature of power. Watching from the sidelines won’t make them nervously clutch at their pearls while they wonder desperately whether they’ve finally pushed us too far. Soundbites on social media won’t intimidate the ruling class back into subjugation. Dry network television interviews won’t convince dictator wannabes that their time is coming to a close.

No, if you want the ruling class to be afraid, and they should always fear us, then you need to be in the streets.

I’m not calling for violence. It’s simply unnecessary. Like Mike Johnson’s wandering excuses for not seating Representative-elect Grijalva, they pretend at a lot. But seeing millions of people in the streets is sobering for even the most hardened dictator-wanna-be, and their sycophants have to be wondering whether their gamble is paying off like they’d hoped.

Be safe. Be courteous. Be kind. And be fierce.

Whose America? Our America. That’s whose.

Any willing to share it are welcome, but we will absolutely, unequivocally, tolerate No Kings.