It’s been a while since I posted…..actually, it was just prior to the last No Kings Mass Protest in June 2025.  And now on the heels of the next No Kings Mass Protest, I feel it important to share my reflections on where we are in this moment, and why this protest is so much more important than the last one.

I have been thinking back to how so many of us felt in the 107 days of the Kamala Harris campaign for President in 2024, and in particular, during the Democratic National Convention (which I wrote about here). We were inspired, we were joyful, and we believed in the power of change – and we thought we were on the cusp of that change.  The truth is, we were on the cusp of change – but it was not what we thought was coming.  What we felt was real!  But how we were going to get there was not fully understood!  Sometimes change works in mysterious ways.  Sometimes we need to step back, and look at things in a different light – from a different perspective. 

I think many of us would agree that some of the most transformative and healing periods in our lives, have come first with sorrow, hurt, anger, and the gradual breaking apart of things we believed in or held dear.  And in those moments, we learned a great deal more about ourselves (our strengths and weaknesses and convictions), as well as who people really were around us (who was there, and who was not, who really saw and valued us, and who did not). We are in that moment now!  And this is why I have not lost my faith in where we are going! But, as with all healing and transformation, it requires each of us to have an active role in the change process!  

I am just as convinced now, as I have always been, that there are far more loving and caring people in the country and in the world, than we know!  We have a hard time seeing that or accepting that, because so many of these people work silently, quietly behind the scenes within their communities, wherever they are most needed.  They are not showy or famous, but they have far-reaching, life-changing influence! They do for others, and they do it from the heart! These people exist all over our country.  And now, they are releasing that invisibility to more publicly take a stand and rise to the moment which is calling them to action!  They are those neighbors and co-workers and bosses protecting people from being kidnapped by nameless, armed, masked men posing as federal agents without legal warrants to support their actions; they are the people showing up in inflatable cartoon suits or dancing or playing music or sharing donuts to show that their cities are not “war zones” in need of military action; they are the government employees refusing to broadcast political propaganda in airports or on government websites; they are the independent journalists sharing factual information that is being suppressed by legacy media; they are the government prosecutors refusing to pursue baseless charges, or judges following the law in their rulings despite threats to their well-being; they are the historians educating the public on what our history teaches us in these moments and how our ancestors responded in similar situations; they are the consumers who refuse to spend their money on companies or organizations that give in to authoritarian tactics; they are the teachers and educators and universities that refuse to silence the voices or experiences of their students; they are everyday people showing kindness to others and adding joy or hope to someone’s day.  Collectively, they are powerful, and they are making a difference.  And in the United States, we also have another term for them:  “We the People”. 

I am willing to bet that if each of us were to think about who we were in October 2024, we would say that we have changed significantly in the past year, and see and understand so much more now about ourselves and others as a result of events we have witnessed in 2025! And I think this is true for people on all sides of the political spectrum.  A year ago, we were a very divided country, and we would have remained so even under a Harris presidency, because half of the country would have believed the election was stolen “again”.  We can’t underestimate how much decades of misinformation and manipulated “facts” have caused us to move beyond simply having differences of opinion, to now hating one another for our differences and, in some cases, justifying violence towards those who do not share the same views.  This hate has been carefully and methodically manufactured over time.  And when we can no longer agree on “facts”, then we can no longer agree on how to live together in the same country.  It is a way to break apart a democracy, and replace it with an authoritarian form of government.  And this brings me back to the moment that we are now in…….

We have experienced a lot over the past 10 months! It has been ugly and cruel and horrific to witness!  We have seen what happens when a government breaks down, when guardrails don’t hold, and when power is corrupted and permitted to run amuck!  But we have also seen so many examples of courage and patriotism as people put themselves in harm’s way to protect and defend others.  This should give us all tremendous hope that if individuals can do great things alone, then together, we can do amazing things to save and rebuild our country!

But there is also something else happening that is really important to acknowledge.  And that is that everything happening in the country is being experienced by everyone collectively – by people in red states, as well as in blue states.  And this shared experience may just be the spark for transformation because a shared, collective experience can serve to break through the misinformation and reveal how much we may also have in common.  For example, (a) Breaking the government and firing all federal employees destroys the jobs of people in both political parties, destroys services and safety measures we have counted on, and damages national security; (b) Not funding congressionally approved programs results in no emergency money to rebuild from natural disasters, no support to maintain rural hospitals, no research to find cures for cancer or diseases, no supplemental food for poor children, and rising healthcare costs, etc.; (c) Politicizing justice and militarizing law enforcement denies all of us of our rights; (d) Bullying trade partners increases prices at home and destroys trade relationships and opportunities Americans counted on (such as soybean farmers losing their ability to sell their goods); and (e) Eliminating climate measures and reverting back to reliance on fossil fuels results in much higher utility bills.

Now here’s the hard truth of the moment…..

Remember Project 2025?  I wrote about it here, and described it in this way:  “Briefly, Project 2025 imposes a radical social and religious order on all citizens, and utilizes authoritarian measures to maintain control of US citizens and non-citizens, such as domestic military deployments, detention camps, mass deportations, political purging of the federal workforce, and political weaponization of federal law enforcement. Some of its goals are to impose restrictions on the rights and freedoms for certain defined groups, increase control over women’s reproductive health, end secular public education and provide public funding for religious schools, rollback climate action measures, remove safety nets (such as Social Security and Medicare), and engage in numerous privatization schemes.  Additionally, it would raise the retirement age, eliminate unions and all worker protections, eliminate no-fault divorce, ban all contraceptives and implement a total ban on abortions, condemn single mothers and only recognize “traditional” families, eliminate regulations on big business and oil, encourage arctic drilling, use the military to break up protests, dismantle the FBI, Homeland Security, FDA, EPA, NOAA and more.”  Sound familiar?  In 10 months, we have already seen more than half of Project 2025 implemented!  The regime is moving very quickly! We will be fully living in an authoritarian country if the remaining goals of Project 2025 are implemented, and we will no longer be a functioning democracy! 

But there is hope!  We can prevent Project 2025 from being fully implemented!

And this is why your participation in the “No Kings 2” day of mass public protest on Saturday, October 18th is so important!  Over 5 million people protested in June against the Project 2025 movement towards authoritarianism and the desire to essentially install the equivalent of “a King”.  We have to show this regime that “We the People” are much larger and more resilient than they believe us to be! We already know they fear this, because they are trying to scare people into not showing up for this protest.  This is why we MUST show up!  “We the People” have to stop the momentum towards full authoritarianism!  We are the guardrail that is essential to maintain and keep strong when the other (structural) guardrails are failing.  Visibly showing up in large numbers as peacefully protesting Americans in every state of the Union (and around the world) is very effective at destroying the manufactured narrative that the protestors are somehow insignificant or Marxists or Communists or terrorists or people who simply “hate America”.  Visibly showing up in large numbers reflects in a powerful way, just where the power actually lives in a democracy! To be effective and change-making, the numbers showing up for THIS protest must be 2X, 3X, 5X or so much greater than the numbers who showed up in June!  We have to show there is momentum, and we have to powerfully convince politicians, judges, the military, oligarchs, etc., (through the image of massive numbers of people) that the American people strongly support democracy and, despite our differences, speak with one voice that we do not accept dictators, kings or the goals of Project 2025 – all of which steal the power from “the people” and hand it entirely to a powerful few!

All of us need to continue to rise to the moment. And this is one really important moment! We have been doing this so well quietly in our communities and lives, and it is having an impact! But we also need moments of public emphasis and clarity of purpose.  When we show up in enormous numbers, we give strength and authority to others who may risk a great deal by standing up to authoritarians (such as the military) that we are on their side and will back them up!  We have this opportunity to take a stand on Saturday, October 18th! If you can make it, please be there and make your voice heard! If you have not registered for the protest, you can find information on locations and times at NoKings.org.  And whether you are able to make it to a protest or not, please be sure to wear something yellow (i.e., hat, scarf, jacket, etc.) to show solidarity! (Per Indivisible: People around the world have used color to show collective strength in the face of oppression throughout history. Our movement is no different: We align ourselves with this historic context while taking a step into our shared future.)

In Solidarity!!