Demonstrating Peacefully to Defend Our Constitution and the Rule of Law

Tomorrow, like in June in Reno, I will be at a No Kings rally, and I will be flying my American flag. I will be there not because of partisan politics or because of any specific policy change that President Trump has backed or that Congress has passed lawfully, although I disagree with many of them.

I will be at the No Kings rally because I am a patriot and I have a responsibility to my country. I believe in personal freedom and our right as free people to govern ourselves. And I understand that our personal freedom exists because of our Constitution and the rule of law.

The Constitution guarantees each of us our freedom and the rule of law ensures that the Constitution is upheld. The need to protect the Constitution is why the President, Congress, and Supreme Court all have different authorities and we have a system of checks and balances.

When leaders in any branch of our government move beyond the authority the Constitution gives that branch, it is the responsibility of leaders in the other branches to stop them. And when those leaders fail to do their job, it is left to We The People to ensure the Constitution holds.

And here we are. From day 1, as he promised, our President has gleefully ignored the Constitution, and Congresspeople who are loyal to him over our Constitution, including our representative in Oregon’s 2nd district – Cliff Bentz – have abandoned their posts and let him run roughshod over our Constitution, trampling our personal freedoms in the process.

For its part, our judicial system has attempted to hold him and his loyalists to account as lower court judges appointed by presidents from both parties have upheld the Constitution. But our Supreme Court, also led by loyalists to the President, has handed down rulings upholding the President’s actions in obvious violation of our Constitution, shocking judges across the nation.

All elected leaders at all levels of our government who support the President’s unconstitutional actions are betraying the American people and violating their sacred oath of office.

For me, I will be at the peaceful No Kings rally because I am a proud American, I believe in our right and ability to govern ourselves (although we don’t always get that perfectly right), and I am serious about keeping my oath of office to support and defend our Constitution.

I will also be there because my government is now rounding up swaths of people without probable cause. My government is allowing a president to use the authority of his office to target his political opponents and silence those who speak out against him. Most of all, I will be there because my government is operating outside the law and threatening the country I love. As a citizen in a democracy, I am responsible for the actions of my government.

But I take heart in knowing I will be flanked at the peaceful No Kings rally by patriots of all political persuasions, veterans who know their oath to the Constitution has no expiration date, and others who are starting to realize the size of this threat to the founding principles of our nation.

Because We The People are realizing, one by one, that our nation is in real trouble. And We The People are the last line of defense against a would-be dictator who promised he would come after our Constitution on day 1 and has done exactly that.

To find a rally near you, visit: https://www.nokings.org/