Millions of people have taken part in the "No Kings" demonstrations that have been held in every state in the nation. I understand that the picture above was taken at the State Capitol Building in Jefferson City, Missouri. It could have been taken in Santa Cruz, or in any one of 3,000 or more locations, throughout the United States, during the most recent "No Kings" protests, on March 28th. Well, I guess that's only true if we keep the focus on the people and the signs. We had a comparable crowd in Santa Cruz, with similar signs, but we don't have any marble columns like those shown in the background of the picture I have provided.
The three "No Kings" demonstrations, held nationwide, each one larger than the one before, were, in fact, "demonstrations." The point and purpose was to "demonstrate" what the people participating were thinking about - what they "cared about," what they objected to. These gatherings and marches demonstrated that there are lots of people (arguably the majority) who do not want a continuation of the kind of authoritarian and unilateral governmental action that our current president is providing.
Fair enough! "No Kings!"
But if "we, the people" are not willing to offload governmental decision-making and governmental action to a "Chief Executive," and particularly to one who seems to revel in the idea that he'd really like to be a king (and who also seems to think that he's a lot like that guy Jesus), that means that someone else has to step up to the plate.
You know who that means, right?
That means you! And me! And all of us! Everyday, ordinary people are the ones who need to step up. "Self-government," if we want to keep it, requires that we - each one of us - need to be personally engaged in the political life of the city, county, state, and nation in which we reside.
Being honest, how many of us are fulfilling our obligations?
If we are not spending an hour or so a day - or maybe something like one day every week - working on what we might normally call "politics," then we have not quite fathomed the implications of that "No Kings" expression.
A government "of the people, by the people, and for the people," does have to be "BY" the people. That is, in fact, the most important part of Lincoln's famous phrase.
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