Have You seen our rallies? Have you watched us March? Do we look broken?

Ha!

John Lewis “Good Trouble” protest - Petoskey, Michigan, July 17, 2025 - Author’s photo.

All the doom and gloom: The sky is falling! We’re done! Democracy is dead! There’s nothing we can do! Oh, woe is us. Woe is US!!!

I know. I’ve been there. If I tell you I haven’t, all you have to do is go back and look at some of my essays and my notes. I’ve been that person who sees the steady, malicious takeover by a rotten regime led by a stunningly outrageous, mean clown on his last legs, despite the efforts of an opposition that is far more worthy and infinitely nicer, and I’m often inclined to just forget the whole thing and take to soap operas and romance novels and boxes of bon bons—whatever they are.

What stops me? What keeps me going, even when I’m hitting the keys so hard my fingertips threaten to bleed, knowing in my heart anything I write won’t make the slightest bit of difference? I’ll tell you what does it: the thought of crowds of people doing the same thing—keeping the momentum going, fighting the good fight, flying flags, carrying signs, shouting at politicians and judges and sloppy toadies holding offices they neither deserve nor have the slightest ability to handle, unearthing evidence against them that may someday actually make an impact—and doing it against all odds, with only the slimmest chance in hell it will ever, ever mean something.

I find my joy these days in being in the midst of all of that, knowing there are good people out there who haven’t given up, and won’t give up. I go looking for signs that they still have something to say. I cheer them on, just as they cheer me on. We’re a mutual admiration society and it’s a good thing. We need each other. We need to know the other exists and there’s still life in us, still what we hope are infinite amounts of energy, because we’ll need it. We know that, too.

Yet almost every day I come across someone who thinks we’re foolish to even try. They tell me so in that sighing and impatient way that indicates I’m just too stupid to see what’s right in front of me: the regime has won. They are the victors, in charge of everything, including Congress and the courts, the only balances we could once count on and now we can’t. The constitution is in shreds. That’s it. Done.

And then there’s the coup de gras: And maybe we deserve it. Us! America! We deserve this crazy shit! We deserve to be destroyed! We’ve been bad. So bad there’s no redemption. If only we had done a thousand things they would have wanted instead of those thousands of things they didn’t like. Never mind the thousands of things we did get done despite the extreme and well-organized opposition by the Republicans—that regime now in charge of undoing everything good we’ve ever seen happen under the Democrats.

Well, it’s enough to send us under the covers, sucking our thumbs, babbling in our beers, whining in our wines, chugging mocha drinks like there’s no tomorrow. But the miracle is—we didn’t stop. We haven’t stopped. We’re out there every chance we get, those of us who still see signs of life in the Good Old USA, and so far we’ve managed to ignore the naysayers and just move on as if there really is a good chance we’ve got this.

Is that so wrong? To believe we’ve got this? What if we have and we blow it by not working at it hard enough until it’s too late?

Do we just give up? That would be crazy.

But worry not, we’re not doing that. We’re getting ready for more protests, more boycotts, more stoppages, more anything we can think of that will slow those maniacs down.

So let’s say you’re one of those who thinks none of that will work—especially those silly marches and rallies. People dressing up and carrying signs, singing and chanting and carrying on, as if such silliness will ever get through to the bad guys and make them see the light.

No offense, friends, but you’re missing the point. You clearly haven’t been to one, haven’t stood in those crowds, haven’t felt the energy, the joy, the commitment, the determination. It’s like no other feeling in the world.

We are one in that crowd. Every button, every tee shirt, every cap, every sign tells us we’re the good guys on a quest for a better America. Together. A community so strong nothing will break us. We can do this!

Let me tell you about the Trump guys who marched through our crowd at the last protest—the one commemorating the great John Lewis’s goodness and heroism. There were three of them, maybe four, and they were burly and camouflaged and MAGA capped. One of them carried a huge American flag, and they were chanting “Trump! Trump! Trump!” This is what we did: We laughed. A woman shouted, “We love you!” One of our own began the chant, “Tell me what democracy looks like!” and we all answered, “This is what democracy looks like!” The chanting moved along with them, never letting up, and I lost sight of them, but if they thought we would be intimidated or even affected by them, I think they got the message. They were nothing but a source of entertainment. And it felt good.

Throughout the rally, a woman using a walker moved up and down the sidewalk handing out gifts provided by the Northern Michigan chapter of Indivisible. Among them were packets of flower seeds, a honey bee mix to be planted next spring. Well, my heart warmed! I thought, never in a million years would this happen at a Trump rally.

Again. The point. We think in terms of good. It’s who we are. And when we come together, we share in who we are.

Everything about those marches and rallies feels good. That’s the mission. A coming together, when it’s our call, our message, our camaraderie, our moment. We need this. We need each other.

I encourage everyone who is one of us to find a rally or a march and join up. Go there. You won’t be sorry, and you’ll add to the numbers which, as we grow, will send a message that can’t be ignored: We’re out there by the millions and we won’t back down. We won’t be frightened off. We won’t be intimidated. We won’t be stopped.

The regime needs to hear us and see us, but our potential community needs to hear us and see us, too. The more we show up, the more they will show up.

Bottom line: It’s good to be us. Let’s flaunt it. Every chance we get.

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