THE COUNTRY SHOWED UP

The point now is to persevere

No one knows for sure how many people showed up on Saturday for No Kings Day, but clearly it was at least in the hundreds of thousands. And the numbers themselves don’t really matter. What matters is what the rallies stood for, and the tiny explosions of hope that filled the hearts of those who were there.

The age of traditional political organizing has been superseded by an age of political theatre, and No Kings Day was political theatre at its best. But I mean that in a good sense. This wasn’t just a show. It was a genuine demonstration of the love, anger, frustration, hopes and yearnings of millions of people - I’m counting those who drove by honking! - who cannot believe our eyes at what is happening in America.

I interviewed quite a few people at the protest I attended, and posted the interviews on my social media channels. A bit later today I’ll post a composite of them here. Almost everyone I talked to said much the same thing: they’re horrified at what’s happening, and don’t have as much hope as they wish they had that we will be able to turn things around.

All right, I’ll give it to you that I don’t think Stephen Miller lost any sleep last night. President Trump only knows what he saw on FOX. But what they can see is a very different thing than what really happened, because the important stuff occurred on the inside. People felt they were not alone. People knew what it was to feel patriotic. People could see and feel what it means to know you’re part of a mass movement. Of course officialdom will pooh pooh the whole thing. Johnson will pretend it meant little to nothing. The administration will continue with its cruel and illegal plans, as though this was a just a momentary show of pathetic complaint among lunatic lefties and losers. Lord knows, I’ve been called worse. But I’m starting to see that in a crazy world, being called crazy sometimes means that you’re sane.

The point now is to persevere. Dictators are not overthrown by one rally, or two, or six. The organizers of No Kings Day deserve tremendous praise, and I’m eager to hear what they’re planning next. But I do know this. Today we had a taste of what it means to show up. Tomorrow the key will be to follow up. The energy should not be squandered, it should be shored up. Put in your tank. However much energy you exerted by being there, that times ten or a fifty is the power that’s now yours because you were.

Await instructions, whatever that means. It will come through your heart. We are the immune cells and we’ll know what we’re meant to do next. Each of us has a part to play. Every voice that’s raised is a voice that matters. Today you marched; tomorrow, keep marching.

We don’t just need hope, we need courage. We need faith. In the words of Martin Luther King. Jr., “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Today was a first step, but may it be the first of many. Don’t just believe it; choose to see in your mind’s eye that the staircase is there.