Like so many others I attended a “No Kings” protest rally this weekend. It was exhilarating to see all the proud patriots that turned out in the small town of Atascadero, and across the nation and the world. Millions of people protesting the rise of authoritarianism in the USA and beyond.

I couldn’t help feeling that the great patriots of old, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, would be standing with us if they were here today. We are picking up where our forefathers and mothers left off when they overthrew King George and created a Constitution whose checks and balances would keep another king from wrenching our democracy away from us. Trump is pulling out all the stops to do so, but We the People are pouring out into the streets to protest his attempts, to defend our democracy and the Constitution.

I’m proud to be part of that. And while there’s still so much more that needs to be done, now is the time to celebrate. I feel so heartened. I can’t imagine that any one of the people I saw out there on the streets joyously protesting Trump’s authoritarianism will stop doing so until he is defeated and our country set free.

I’m sharing some photos below from the protest I attended. But two I borrowed from the internet: The one at the top of this post from Wisconsin proclaiming, “This is what Democracy looks like”; and the very last photo from a 93-year old woman whose sign tells us who we are doing this for.