March 8th, 2026
In trying times, there is a desire that seems to overwhelm many. In the fight to end slavery, in the fight against the Third Reich, and now in the fight against the Trump administration, there's one temptation that tends to overpower the will of righteousness: giving up.
It's profoundly easy. Democracy is dying, or, according to some, already dead. I am one, and they are powerful. It's not worth it.
But democracy doesn't die by the will of oligarchs. Democracy doesn't die upon the election of an autocrat. Democracy dies at the hands of quitters.
Since the invention of democracy, it has never been given to us; it has been fought for. And a democratic system is not maintained by a higher authority; it is maintained by the refusal to concede. Democracy is not a matter of how our government operates, but rather how we may force it to operate for us. And so long as we refuse to kneel, democracy is alive.
The independence of our union was not granted, it was won. The right for Black Americans to vote was not a gift, it was a reward. The right for women in America to vote was not handed, it was earned. And now, our continued right to direct our own government will not be given to us. We will fight for it, because that is what democracy means.
Authoritarianism thrives on one thing, and it's complacency. They want you to be scared. They want you to feel powerless. But, as the war rages against our fundamental rights, there is one thing that must always be remembered: democracy only dies when we let it.