CURE News 3-24-26: A Plea to All Americans to attend No Kings on March 28th

[CURE News]

Appearing in today's 3-24-26 News-Gazette:

My Turn | A plea to all Americans

The third “No Kings” protests will occur nationwide on Saturday. A local protest will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. outside the Champaign County Courthouse in Urbana. I urge all people who love our American freedoms to attend.

There is a danger in the land. Donald Trump, a would-be autocrat, has his hands on the reins of power, and he’s doing everything he can to accumulate the authority of a king. He seeks to take unto himself all the powers of the Congress and the courts.

He has successfully kowtowed the Republican members of Congress; they have become nothing more than muzzled sheep who remain mute as he seizes powers that rightfully belong to Congress. He deprives the courts of the power to protect our rights by having his Department of Justice lie to judges, and when Trump doesn’t like a court’s decision, his administration simply ignores it and continues to violate our rights without shame.

If you doubt my words, then consider the words of Trump. In January, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he told the world, “Sometimes, you need a dictator.”

Just like a dictator, Trump has used the power of the federal government to seek retribution against his political opponents and critics. He has repeatedly demanded the criminal prosecution of political rivals and investigations of media that expose his lies. Trump demanded the prosecution of members of Congress who reminded our military that they must not obey unlawful orders.

We can all celebrate that ordinary citizens, when called to indict the congress members, refused to do so. Who in world history has persecuted their innocent critics? Presidents Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln? No. Chairman Joseph Stalin of Russia? Yes. President Trump? Yes.

Just look at the company our president keeps. Trump has praised President Vladimir Putin of Russia as a smart and strong leader. In fact, Putin is a tyrant and murderer of Ukrainian children. Trump’s administration has turned federal agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol into a masked secret police force that tramples on the constitutional rights of migrants and citizens alike.

Now Trump is going after our right to vote. In January, federal agents seized about 700 boxes of ballots and election records from Fulton County, Ga. Trump is desperately trying to get Congress to pass the SAVE Act, which will prevent people from using mail-in ballots and require voters to bring to the polling place birth certificates or other proof of citizenship. People who changed their names when they married will have a very difficult time proving they are citizens because their names no longer match their birth certificates. All this is intended to suppress the vote of American citizens. Again, I ask, what kind of president would seek to suppress the vote of his own people? President Dwight D. Eisenhower? No. President Putin? Yes. President Trump? Yes.

These autocratic actions are as un-American as any in our history. Democracy is the central idea of America. Americans have feared and despised the power of a king from the day our nation was born. The Americans who declared independence rejected the very idea of power accountable to no one.

James Madison, the principal architect of the Constitution, wrote that the accumulation of power in any single set of hands is “the very definition of tyranny.” The founders of our nation designed a system of checks and balances precisely because they feared that one person might someday try to claim the authority of a monarch.

Jefferson warned that democracy is not self-sustaining. He insisted it requires vigilance, participation and the courage to resist the growth of autocracy.

If we lose our appetite for democracy, we don’t just lose a system of government — we lose the soul of the republic. Illinois’ favorite son, Lincoln, warned that “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

Lincoln also said it is the people of America who must “overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” So, we cannot look to others to save our democracy and the rule of law. It is for us to stand up and be counted against all the outrages of our federal government. It is for us to demand that the president’s minions keep their hands off our elections. We, Americans, must unite to rescue ourselves.

So come out and stand for your liberty by joining your fellow Americans on March 28 and defy the would-be king.

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Note:  Joe Pavia is a member of the Champaign-Urbana Resistance Effort (CURE) and Champaign County Indivisible and a former attorney who has presented cases to both the U.S. Supreme Court and Illinois Supreme Court.