Thread by @1JoshGreenberg

THREAD

FIND THE COURAGE TO PROTEST

I realize the idea of protesting for our freedom may feel unusual for many citizens. To see why protest is so crucial at this point in our nation’s history, we need to return to the fundamentals of civilization, governance, and citizenship.

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The first truth that we must accept is that many of us have always taken our freedom for granted. We have never had to fight for it, as we have to today.

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But all citizens who want to go down on the right side of history must understand that our greatest weapon at this time is peaceful protest.

Please hear this out.

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With the recent Postal Service developments, combined with nearly four years of other evidence, it should be amply clear by now that our leaders—both Democrats and Republicans alike—have proven unable to stop Trump.

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Furthermore, Trump has now laid bare his efforts to sabotage the electoral process—which have already done significant, possibly irreversible damage.

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Anyone who continues to believe that our political crisis will be resolved by the election alone, or by pushback from the Democrats, is walking down a dangerous, delusional path.

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This is the reality: the system of government itself is under assault, and our leaders are failing to defend against the attack.

In other words, the social contract we as citizens have with our representatives has been broken!

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This contract requires our leaders to faithfully represent us, to act in our interests, and to perform public service on our behalf. The contract is enforced through processes such as elections.

(These notions stretch all the way back to Rousseau in the Age of Enlightenment.)

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When we do not have free and fair elections, when we do not have faithful representation, we cannot have a valid contract.

Therefore, our leaders have now defaulted on the social contract.

Folks, we are down to the 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 of what civilization and government mean.

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As demoralizing as the situation seems, we must remember a fundamental point that is too often forgotten: we the people run this country.

In fact, we own it.

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That ownership gives us both the right and the responsibility to seek remedy when there is breach of contract.

The remedy in this case is mass peaceful protest to restore the power of the people. We must reclaim our ownership of the country—literally.

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Throughout history, mass peaceful protest has been the ultimate answer in the face of an attack on the system of government itself.

We the people must peacefully protest—exercising an overwhelming show of moral force—to restore the social order and to overcome tyranny.

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Hence, we are also down to the 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 of what citizenship means.

We the people are the ultimate institution where power lies. We the people are the ultimate backstop when all other systems fail.

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Each of us as citizens must accept this duty. We must recognize our agency within the system of government and our power to change our fate.

Our choices, actions, and inactions will be the difference between redemption and collapse for our nation.

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To cling to inaction is to abdicate our civic responsibility as the ultimate backstop against tyranny.

Protesting may not be the preferred way to spend your time. But think of it like medicine: it might be bitter, but it is life-saving.

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Spending the next several months engaged in mass peaceful protest will save us from untold oppression for the rest of our lives.

When freedom is not cherished, freedom is easily lost. So, please, find the courage to protest.

16 - END