Letter to the Editor
Donnie Johnson’s OPINION: Has America Turned into a Dictatorship? is the Old Glory flag flying upside down!
Donnie identified 18 autocratic governing actions and issues, raised the specter of prior dictatorships, such as Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, and Fascist Italy, and the failures of the Republican Congress and the Supreme Court to defend democracy. Trump rules through intimidation as he promised.
Donnie then asks the big question – Where do we go from here? The key word in his question is “we.” The preamble to the Constitution starts with “We the people…” People are the ultimate source of authority for our democracy. Our government works for the people. It is the people who elect representatives to act on our behalf and to act in our best interests.
Now to answer Donnie’s key question. In early February, Senators Warner and Kaine outlined a Democratic strategy to deal with this administration. It has five components: litigation, legislation, Democratic governors’ actions, voting in elections and activism. Senator Kaine further shared his thoughts on activism. He proposed five actions:
Join groups who are coordinating grassroots action to fight back
Reach out to members of Congress
Use your wallet to send a message
Share fact-checking information and updates about Democratic actions online
Donate what you can to support the elections happening this year
The people of the Fredericksburg region are taking Senator ‘Kaine’s actions seriously. For example, a coalition of organizations in the Fredericksburg region held a “Hands Off” rally on Saturday, April 5th. Indivisible FXBG, VOICE, Celebrate Virginia, FXBG Democratic Committee, Stafford Democratic Committee, and Spotsylvania Democratic Committee all participated in the Hands-Off rally.
Fredericksburg is not alone. According to the Harvard Crowd Counting Consortium, it notes that in 2025 “our research shows that street protests today are far more numerous and frequent than skeptics might suggest.” In fact, “since 22 January, we’ve seen more than twice as many street protests than took place during the same period eight years ago.” If you are watching the news, you see thousands of people turning out for the Berni Sander and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallies. Combined from February 21, they have had 12 major rallies across the U.S., and the tour has attracted well over 200,000 participants.
To further expound on Senator Kaine’s suggestion to contact members of Congress, I would recommend that we include Governor Youngkin and Tara Durant, our state senator from District 27.
Additionally, we need to see fact-checked information and updates about Democratic actions in Letters to the Editor to our online news sources and our local newspapers. Donnie clearly states: “it is the responsibility of all Americans – especially journalists – to stand up and be heard.” Other sources concerning on-going actions are the websites of Indivisible FXBG, VOICE, Celebrate Virginia, FXBG Democratic Committee, Stafford Democratic Committee, and Spotsylvania Democratic Committee.
Virginia’s elections are a bell weather state on the Trump agenda. Virginia Democrats are launching campaigns in at least ninety-two of the one hundred House of Delegates districts. The people need to get out and vote. The average turnout for non-presidential elections is 40-42% (2021-2023) and 54% for the 2021 gubernatorial election. We can do better.
Readers. Lastly, “we the people” need strong national, state, and local political leaders (Democrat, Independent, and Moderate Republican) to lead and guide our efforts. We need leaders who demonstrate moral courage, resilience, strategic thinking, bipartisan appeal, clear communicator, commitment to democratic institutions, empathy and connection, and willingness to collaborate. If you know of such a person or persons, please make every effort to solicit their involvement and leadership. Their army is ready to right Old Glory.
James “Phil” Huber
Fredericksburg
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