To the editor:
The benefiting billionaires (budget reconciliation) bill was passed last week by both houses of Congress and was signed, ironically, by Donald J. Trump, on July 4, our Independence Day. Ironic because the original “No Kings Day,” was July 4, 1776, when settlers pledged through a Declaration of Independence that they would not live under a king — a leader who rules by whim and threat. Revolution and the birth of our Constitution followed. In the years since, our governance had, in fits and starts, grown to a leading democracy.
Not now. Experts on authoritarianism are referring to the United States in 2025 as a period of “authoritarian breakthrough.”
Authoritarianism: (Webster): 1. Of, relating to, or favoring blind submission to authority. 2. Of, relating to, or favoring a concentration of power in a leader or an elite not constitutionally responsible to the people.
If the shoe fits, the question becomes, do we wear it or resist?
Rights and freedom are being taken. We will soon see an expansion of a police state and surveillance now fully funded through the bill. This is happening in the United State of America, 2025.
Human suffering will increase exponentially as a result of other aspects of the bill, soon and now. Here, the closure of rural hospitals; there, the death of someone we knew who can no longer get treatment once covered by Medicaid; near, the disappearance of the immigrant neighbor who milked the cows; far — a concentration camp in Florida with many more to come.
I come from an immigrant family. Most of us do. I imagine my French Canadian ancestors being taken from farms, or houses they cleaned, away from the children they cared for because they were targeted by people in power. No due process. No trial. Today’s reality for those in our midst.
Three things to do now: Become (more) involved in non-violent resistance. Join a local Indivisible group, leaders in the movement to resist authoritarianism here. Sign on to One Million Rising work at mobilize.us.
Access an online training to “know our rights.” Speak up. Be ready to record arrests by masked ICE police. They will literally be out in force to “meet quota” as a network of concentration camps is built out. Be brave. It takes 3.5 percent of a population alert, involved and active in nonviolent resistance to thwart the authoritarians. This is the power we have. It’s up to us.
Anne Hanson
Craftsbury
