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Today, seven states commemorate Patriots’ Day, which marks the 250th anniversary of the first battles of the American Revolution. The context of the events that sparked the Revolution and those of today raises an urgent question.
If today’s events reach the point where American democracy is put at imminent risk of destruction, would the public put the survival of democracy above their daily routines, or would they shrink from the challenge, assuming that the absence of credible institutional resistance means the battle is already lost?
The U.S. has been there before. In 1776, representatives of the Thirteen Colonies, all imperfect men, faced seemingly impossible stakes. They could have chosen capitulation to the overwhelming might of the British Empire. Instead, they chose to declare independence. In doing so, they concluded their declaration with a line as perilous as it was profound, “And for the support of this Declaration… we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”
That was one of the most daring commitments ever put to paper. Many of those who signed the Declaration had come from comfortable, even wealthy lives. They set aside the routines that governed their lives and the careers in which they prospered, for a greater cause with no guarantee of success. In declaring independence, they had committed treason. Moreover, they had made their act of treason known to the world. If the Revolution failed, they faced execution, exile, or ruin. They had risked everything.
If the courts fail to check the Trump Administration’s authoritarian ambitions, the defense of the republic will depend on the American people. The public will face a profound choice between mounting massive, sustained, nonviolent resistance, day after day and week after week, or to retreat deeper into normalcy, continuing on as if nothing has fundamentally changed. General strikes, civil disobedience, and democratic defiance have long been essential tools in loosening and breaking the grip of autocrats. Apathy and indifference have nourished the triumph of autocracy.
Many will likely remain on the sidelines. They will rationalize their inaction along lines such as, “I have a family. I need to work. There’s nothing I can do.” But a society remains free only because people are willing to defend it. In such a society, there is no such thing as “no choice” when that society is confronted with its extinction. There is only the will to act. Alongside, it is the selfless willingness of those who have acted to support one another in that cause.
In 1776, a generation risked everything to build a new world of self-governance and liberty. Their choice was painful, dangerous, and uncertain. If a similar defining moment arises today, the contemporary generation of Americans will need to act as just as wisely, bravely, and boldly as those in 1776 did. If not, their excuses for inaction won’t regain them the freedom, the rights, the well-being, and the opportunities they will have surrendered from their inaction.
