Today is the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech. In light of Donald Trump’s march toward authoritarianism, his words are as important now as they were then.
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When Patrick Henry rose 250 years ago today to give one of the most consequential speeches in American history, the leaders of Virginia found themselves at a crossroads. In what would be an act of rebellion, the representatives of the largest and most populous colony in the New World could vote to raise a militia and defy a tyrannical regime in England — or they could decide to do nothing, betray their values, and abandon their aspirations to be free.
For Henry, the choice was clear.
He wanted to fight for liberty, for independence, and for the ideals he shared with other participants of the Second Virginia Convention, such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
In his address to the other delegates, Henry pointed out that appeasement had not worked.
We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne!
Because history is rarely linear, it is often difficult to pinpoint with certainty the moment in which the fate of a nation, or even the world, was decided.
This, however, was one of them.
Henry’s rousing speech convinced the others to prepare for an inevitable conflict with England and, just four weeks later, the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired.
There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight!”
And fight they did.
Now, exactly 250 years later, the US has arrived at another such fork in the road.
The question now before Americans is whether they are going to turn their backs on the ideals upon which their nation was founded… the very same ideals for which real patriots fought and died all those years ago.
Will they stand idly by while a different kind of despotic leader shreds the Constitution and dismantles democracy?
Anybody who feels that this is hyperbolic has simply not been paying attention or is in denial because, after all, “This could never happen here.”
Well, it could and it is.
Donald Trump and his MAGA goons are following the tried and tested playbook that tyrants across the globe have been relying on to turn a democratic victory into authoritarian rule.
He is dismantling the government, eroding the rule of law, siphoning power from the legislative branch, undermining the authority of the courts, and intimidating any perceived adversaries.
Trump has also benefited from a poorly organized opposition that was initially shell-shocked for two months after his victory in November, then caught off guard by the swiftness and brazenness of this takeover.
As a result, some of those who might have played a role in the resistance have already surrendered.
First and foremost, that means Senate Democrats, but there are plenty of others. Media organizations like ABC have cowered before Trump because staying on his good side (until he turns on them again) is just better for business. And there is a real concern that others will self-censor because his intimidation works.
Then there was the embarrassing capitulation of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison this week.
And, by threatening to withhold federal funds to universities (or causing difficulties in other ways), Trump is also trying to quell any form of resistance on college campuses.
Are you wondering what Patrick Henry would have thought of this cowardice and dillydallying?
No need to wonder.
“They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary,” he told his fellow colonists on this day in 1775.
But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?
Apparently, that’s the plan… at least for those mentioned above.
But, as Patrick Henry recognized 250 years ago, trying to placate tyrants doesn’t work. Once they sense weakness, they will keep squeezing their victims. The only option is to fight back — not with muskets but with votes, voices, and wallets.
Two special House elections in Florida next week and the race that will decide which party controls the Wisconsin Supreme Court are a great start.
So is confronting GOP lawmakers, who have already largely stopped doing town hall meetings because they don’t want to face their angry voters. But if Republicans don’t want to go where their constituents are, then the constituents should go where their representatives are — and it should all be recorded and put online.
Meanwhile, as demonstrated by the massive crowds that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) have been drawing in recent days, there is an enormous appetite on the left for people who are actually willing to fight.
We also know that boycotts work.
Trump is using his power to make companies believe that opposing him is bad for the bottom line. However, collectively, Americans (at least the half that is not cool with a fascist takeover and the betrayal of the Founders’ ideals) can teach them that cowering before Trump is even worse for business.
We wish that we could tell you that this is going to be easy.
It won’t be. America is in real trouble, and its future as a democracy (and a pleasant place to live) is in grave jeopardy.
Then again, real patriots have faced longer odds before.
Back in Patrick Henry’s day, Americans mustered the courage to fight, and they won a victory for the ages.
For the sake of us all, they have to do so again.
