A note to readers –
I am publishing a political piece on my poetry blog. I suppose I should have a Substack account for such writing, but the minute you begin to follow someone on Substack you will be overwhelmed with an endless stream of unwanted email and I don’t want to inflict that on anyone. Yes, I want to know what Adam Kinzinger has to say – he’s a brave and smart guy – but I’ll come looking for it when I want to read it. If you get your news from Fox or don’t believe Donald Trump is a grifter and a liar, you may want to stop reading now. You’ve been warned.

Early in Trump’s second term I subscribed to the New York Times. I wasn’t getting enough in-depth coverage of the dangerous changes being implemented by the Trump administration from the Detroit News, although their coverage of University of Michigan football was superb (shout out to Wojo). Somehow college football doesn’t seem all that important right now.

Every day brings at least one new outrage, and yesterday we got three for the price of one. There were surely more than three, in fact, but it’s often easy to lose count. In no particular order of horror wrought, yesterday we learned that (1.) RFK, Jr. fired the entire advisory board which provides medical – not political – advice regarding vaccines to the Center for Disease Control; (2.) as part of the hiring process, new civil servants will be asked to write an essay attesting to their loyalty to the Trump administration’s political priorities (because all employers have the right to know how their employees are likely to vote; right?); and, (3.) Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and a reliable Trump sycophant, called for the governor of California to be tarred and feathered. You can’t make this stuff up.

Which brings me back to the New York Times and a guest essay which appeared in the opinion section there on May 8, 2025. I urge you to read the piece in its entirety. The essay’s title asks, “How will we know when we have lost our democracy?”. Careful consideration of the facts can only lead to the conclusion that we are well on our way towards that tragic state of affairs. The essay concludes with these words: “America’s slide into authoritarianism is reversible. But no one has ever defeated autocracy from the sidelines.”

I’ll be standing on the corner of Jackson and Maple today with a sign reading SUPPORT UKRAINE/RESIST TYRANNY. My actions – in and of themselves – may not make much of a difference, but I’ll sleep well tonight. It will be a great day and the saving of our democracy when millions of us sleep well at night.

It suddenly feels as if there’s something new in the air. Join the fight . . . Resist!

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Joseph Neely, all rights to original material reserved, 2025.