and I can't pretend that it IS.
I can't craft my way out of this overwhelming fear or decorate my way out of this daily anxiety. I can't post uplifting quotes any longer, or draft a blog post to 'inspire' anyone. That worked for me in 2020 during the pandemic shutdown... but it won't work now.
Before I attempt to share anything else here, I am compelled to share my thoughts on what is happening.
You don't have to agree with me, but I have to speak up about this. Now. Here.
Because at this point, staying silent seems like complicity and consent. And I most definitely do not consent to the direction our nation is heading.
We are facing a crisis, that much is true. We are quite literally fighting for the lives of our neighbors, our communities, our families. For our future, individually and collectively.
I believe that We the People - individually, and together - will continue to do the work necessary to unite and fight for all of us. We have already made progress...
We've done the 5 Calls. We've emailed. Voted. Attended town hall meetings. Protested. Gone into the streets and stood shoulder to shoulder with others to document the lawlessness. Posted, commented, and shared posts. Donated to causes that pursue justice and liberty. Boycotted corporations (that gather our data while profiting from our spending as they bend the knee and offer bribes to this administration for favor and tax breaks). We've stepped up as individuals and in huge groups of human beings who share a country and a desire that we are not erased from humanity and history by despots determined to serve only the wealthy and powerful. We have mourned the fallen, the taken, the overlooked.
We are exhausted. We are weary. We are angry...
but we are not done. Not by a long shot.
Together, we can and will rise united to defend our liberties, our freedoms, our rights, and the rights of all others who are here in this country to work, to build, to serve, to attain and secure the freedoms and liberties we have been promised... and that many, many Americans have given their lives to secure across the span of our national history.
If we do not stand up now, we will enable and witness the fall of our country in rapid collapse. We will commit the unforgiveable act of neglecting to build on the promise that this country held for our ancestors, that they formed and preserved for us, and that we ourselves have collectively promised for 250 years: to uphold and build this country stronger for future generations... for all of our children, grandchildren, and their children. For all of the people who dream of attaining freedom here.
Why do I believe this? Because I have seen how even one person can make a difference.
Preserving our country, our republic, the promise of true democracy within it, means something to me... because I am linked to the birth of the United States in a very real way. It is a way that calls me to stand, to speak, to write, as my forefather did in the infancy of our country. I wrote this essay with deep consideration, I post it publicly with both pride and fear... but I know that courage is not the absence of fear, but the course of taking action in spite of fear.
One of my ancestors wrote words that formed the Virginia Declaration of Rights and became the basis of our country's Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Those words flowed from his heart, his sharp legal mind, and his vast understanding of what builds up a country and what tears it down as surely as they flowed from his pen onto parchment paper. He held his beliefs and concerns strongly - yet I imagine that he also feared the response he would receive to his words of dissent from the majority around him. I join him in that concern, but it won't stop me any more than it did him...
Drawing from the Magna Carta, the English Petition of Right of 1628, and the English Bill of Rights, Mason authored Virginia’s Declaration of Rights in 1776, which became the first authoritative formulation of inalienable rights. Thomas Jefferson borrowed much of the language from that Declaration of Rights in drafting the Declaration of Independence. Mason's document also served as the foundation for the Bill of Rights and the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, penned by James Madison.
In his seminal work, Mason declared, “All men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”
He insisted, “A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state. . . . ”
Mason argued, “The freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments,” and that religious liberty should be preserved “unless, under color of religion, any man disturb the peace, the happiness, or the safety of society. And that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.”
Mason was influential in shaping the US Constitution, but he refused to sign the document. His refusal was based on the glaring lack of a bill of rights, his belief that the House of Representatives was not equally representative of the whole nation, that the Senate held excessive power, and that the federal judiciary could overcome state judiciaries - making justice unobtainable by ordinary citizenry. Mason feared that the new government was likely to become a brutal aristocracy, or a repetition of the monarchy that the states fought to escape.
As I read his words today, I realize his prescient wisdom and foresight - for those problems and fears have become our reality in 2026.
His beliefs and writings embodied these principles:
The role of government is to secure and protect rights - failing to do so, people have a right to amend or abolish it. Property could not be taken for public use without the owner’s consent. A citizen could only be bound by a law accepted by the person or elected representatives. If accused, a person had a right to a speedy and local trial, and was able to face his accusation, with the ability to call for evidence and witnesses.
Mason consistently held firm to his beliefs even though he made less of an impact than he had hoped to in regard to some issues, including ending the importation of slaves. He was regarded by his contemporaries as a man of integrity and high character, a powerful reasoner, a profound statesman, and a devoted public servant. He was, at times, George Washington's 'Right Hand Man' (I just had to include that, as a Hamilton fan...) including when he stepped in to represent Virginia at the Continental Congress on Washington's behalf.
The principles and rights that my ancestor inscribed, fought for, and believed deeply are ingrained in my mind - and my DNA. He was an imperfect man, but his service to this country and his seminal influence on the foundations of the documents defining our liberty and our governmental systems are undeniable. His stalwart pressure to establish checks and balances to government power resulted in the addition of the Bill of Rights to our Constitution specifically to protect individual liberties from potential government overreach. His legacy reminds me that individuals can make the difference in the fight for justice and freedom.
Individuals joined together by purpose, by belief, by rights that are disappearing before our eyes must rise in defiance of a system that no longer guarantees our freedoms, but is systematically demanding our compliance in the dissolution of our country by those who have been given responsibility to protect and save it. They have failed us.
The guilty must be held to account for their utter failure to uphold their oath and charge to protect and secure the Constitution of the United States of America and the rights of its people into the future, as they have always been entrusted to do by the voters, citizens, residents, and taxpayers of this country.
We the People can stand and defend our Constitution, too.
It is time we all do exactly that. NOW. I will. I must. Will you?
~ Debi Ward Kennedy
I have fact-checked and sourced information and short excerpts for this essay from these sources:
George Mason - Center for Civic Education
George Mason - History on the Net
George Mason - George Mason University
George Mason - George Mason's Gunston Hall
George Mason - George Washington's Mount Vernon
George Mason - Constitutional Law Reporter