Laura Sibilia delivered these remarks at the No Kings 2.0 event in Wilmington on Oct. 18. Sibilia, an independent, represents the Windham-2 district (Dover, Jamaica, Somerset, Stratton, and Wardsboro) in the Vermont House of Representatives.
WILMINGTON-I served on our local school boards for over 20 years, and the best advice I received during that service was from our chair: "The people are always right."
Especially when we were divided - that reminder helped us find consensus.
We could always agree that the people will tell us what to do.
And it's true.
And when the people get it wrong, they figure it out and change course.
That is the engine of a free republic - power from the bottom up, not the top down.
Our founders understood this.
They wrote the Declaration of Independence as both a warning and a promise.
They declared what was then the most radical idea of its time: "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."
Consent. Not force. Not fear.
That principle - government by consent - is foundational to our democracy.
And today, that foundation is shifting beneath us.
* * *
Authoritarianism is on the rise in America, and it has also crossed into fascist actions and rhetoric in our politics.
Fascism is a system that concentrates power in one leader or party, punishes dissent, manipulates truth, and divides people through fear and lies - replacing the rule of law with the rule of one man.
I am anti-fascism - because being anti-fascism means being for democracy, for the rule of law, for human rights for all, and for our communities.
In America we are seeing actions that concentrate power and erode the rule of law - the hallmarks of authoritarian and fascist regimes throughout history:
• Elections are being undermined, the Constitution dismissed, and people are dehumanized as "vermin" or "not human."
• The free press is attacked, opponents targeted for prosecution, and retribution through the justice system being attempted.
• Those who attacked the U.S. Capitol have been pardoned.
• Armed troops are being sent into American cities over the objections of elected governors.
• The military is being used against civilians, universities are punished for speech, and wartime powers are invoked to deport people labeled as enemies.
• Mass firings of civil servants are ordered in defiance of court rulings, with claims that "the laws don't apply," using crisis as cover to consolidate power.
• Government resources - airports, agency websites, federal buildings - are used to broadcast partisan propaganda while the offices that enforce ethics laws are shut down.
• Qualified and professional military officers are purged, commanders replaced with loyalists, and personal allegiance demanded in place of constitutional obedience.
• Military strikes and covert operations are launched without congressional approval, pushing the nation toward war while evidence is withheld and public debate is silenced.
Those are not conservative or liberal acts.
They are authoritarian.
And when they come wrapped in nationalism, dehumanization, and contempt for the rule of law, they are the acts of fascism.
Our country is in real trouble.
The laws, traditions, and norms that have kept power limited and accountable are being tested - and in some cases ignored.
* * *
But the story of this country has never been just about what happens at the top.
The real story of this country is about what happens when people at the bottom - in towns, schools, newsrooms, and neighborhoods - decide to act.
We will not answer authoritarianism by mirroring it.
We answer it by standing firm in what's right.
Courage isn't comfortable. It's choosing to act even when it's hard.
Top-down power is what tyrants have tried over and over - it never lasts.
I'm an independent, unaffiliated, and I'm regularly reminded that power is kept from me because of my lack of affiliation with a party.
But my husband also regularly reminds me: top-down power can't last - it's fleeting. The power to govern always comes from the bottom up.
What does bottom-up power look like?
It looks like voters who organize and show up.
Neighbors who refuse to turn against each other.
Reporters who ask hard questions.
Volunteers at the food shelf and at the fire house.
Clerks at town meeting.
Community event organizers.
Parents showing up for school concerts and board meetings.
Local businesses pitching in when a family loses their home.
Bottom-up power looks like you - my friends and my neighbors.
* * *
Here's what we need to do, starting right now:
• Speak up. When rights are trampled or laws are broken, say so - calmly, clearly, again and again.
• Back the truth. Support your local press. Subscribe, share, defend their independence.
• Defend local institutions. School boards, Selectboards, libraries, courts - these are where we practice self-government. Show up. Serve.
• Do not let your communities unravel. Disagreement is not an emergency. Division is a tactic. Refuse it.
• Double down on service. Governing, caretaking, and celebrating are all public service. Coach, volunteer, bring a dish to the potluck.
• Celebrate. Remember what we're fighting for. As Anne Lamott says, "Joy is the best revenge." Joy disarms hate. It breaks fear's grip. It keeps communities together.
In Vermont, we know how to do this.
We fix the culvert, shovel the neighbor's walkway, show up at the potluck fundraiser and also at the budget hearing.
We argue - and then we pass the plate and pass the budget.
That is not small. That is the foundation.
* * *
The Declaration also says: "Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it."
That was a call to revolution then.
Today, it's a call to responsibility - to us and to our fellow citizens to change what's destructive through lawful and nonviolent means: by voting, organizing, testifying, litigating, and telling the truth in public.
I expect courage from our leaders - and from myself.
If you don't hear courage from your elected leader, say so. In our democracy - our republic - silence feeds fear. Your voice is the answer to that fear.
This is a very serious time, so we are going to need to practice serious hope - the kind that builds things, not just believes.
Because in America - and especially in Vermont - the people are always right.
Hold fast to one another, my friends. Choose courage over comfort. Choose service over cynicism. Choose joy over fear. That is how free people behave.
And that is how we keep the promise in the Declaration - and this is how we will keep this Republic.
Speak up.
Say the truth.
Defend our institutions.
Serve.
Celebrate.
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