No Kings Day was a celebration of the rule of law. We are a nation of laws. We were the first nation on earth to say “We make our own laws.” “We the People” decide for ourselves what the law is.

Our democracy is endangered by this Lawless President. This week President Donald Trump began demolishing the East Wing of the Whitehouse. Normally there are preservation boards and commissions to be consulted when tearing down a historic building like the Whitehouse. He just went ahead and brought in the bulldozer. It’s way too symbolic of what he is doing to our government.

Think of the excellence of the system we have right now. Anyone can go to a meeting of the County Legislature and speak for three minutes. You can criticize something the county government is doing and not worry about being arrested. You can call our U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy (716) 488-8111 and tell him to get back to work. There are 12 appropriations bills that need to be passed and Congress has not been in session. Swear in Adelita Grijalva. She won her congressional district by a landslide. Her’s will be the final signature to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files. Every politician will have to vote yes or no. The republicans are keeping congress out of session. What are they afraid of?

We count on the rule of law to protect us. Trump is saying “the rule of law does not apply to undocumented people because they have broken the law by coming here.” Our constitution says “Every person” is entitled to “due process.” If one person is denied the rule of law what will keep them from denying it to you?

The rule of law is something worth protecting. It’s what 700 people in Fredonia came out to say last Saturday. Seven million people all across the country and around the world marched in support of the Constitution.

More than 2,600 events and not one arrest of a marcher. All the arrests around the marches were MAGA people threatening the marchers. Our safety meetings and de-escalation training paid off. We really were just trying to say how much we love our country and want it to do better.

We depend on our government for all kinds of things we are only now noticing because they are not there. The villages in Alaska that are under water now had no warning the typhoon was headed their way because NOAA funding was cut. We are going to miss it more when a storm comes ashore in the mainland and instead of 2,000 people displaced we have 2 million people displaced.

We depend on food inspectors to monitor the safety of our food supply. We depend on our government to keep good records. Something else this administration is not doing. People have disappeared into the system of private prisons. Conditions in those prisons are horrendous. There is a lack of food, clean water, medical care and blankets. Prisoners are beaten routinely.

The fact that there are now thousands of people in these prisons is alarming. Being a citizen will not protect you. Hundreds citizens have been detained by ICE.

The vindictive way this president is using the justice department to go after his enemies is also alarming but I have no intention of shutting up. As long as Rachel Maddow is out there I feel relatively safe.

What do we want that the billionaires are so against? We want some kind of wealth tax. Perhaps a one time 2% tax on all wealth over $500 million. Only the richest people would pay this tax.

We want to use the money to feed people, provide housing and health insurance for everyone. A single-payer plan would save us billions and everyone would be covered.

SNAP is a good program that has no money for November. Consider giving to the food bank this month. For a little while we had a program where local farmers provided food for the schools and soup kitchens. This was a win for the community because farmers got a fair price and a steady market and the school got food and the profits stayed in the community making it richer. That program is gone now but it’s worth looking into again. It’s one example of getting the government to work for us on a local level.

Getting the government back to work at all is the challenge of the moment. Mike Johnson is not calling Congress back into session because he doesn’t want to have a vote on releasing the Epstein Files. He doesn’t want to negotiate with Democrats on the 12 appropriations bills that make up our budget. He is keeping the government from functioning because their goal really is to destroy it.

Last Saturday, 700 people came out in Fredonia to say “We love our country! We will march to support the Constitution.”

Marie Tomlinson is a Fredonia resident.