Last weekend, millions upon millions of people across the country — from our largest cities to our smallest towns — rallied at No Kings protests. The largest national demonstrations in U.S. history.

John, last weekend was a reminder of what patriotism, free speech, and democracy really look like.

I thought a lot about my father, who passed away last year at 96 years old, when I attended the rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

My dad joined the service at the end of World War II. His generation, and those that have followed, have lived in a world that has seen our freedoms ever expanding across the globe.

We saw new democracies being born. We saw walls coming down. We saw our freedoms expand. We saw our ability to associate with whomever we want to, to speak our piece, and to love who we love.

For a long time, we thought that this expansion of rights and freedoms was inevitable. That it was, just as Martin Luther King Jr. said, the long arc of the universe always bending toward justice.

Until suddenly, we found it not bending towards justice.

We have learned that our incredible legacy of freedom and democracy is not inevitable.

We have to defend it together. We have to speak out in support of our democracy. We have to say “hell no” to any wannabe king trying to tear it all down.

What we saw across the country at the countless No Kings protests were millions of acts of patriotism. Of courage and decency, of people of all ages speaking out.

John, that is what will save this country. Not a king, but the people.

In solidarity,

Adam