Betty Firth

Some people asked, “Do we really need another organization in Ely?” Clearly, we felt we did.
What had been happening in our country since Trump took office again was so unimaginable that it left Americans stunned for a while as the rapid-fire decimation of government agencies, employees, and funding resulted in intentional chaos. We realized that we needed to organize, resist, and take back our country from the power-hungry, greedy people who have been put in charge by our narcissistic, irresponsible president — a man who shows no indication of caring about the citizens or the Constitution which he was elected to protect, who daily shows more evidence of mental deterioration.
We wanted to bring people together locally to address the issues they’re most concerned about. People were mobilizing all over the country, recognizing that by working together, we can have a fundamental impact on the future of our country. What we couldn’t do was remain silent.
In 2016, Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, wrote “Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda,” and it went viral, sparking a national movement with people taking matters into their own hands to build power through collective action. Indivisible’s strong leadership, many resources, and vision of “A true democracy: of, by, and for the people,” convinced us to start an Ely Indivisible chapter. Today, there are over a million Indivisible members and 4,000 chapters with at least one in every congressional district in the country, even in Mississippi and Georgia!
With their usual strategy of repeating lies until people believe them or are so confused they don’t know what to believe, the right-wing Republicans persist in blaming the Democrats for the shutdown. What thinking person is willing to believe that when the Republicans have the majority in both the House and the Senate?
Indivisible is one of 200 organizations that came together to create the “No Kings” national coalition to plan and implement mass mobilizations. On Oct. 18, there were 2,700 protests across the nation with over 7,000,000 people participating. That’s FOURTEEN TIMES the number of participants in BOTH Trump’s inaugural events COMBINED!
Indivisible emphasizes that “Trump is a symptom of a sick democracy, not its cause. Our democracy was rigged from the start in favor of the white and wealthy. Also, in the last few decades, an alliance of white nationalists and the ultra-rich have been actively working to further undermine democracy and cement their hold on power permanently. That’s how we ended up with Trump.”
No one else is going to save us. There is room for all of us to use our skills and learn new ones, to get involved in ways that fit, as we build a strong, progressive movement to elect the candidates who will work for the future that WE want to see and to shape the policies that reflect our values.
History shows us that collective action can take down authoritarian dictators.
Because we’re speaking up and showing up in a lot of ways all over the country, we’re seeing some decisions being reversed, judges holding the line, and some governors, mayors, senators, and representatives who are resisting the regime’s illegal actions and doing what they took an oath to do. Unfortunately, Rep. Pete Stauber is not one of those. You might want to just give our invisible representative a call and tell him what you think about that. Your voice matters. Hermantown office: (218) 481-6396; Washington: (202) 225-6211.
Speaker Mike Johnson called the NO KINGS protests “hate America rallies put on by the paid, terrorist wings of the Democratic party.”
A local MAGA supporter ridiculously claimed that buses brought in outsiders to the Ely “No Kings” protest. Honestly, where do they get that stuff? They must be so scared about losing their white male privilege. The 550-600 people who showed up in Ely to protest are more in touch with reality.
We came under our own power to show we love America, and we’re willing to fight for it nonviolently to reinvent our democracy better than it ever has been. One of my favorite signs was, “Things are so bad even the introverts have come out.”
It’s telling how the MAGA folks are always accusing opponents of actions they themselves are perpetrating. Trump keeps painting protesters as dangerous and opponents as violent, when he has unleashed ICE agents to provoke demonstrations and commit unspeakable violence against American citizens and legal immigrants who have broken no laws and caused no harm.
Trump’s wild exaggerations, describing Portland and Chicago as war-ravaged hellholes, are attempts to give him the excuse to deploy National Guard troops from out of state to further antagonize and stoke violence, which would give him the excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act, impose martial law, and possibly interrupt the 2026 elections.
While, in the real world, 7 million people have protested peacefully with dancing frogs, pigs, and lots of flags across our country with no serious incidents.
In the last two weeks, I have attended several enjoyable and inspiring get-togethers in our town, seeing friends, neighbors, and familiar faces at all of them. Approximately 80 people showed up for the Ely Indivisible kickoff to find out how to get involved. Six days later, 550-600 friends of my spirit came to the “No Kings” rally at Whiteside Park.
This week, Senator Grant Hauschild came to town with an update on the Legislature and took questions from the citizens who attended at the Ely Community Center.
Shortly afterwards, Senator Tina Smith spoke by Zoom to a group of EMPOWER and AAUW women at the HUB Community Center. Neither venue would exist were it not for community support with thousands of volunteer hours through the years.
Then Tuesday Group had a joyful celebration of its 16-year history and Steve Schon’s significant role as the first facilitator. While we wished him and his wife, Ann, the best of luck on their move to California, we honored both of them for their many contributions to this community. I feel so lucky to be living here, wealthy in friends, acquaintances, and community connectedness. This is what democracy is supposed to look like, with people spending time to get to know each other, help each other, and relying on each other’s strengths and contributions to weave a strong and resilient community fabric. That’s why I’m willing to do what I can to project our freedom to live and work in peace.
The Baptist news website quotes author Sinclair Lewis, who warned of creeping fascism in America in the 1930s, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” President Eisenhower warned about corporate and military power in his 1961 farewell speech, “We must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence … by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.”
We are living these predictions actualized and need to remain steadfast in our resistance, never forgetting that we do have power when united.