Who Will Stand Up?
None of us who have lived our lives in America has ever experienced anything like Donald Trump’s political maneuvers over the course of the last weeks.
From hand selecting a cabinet of kooks, imposing taxes in the form of tariffs, to the wanton firing of thousands of federal workers and the surrender of the power of our nation to Elon Musk, Trump acts with court manufactured immunity and impunity as he smugly creates chaos, confusion, uncertainty, and anarchy.
Ironically, some, including the media, blame the Democratic Party for this calamity. But his election victory was not the fault of the Democrats. They did not put him the White House. Truth be told, we, America’s voters, are the ones responsible for his election.
While we are witnessing only the opening catastrophic salvos of Trump’s reign, Americans of good faith have begun to question who will arise to save our country.
We have been in national peril before. Whether it was the battle for civil and human rights or the challenge of ending the war in Vietnam, we Americans have always found a way to protect our people.
And, we will, no doubt, do that again.
But who will be our hero?
Not surprisingly, one answer is in Tyler Hubbard’s song ‘Heroes’:
‘You won’t see ‘em on the TV or signin’ autographs
Unless they’re at the bank signin’ a make-ends-meet paycheck . . .
Between the single moms who work two jobs
To feed the kids and pay the rent . . .
There’s that teacher teachin’ ninth grade who won’t let that one kid quit
He’ll come back and thank her, down the road, just like I did
There’s a boy without a daddy, with college football speed
That high school coach was all he had, now everyone believes . . .
You won’t see ‘em on the TV or signin’ autographs’
American history was profoundly changed by the real Americans who dared to walk over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and by the real Americans who demanded an end to the addition of more names to a long black wall in Washington.
America is an aspirational, not a desperational nation. We are Lincoln’s “last best hope of earth.” That will not change.
To be sure, heroes will arise. That is our great American tradition. Those heroes will not be the kind seen “on the TV signin’ autographs.”
Instead, their identities are made clear in the opening phrase of the United States Constitution. They are “We the People.”
Assemblymember Charles Lavine represents New York’s 13th Assembly District in Nassau County. He presently serves as Chair of the Judiciary Committee and is a member of the Committees on Codes, Ethics and Guidance, Insurance and Rules. Lavine previously served as Chair of the Election Law Committee, Chair of the Committee on Ethics and Guidance, co-Chair of the New York State Legislative Ethics Commission, and as Chair of the bipartisan Taskforce that produced the Assembly Speaker’s Policy on Sexual Harassment, Retaliation and Discrimination. Lavine is also President of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Jewish Legislators and a member of its National Board of Directors.
