These Are The Times That Try Our Souls

“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

— Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, 1776

---

It is true that  we no longer kneel to a king. Even so, we find ourselves again staring into the face of tyranny- this time not from another shore, but from within our own halls of power.

These are, once again, times that try our souls. Thomas Paine wrote those words as revolution thundered around him when the question of liberty versus tyranny wasn’t an abstraction, but a daily choice of everyday people..

Today, the danger comes not crowned in gold, but cloaked in the flag.

 We see it in the overreach of a presidency that treats checks and balances as inconveniences, not obligations. We see it in the weaponization of agencies like ICE- used not simply to enforce law, but to instill fear, to separate families, and to send a chilling message to anyone who doesn’t fit a narrow definition of “American.” When citizens are detained because of their last name or the color of their skin, when asylum seekers are treated as enemies instead of human beings, we must say plainly: this is not the spirit of liberty- it is the spirit of tyranny.

And yet, where is Congress? Where are the patriots sworn to defend the Constitution, not the crown? Too many have chosen comfort over conscience. Too many sunshine patriots bask in the glow of power but vanish when the storm of accountability rolls in. They shrink from the service of their country, and in doing so, they shrink the country itself.

But it isn’t only the halls of government that are guilty of silence. There are citizens-good people-who look away, who enable, who tell the protester to quiet down, who mock the activist in the street as “too loud,” “too angry,” or “un-American.” Yet, history does not remember those who mocked- it remembers those who marched. The true patriots are not the ones waving a flag from the comfort of the couch, but those who carry it into the public square, demanding this nation live up to its promise.

To those who have stood in the midst of adversity- to those who have faced tear gas, detention, or derision- I say this: you are the true descendants of the Revolution. The spirit of 1776 runs is in your DNA.. You remind this country that freedom is not a birthright to be hoarded, but a responsibility to be shared.

Our ancestors declared “No kings, no tyrants” because they believed that power must always answer to the people. That conviction built this nation. It must also save it.

So let us stand not as enemies of one another, but as defenders of a common dream. Let us remember that democracy demands more than words; it demands courage. It asks us to resist the narrow view of who is worthy and acceptable and to keep believing in a vision broad enough for every American—immigrant and native-born, queer and straight, Black, Brown, and white, believer and non-believer alike.

These are still the times that try our souls. But if we stand firm now- if we refuse to bow to bullies or surrender our values to fear we may yet prove worthy of the freedom our forebears fought to secure.

Let the message ring again, from every mountainside and every border, from every city street and every heart that still believes:

No kings. No tyrants. Only liberty and justice for all.