if you are tired
from the last six years, you have
earned the right to be
I warned of rising authoritarianism, I wrote: “So what do those of us who love American democracy do? Make noise. Take up oxygen…. Defend what is great about this nation: its people, and their willingness to innovate, work, and protect each other. Making America great has never been about hatred or destruction or the aggregation of wealth at the very top; it has always been about building good lives for everyone on the principle of self-determination. While we have never been perfect, our democracy is a far better option than the autocratic oligarchy Trump is imposing on us.”
And we have made noise, and we have taken up oxygen. All across the country, people have stepped up to defend our democracy from those who are open about their plans to destroy it and install a dictator. Democrats and Republicans as well as people previously unaligned, we have reiterated why democracy matters.
If you are tired from the last six years, you have earned the right to be.
And yet you are still here, reading, commenting, protesting, articulating a new future for the nation. And I am proud to be among you.
Written by Heather Cox Richardson in Letters from an American, A newsletter about the history behind today’s politics, on September 15, 2025.
Ms. Richardson hit a note with me today.
She hit a note with me because, I am tired.
Tired out.
Everyday its something new.
Everyday its something different.
I think they have found something new to hate.
They think they have found another way the attack on themselves has been revelead.
Revealed and stopped.
All for the greater glory and security of themselves.
And all I see is consuming hate.
Hate and fear.
Fear?
Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.*
I work daily to defend what is great about this nation: its people, and their willingness to innovate, work, and protect each other.
I agree that making America great has never been about hatred or destruction or the aggregation of wealth at the very top; it has always been about building good lives for everyone on the principle of self-determination.
I agree that while we have never been perfect, our democracy is a far better option than the autocratic oligarchy Trump is imposing on us.”
And I have made noise, and I have taken up oxygen.
All across the country, people have stepped up to defend our democracy from those who are open about their plans to destroy it and install a dictator.
Democrats and Republicans as well as people previously unaligned, we have reiterated why democracy matters.
If I am tired from the last six years, I guess I have earned the right to be.
As for me, I will be vindicated and will see God’s face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing his likeness. (Psalm 17:15 NIV).
*“The Gate of the Year” is the popular name given to a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins, written in 1908 and privately published in 1912, was part of a collection titled The Desert. It caught the public attention and the popular imagination when King George VI quoted it in his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the British Empire.
No Haiku For You 