Protests are happening all across America. I have not seen anything like this since the Vietnam War. The chant at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago was “The whole world is watching,” and that is true today. The Whole World is Watching!  I grew up just about 50 miles north of Chicago, and the images of the 1968 Democratic Convention are etched in my memory. After 1968, I have always thought it was a turning point in public opinion against the War in Vietnam. Are we seeing the same thing here in America? Is this the start of a turning point in history, where the masses stand up to the injustice and suppression by our federal government? I am 71 years old, and I have been participating in the protests. Why?  For the future, of course, the future we are leaving for future generations. The chant again should be “The Whole World Is Watching” because they really are.

When I was young, there was no such thing as cable news. We didn’t have this 24-hour news channel that had to fill up all that time. We had half an hour of nightly national news, and we had half an hour of local news. How many of us got our news from reading the newspaper? Almost the entire nation.  How I long for those days instead of the 24-hour propaganda channels like Fox News that we have now. They were sued by the company that made the voting machines because of their false reporting about voter fraud. They were fined three-quarters of a billion dollars. I don’t know how a company can still be broadcasting the news when it has been proven that they have lied to the American people. I feel we were better informed with the truth fifty years ago, when there was no cable news, than we are now. I believe that cable news has contributed significantly to the dumbing down of our nation and its citizens. Politicians have always stretched the truth, but what Fox News and much of the Conservative cable news channels have been on an assault against the truth and on an assault against the nation. Could it be that the Billionaires who control the News Media today don’t want us to know the truth? Can it also be true that the entire Trump administration doesn’t want us the know the truth either?

In today's digital age, all truths and lies will be studied for generations to come, as if these events had just happened yesterday. To study the protest that happened in 1968 had to be studied on news reels that have now been converted to digital were studied. Thanks to today's digital age, everything, like the assault on Senator Padilla, will be preserved for just about forever. They will be able to view that assault is not only an assault on an acting Senator just trying to ask a question, but it is also an assault on our Constitutional Republic. Talking cannot hide the visual proof that not just the Nation can see, but what the entire world can see. In 1968, they were chanting, “The whole world is watching,” but in 2025, the whole world is really watching. I don’t know what people like Kristi Noem are thinking. It is not her words that will judge her in the future, but all of the digital evidence that will last forever. She is a grandmother of three, and her great-grandchildren will not only read about her but also be able to view her as if she were there. They may not be very proud of her.

The No Kings protests are going on all across the nation. I attended the one in Fort Myers. It was my third protest I have attended this year, and it was by far the biggest. If I had to estimate, I would say that there were over four thousand people out there, with more showing up as I was leaving. If you know the area where we were standing on Highway 41 just south of Daniels, you would know that it is one of the busiest intersections in the area. I would say that, for the most part, we were greeted by a very supportive public. We, of course, had those guys with their big, loud trucks trying to intimidate us by revving their engines. I also counted being flipped off 7 times in the hour and a half. I expected to be flipped the bird, but I have to say that of those 7 times, 3 of them were by women who all looked to be in their late 40s to early 50s, and of course, they were white. Women are the one group that has lost probably the most rights from the Republican Party, but some women just don’t care. I thought, I sure hope they were not some child's grandmother, because many of us are marching for everyone's grandchildren's future.

Some of the signs the protestors were carrying were very imaginative. There was one sign out there that stated, “The only person Trump hired who was qualified was Stormy Daniels”. Another said, “I didn’t grow up saying Liberty and Justice for all to accept anything less” which of course is in the Pledge of Allegiance we all said every day in school. There were, of course, a ton of signs that said “NO KINGS”. Mine, of course, said “The Whole World Is Watching” which is true because the whole world is watching. There have been protests held all over the world in support of the “No Kings” protest. As I stated, this was the third protest that I had attended. The first two I saw pretty much no police presence, but this time I was seeing a police car about every 60 seconds, and I couldn’t understand why now, after the first two were so peaceful. When I got home, I learned about the politically motivated shooting in Minnesota that left two dead and also some wounded by a man supposedly impersonating a police officer. Now it makes sense why we had an increase in police.

The one thing I found funny was that there didn’t seem to be any of the Democratic Leadership out there with the people protesting for ‘No Kings'. I just think if the Democrats are serious about winning elections and changing government, they would be out there partnering with the people. If you noticed, I didn’t say leading the people, I said partnering with the people. Leading people, you are putting yourself above the people. Partnering with them shows that you truly understand their pain and the reasons why they march, and that you support the reasons that they march.

This is an administration that does not believe in America. This is an administration that does not believe in the Constitution. This is not an administration that does not believe in the vision of our founding fathers, who did not want a king but a Democratic Republic.  I don’t understand all of the racism, hatred, and bigotry that have been brought to the table by the people who have supported the felon in the White House. This is not a both-sides thing. Republicans have demonized the Democrats, the democratic process, and our Nation, and has labeled anyone who opposed them the enemy of the people. There will be more shooting until we 86 47.