I was an altar boy at age 12.
In high school, my debate team argued for an international organization that would outlaw nuclear weapons.
When I turned 18, I vowed to immigrate to Canada before submitting to conscription in an immoral war in Vietnam.
At 19, I demonstrated against that war at the Democratic National Convention, serving briefly as one of Abbie Hoffman’s “marshals” in Grant Park.
Today, I remain the pacifist I’ve been most of my life. Nonetheless, I will not hesitate to join a revolution against the current administration if the president refuses to abide by the rulings of our courts. He would not only be tearing up our Constitution, but seizing power and governing without the consent of the American people.
Shortly after inauguration, Trump issued a raft of executive orders, many of which have been blocked by the courts because they are constitutionally illegal, including his order halting all federal grants, abolishing birthright citizenship, banning DEI programs, and giving Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) free access to the U.S. Treasury’s payment systems.
Annoyed that lawful U.S. judges are restricting and preventing his power grab, Trump and his allies have sent signals that they may defy the courts. On the question of where we will be as a country if Trump decides to do so, legal experts and pundits have said they do not know. It would be a constitutional crisis, the likes of which we’ve never seen before.
Though that may be technically true, it’s not entirely true. In 1776, when King George tried to seize illegitimate control over the colonists by taxing them without their consent, the citizenry launched the American Revolutionary War. It was legal, just and necessary as a last resort to taxation without representation.
Today’s conflict is escalating in similar fashion. Our democratic government was established by the founders in such a way that Americans enjoy freedom and the power of self-determination, as it flows from us, through the ballot box, to our legal representatives in Washington, and monitored and checked by the judicial branch.
If the president dares to usurp that system, we lose our voice and become serfs subject to his whims. I will fight and die rather than be enslaved that way. Fight and die to protect our liberty.
I cannot say how the revolution will ensue. Its start will likely be reflexive. Millions of us will march on the White House. We will not be like the insurrectionists of Jan. 6 as we will be marching to preserve our democracy, not upend it.
The commander and chief will probably order the military to turn back the masses. But we will be too many, and our fellow citizen-soldiers may take our side. If Trump perceives this happening, he may flee, possibly accepting an offer from Vladimir Putin for safe exile in Russia.
On the other hand, if he manages to assemble a resistance force of Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other members of his base, violence could erupt.
Past retirement age, I may not qualify for active combat in a revolution. Nonetheless, I will leave home for Washington and volunteer to prepare and distribute meals, drive an ambulance, write communiques or serve in whichever capacity the battle commanders perceive a need.
As Trump, talking in his customary circles, seems to be threatening a coup, one might reasonably ask how a president can overthrow his own government? But it qualifies as a coup if he promotes himself from democratic president to dictatorial king, in total disregard of America’s laws.
We defeated a king before, another one who was also reckless and incapable of consequential thought. And as much as I dislike leaving my family and my home, it will be my duty to help our nation do so again.
David McGrath is an emeritus English professor at the College of DuPage and author of the book “Far Enough Away,” a collection of Chicagoland stories. Email him at mcgrathd@dupage.edu.
