Last Friday’s news of former President Donald Trump’s 34 guilty verdicts recalled to me that strange feeling one has after the passing of a loved one—when the world stops for you in an instant but appears to carry on anyway. One sweet friend, an editor and a writer, told me that she nearly burst into tears when the verdict was handed down, but everyone else I know, almost all of them Trump supporters, pretty much ho-hummed this terrible blow to what remains of our republic. Lots of online commentators have reacted heatedly to this open assault on law and justice, but otherwise the birds were singing, and friends and family were engrossed in their personal affairs.

Fatigue may account for some of this nonchalance. After four years of political and cultural bombardment from our present administration and the media, it’s understandable that ordinary Americans would be simply worn down. For many, the conviction of a former president for crimes no one can pinpoint was just one more explosion in an already tumultuous situation.

These are people I love, but their lack of concern is disconcerting. We now have a man running for the highest office in this land whose opponents can, and will, denounce him as “a convicted felon.” Much more importantly, along with the ongoing assaults on the Supreme Court we are witnessing the further demolition of our Constitution and legal system.

Some supporters new and old are buoyed up by the latest polls, which show Trump leading Biden in the polls, and by the more than $100 million raised for his campaign in the wake of his conviction. All well and good, I agree, but we’ll see how long this fervor lasts. And what if Donald Trump, for whatever reason, loses the election in November? His trial and conviction have established a horrible precedent; his defeat in November would set that precedent in concrete, legitimizing what some now call lawfare, or politics by another means.

With this corruption of law and our court system, tyranny has dropped its last veil and shown its face. We’re at war, and we’re going to need as many troops as we can muster. It’s up to us to rouse and fire up our napping friends.

First, we must make them understand that our federal government, at best, lacks all regard for the average American, and at worst is an active enemy. We’ve witnessed the hostility of the Biden administration and the intelligence and law enforcement agencies, but Congress is also guilty. That body is fond of spending money, appointing committees, and holding hearings, but many of its members seem far more interested in pelf, prestige, and power than in the welfare of the American citizen. How many in Congress have spoken out against the harsh treatment and absurd jail sentences handed down to the Jan. 6 “insurrectionists.” Moreover, the possibly criminal and even treasonous activities of the Biden family in countries like Ukraine, Russia, and China have brought no repercussions. Remind them of these things. 

Next, we must encourage these recruits to take an active role in the public square, and we must do likewise. This means voting. It means volunteering as poll watchers. It means paying attention to the issues and candidates in local races, where so many termites are eating away at our institutions. It means spreading the word, summoning others to the cause of freedom and personal responsibility.

Finally, we must make clear to them, and to ourselves, that this struggle to recapture our liberties will be neither short nor easy. Here we might comfort ourselves with the words of Thomas Paine from The American Crisis: “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

That celestial article now hangs in the balance in America. Staying alert and knowing what’s at stake are key in this fight for liberty.