Joining a wave of over seven million citizens attending ‘No Kings’ rallies across the nation on Saturday, October 18, local rallies across the Driftless Region drew hundreds of supporters. Several hundred showed up to peacefully protest in Viroqua, and organizers in Prairie du Chien said the event there drew 150 citizens.
Rallies were also reported in La Crosse, Richland Center, Boscobel, Dodgeville, among others.
The event in Viroqua was organized by the local chapter of a national group called ‘Indivisible.’ Local organizer Jillian Ritchie addressed the folks assembled.
“We are Vernon Indivisible, part of a national organization called ‘Indivisible.org,’ with thousands of chapters nationwide, two of them right here in Vernon County,” Ritchie said. “You might know of our work from all of those wonderful food drives that you've seen, many of those sponsored by Opal indivisible, our progressive action league, and they are collecting food right here to donate to our food pantries.”
Ritchie spoke of how the illegal federal government cuts are taking money out of Vernon County, and giving it to the billionaires in Washington.
“We’re here to protest how that's hitting our county, and we won't stand for it,” Ritchie said. “We are pleased to work in coordination with the Vernon County Democratic Party on this event. Thank you so much for being here. So, if you support Vernon County residents getting the food assistance they need, the medical assistance they need, the education that we need, and all of the help that our county needs to provide services to Vernon County residents, you are in the right place today, and we are here as peaceful protesters.”
Tara Johnson
Next up to speak to the crowd was Wisconsin 96th Assembly District Representative Tara Johnson.
“All of us gathered here are joining millions of Americans who are also gathering across the country, including almost 100 events in the State of Wisconsin,” Johnson said. “What a great day to be an American. This is what democracy looks like, right?”
Johnson led the group throughout her remarks in chanting the slogan, “No thrones! No crowns! No Kings!”
“The organizers of this event asked me to talk a little bit about what's going on in Madison, and I will say that it has been a little challenging,” Johnson remarked. “So far this session, Republicans in Madison, who hold the majority in the legislature, have been behaving badly, much like their want-to-be-king in Washington, D.C. They have failed and failed and failed to take up meaningful legislation that would help Wisconsin families. Families who are struggling to make ends meet because of Trump imposed tariffs and unfair tax systems that is cranking up the price of, quite frankly, everything for all of us right now.”
“Unfortunately, we are not voting on bills that would address Wisconsinites deep concern about the future of public education in our state. The majority is shirking their responsibility to address the dangerous and damaging effects of not only the ‘Big, Ugly Bill’s,’ gutting of healthcare affordability, but also the weeks-long government shutdown, which is wreaking havoc on tousands of Wisconsinites and millions of Americans. So, bottom line, this legislative session has been quite lackluster,” Johnson stated.
“With that government shutdown, and funding slashed for healthcare, food assistance and other lifeline programs, Wisconsin's majority party, the Republicans, have produced, as I said, no meaningful legislation to help alleviate our collective economic, governmental and social turmoil. The Wisconsin Senate went for more than 90 days this summer without convening. That is irresponsible. It is unacceptable and flat out dangerous for Wisconsinites,” Johnson said.
“In contrast, just this week, my Democratic colleagues and I in the Assembly offered numerous amendments to serve the will and the needs of Wisconsin residents. We fought to fill the $70 million dollar funding gap in Wisconsin's Food Share program that was created by the ‘Big, Ugly, Bill,’ and we attempted to provide a critical $25 million allocation to maintain emergency medical services, which are at risk of shutting down. And instead, in lockstep with their leader, wannabe Prince Robin Vos, earlier this week, led the Republican majority in voting against every one of our life-saving measures. They have chosen, time-and-time again to waste time this session scheduling hearings and votes on culture war bills targeting our LGBTQ neighbors and family members. They've wasted time on dangerous and divisive resolutions like the one just this last Tuesday recognizing the birthday of extremist Charlie Kirk.
“They're introducing these base-pandering measures because they're afraid, quite frankly, of our agenda, the Democratic agenda, which is Wisconsin's agenda. It calls for voucher school cost transparency and accountability, an agenda that restores prevailing wages for public works projects, that repeals the erroneously named ‘Right-to-Work’ legislation. These are measures that will help build the middle class in our state, and Democrats are fighting for an agenda that includes climate action accountability, and invests in a state-funded backstop for WIC and SNAP recipients, whose benefits are set to end in just two weeks at the end of this month. Benefits that have been taken away from Wisconsinites unfairly because of want-to-be king Trump's Big, Ugly Bill.
“In the bright light of this morning sun, it is easy for us to see why the wannabe King is less and less popular. I think it's in part because more and more Americans are experiencing the election version of ‘buyers remorse,’ right? They were lied to by Trump. They were sold a bill of goods during the campaign. They are seeing for themselves now that he is a tyrant and a huckster and a liar. I say in this moment, on this No Kings day, that we show our neighbors who are experiencing this buyer's remorse some empathy and grace. They wanted to believe, and they did, but the wannabe King's true colors are showing, and our fellow Americans are feeling angry and lied to and perhaps a little ashamed, right? Let us be gracious. Let us be welcoming. Let them know that starting right now on No Kings Day, we the true patriotic defenders of democracy show every American that we are fighting for them as well.
“History is on our side, folks, and the weather this morning is on our side as well. So while the forecast for wannabe Prince Vos and wannabe King Trump, the forecast looks pretty bad for them. I'd say our forecast is looking good friends. Through your efforts, and all of us in this movement together, the forecast is clear and bright and sunny, and there may be some more dark days, some storms, snow, sheer winds, maybe even a tornado or a hurricane that we will endure and survive along the way. But I am here to tell you that this fight that we are in, this movement, is a movement of and for decades and generations. That is how important this work is. This is not just a 10-day forecast. This is a long-term movement that we are part of, and like this morning's clear and bright weather, democracy-filled days are ahead of us.”
Wayde Lawler
Wade Lawler is a Vernon County Board Supervisor and Chair of the Vernon County Democratic Party. Lawler addressed the crowd as well. Lawler began by asking members of the crowd to turn to someone else they don’t know and thank them for being there.
“You're here, and that is a beautiful and powerful thing, because you see, there's a story going around right now. It's not being told by a whole lot of folks, but they're really loud, and they are determined to convince us that their story is true. I won't get into the details, because, frankly, it's a pretty boring story. It goes a little something like this, ‘Trump won. It's his country, and there's nothing you can do about it.’ And yet, here you are.
“You're here because you remember that the story of this country, our country, started in opposition to a tyrant. Maybe you even remember the words of the Declaration of Independence that affirm that we are all created equal, that we are endowed with certain inalienable rights, among them, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that governments are instituted to secure those rights and get their powers through the consent of the governed. So I want to ask you, is this administration securing our rights? Hell no! Do you consent to the actions of this administration? I want you to repeat after me, I withdraw my consent.
“You are here because you refuse a story in which you simply stand by while people are dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night, children zip-tied in their pajamas, priests assaulted in the middle of prayer, health care and food aid and disaster relief and cancer research all demolished. No, you're here because you believe that together, we can write a different story, and you insist that we do. And if our story, this story of liberty and justice for all, will ever become the story, we're going to have to reckon with a couple hard truths. The first is simply that no one else is coming to save us.
“The other truth we need to know, and this is something that the people who have been shackled, who have been deported, who have had conversion therapy forced on them know better than I ever will. The fight for justice in this country is as old as the country itself. It's hard, and it is full of setbacks. When Dr. King said ‘the moral arc of the universe is long,’ I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about the time between now and the midterm elections. When he said ‘it bends toward justice,’ he knew that we must do the bending, and that this effort demands our perseverance, because there are people like Trump and his enablers pushing in the other direction. Like anything under tension, it can snap back in a heartbeat if we let go. So this story that we're writing is one of our own power, power both to meet this moment of crisis and to build justice that lasts.
“Chapters are already being written in Portland, Oregon, and now in Viroqua, where dancing frogs are refusing to have their joy stolen. They are reflecting back to this administration its own absurdity in the overnight development of a Disney boycott so widespread the company lost $4 billion in value, and was forced to put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air. In mutual aid groups forming all over the country. In our own Vernon County Board, unanimously rejecting political violence and calling on our elected officials to stop spreading hate. And perhaps most powerfully in Chicago, where neighborhoods are coming together to protect their most vulnerable from ICE.
“It's been said that freedom is not free. I am grateful that it is not, because you get what you pay for. And to be honest, I am not interested in some in some cheap, disposable, easily breakable freedom. What we want is a freedom that we craft by our own labor, working in solidarity with fellow patriots of all colors and all creeds, a freedom with no expiration date, and whose warranty is the lifelong commitment of each of us, a freedom proudly stamped with the label ‘Made in the USA.’
“Frederick Douglas, a man who escaped from slavery and became one of the most powerful voices for its abolition, said power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Are you ready to show this tyrant his limits?
“So when they try to pin us down, to paralyze us with despair, we will instead march. We will march because the human body is a marvelous gift, and when we move, we rediscover our fundamental power. We will march in the tradition of those that came before us. Of the community leaders who marched with John Lewis on Bloody Sunday in the face of beatings and tear gas to demand voting rights for black Americans. Of the farm workers who marched with Cesar Chavez hundreds of miles across California to insist on fair wages and union rights. Of the millions of Americans who marched in January of 2017 to protest the first time this traitorous bully was sworn into office. We will march because our public presence is an invitation to everyone who sees us.
“When they try to silence us, we will instead speak out. We will speak out to hold to account those who commit injustice and wage violence. We will also speak out like Tara said, to our own friends, family, neighbors, who may have believed a lie, but are now seeing that we cannot continue down this path. And as we speak, so too will we sing, laugh and pray? Because those are the things that make us human. And in everything we do, we will exert our humanity loudly and steadfastly when they try to tear down our community.
“Now, I know many of you like me are from practical, stoic, Midwestern stock. You might be thinking, well, yes, this all sounds lovely, but what do I do? If you care about elections, you work the polls, you volunteer as an observer, you register your neighbors to vote, you knock on doors, you write postcards. Remember, the only reason our state isn't following Texas right now and rigging the game so that the party who is weaponizing the government against its own people gets more seats is because we elected enough people to key positions and they're standing up for what's right. Elections still matter.
“If you care about health care and food aid, you help people navigate paperwork so they don't lose access to those things. You give rides to appointments, you set up meal trains, you organize school supply drives. If you care about kids, you attend your local school board meeting. You run for city council, you run for county board. And if you care about our immigrant neighbors, you take a know your rights training. You learn from what they're doing in Chicago. You start planning and organizing now.
“So, hang tight before you spread out. This is a quote from George Bernard Shaw, who is an Irish author and activist. He said ‘that this is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of nature, instead of a feverish, selfish little cloud of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. It is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations’.”
