A Republic - If You Can Keep It
July 27, 2025
By Dr. Thomas J. Powell
I passed a house this morning with a simple black-and-white sign in the window: No Kings. The words landed heavier than usual today. Not because I had not seen them before—I have, many times—but because lately, it feels as though we need to say it louder, and more often.
I have been thinking a great deal about federalism again—its fragility, its brilliance, and its foundational importance in protecting us from tyranny. Not just from tyrants in name, but from the creep of methods: the consolidation of power, the demand for loyalty over law, the public shaming of dissent, the weaponization of institutions. The United States was designed to resist all of that, imperfectly but intentionally. And yet we find ourselves flirting with its opposite more often than we admit.
Some mornings I think about Schindler’s List. Not for drama. For honesty. I recall the speed with which it all began—the first 53 days of Hitler’s regime—when dissent was still technically legal but increasingly dangerous. When the currency of survival was loyalty. When the press, the courts, the public voice all began to fracture under weight that was first social, then political, then lethal. That slide does not begin with gas chambers. It begins with public loyalty tests and private silencing. It begins when a citizen is told: If you do not support the leader, you are not a good German. Or, in today’s iteration: If you are not loyal to Trump, you are not a good American.
I reject that. Categorically.
Rejecting autocracy does not make one anti-Trump, anti-Biden, or anti-anyone. It makes one a constitutionalist. It means I value structured freedom, shared power, and the moral architecture of a republic over the ease of authoritarianism. A benevolent dictator may solve problems faster—but no dictator stays benevolent. That is why we built this system. Messy? Yes. Slow? Absolutely. But it protects liberty in a way no strongman ever has.
To say “No Kings” is not to speak against a man—it is to speak for a principle. For pluralism. For institutional boundaries. For the unsexy work of citizenship that requires disagreement without exile. For the idea that you can believe in reproductive autonomy and still hold moral complexity. That you can support transgender dignity without rejecting tradition. That you can love this country while interrogating its leaders. None of that makes you unpatriotic. It makes you awake.
Oskar Schindler was not a radical. He used his position to defy evil in quiet ways. He did not rally mobs; he saved lives. The founders of this country were more aggressive—yes. They used muskets and manifestos. But the aim was the same: to resist centralized tyranny and demand a system where freedom was not permission from a king, but the birthright of the governed.
We do not need kings. We need citizens. We need critics who love their country enough to call it back to its promises. We need institutions that withstand the charisma of any single leader. And we need to stop pretending that loyalty to a person is loyalty to a nation. Those are different devotions—and history makes clear which one deserves ours.
Today’s walk reminded me why I do this work. Why I write. Why I teach. Why I speak up even when the ground feels shaky. Because silence, dressed in pragmatism, is still complicity. And I did not come this far—nor did my ancestors—just to hand the pen back to the monarchs.
No Kings.
Thomas J. Powell, a native of Sierra Nevada, is an entrepreneur and finance strategist whose ventures span real estate, capital markets, and legal innovation. He holds a Doctorate in Law and Policy and instructs doctoral students on federalism and constitutional law.
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