I have sent the following message to Congressman Jim McGovern and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, and I would like to share it here: I am honored to have you as my representative in Congress, but I must ask you now to step outside of your comfort zone as a representative and a lawmaker. I am asking you to become a leader. Our country is now under the control of a man of the lowest, most dangerous character. In the Trump regime, as they say in Russian, “Dna ne sushchestvuet,” which means “there is no bottom.” I am asking you, imploring you, to join with other Democratic leaders in the House and Senate to call a general strike. It is time to shut the country down, even at risk that MAGA cult members will bring out their guns and shoot people in the streets, even at risk that the regime will declare martial law and order American troops to use violence to suppress protest by the American people. It is time for millions and millions of Americans to take to the streets and take down this vile and intolerably corrupt regime. At a recent town hall meeting in Northampton, a member of the audience shouted out a question to Jim McGovern: “How will you lead us?” Perhaps as your constituents, it is incumbent on all of us to rise up in massive protest. But the fact remains that we need we need leadership to make these protests happen. Without action now, our democracy will be permanently destroyed and the entire world put in jeopardy. Please lead us!

Alex Kent

Amherst