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King or Dictator


Today is February 19, 2025. By chance, this marks exactly 500 days until the United States celebrates 250 years of independence from monarchy. And yet, on this very day, Donald Trump took to social media to declare, “Congestion pricing is dead. Manhattan, and all of New York is saved. Long live the King!”

That statement led me to revisit the Declaration of Independence. It’s truly remarkable how the words Thomas Jefferson wrote—later refined by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin—remain as relevant today as they were 249 years ago.

The Declaration begins with a powerful idea: When people find themselves in a situation where they must break away from a political system that has bound them to another, and establish themselves as an independent and equal entity—something that the natural order and fundamental rights grant them—it’s only fair and reasonable that they explain their reasons for doing so to the rest of the world.

Are we at such a moment now? 

The list of grievances once levied against King George III could just as easily be directed at Trump today. Consider these words from the Declaration:

"In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

In today’s terms: At every step, we have respectfully called for change. Yet, every time we have petitioned, we have only been met with more harm. A leader who consistently behaves like a tyrant, showing no regard for justice or the people’s rights, is unfit to govern a free nation.

One month into his return to office, Trump and his allies have openly defied the very principles on which this nation was founded. They have spat in the face of the Declaration of Independence and the noble experiment of our Constitution. The question is: Will we stand by, or will we, too, make a declaration of our own?

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