This Is a Moment of Choosing
I didn’t set out to write a call-to-action post today.
But after watching Heather Cox Richardson’s livestream on Saturday, following the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, I knew I couldn’t just absorb it and move on.
Heather was clear. Calm. Angry.
And she was unmistakable about one thing:
This is no longer a moment for commentary.
It is a moment for action.
This post is me answering her call — and asking my fellow Americans to do the same.
Why This Moment Is Different
The killing of Alex Pretti was not just another tragedy in a long, exhausting news cycle.
As Heather laid out in painstaking detail, this was a U.S. citizen — an ICU nurse — shot repeatedly by federal agents while attempting to help another person, and then immediately smeared by the administration with demonstrably false claims of “domestic terrorism,” despite overwhelming video evidence to the contrary.
What makes this moment different is not just the brutality.
It’s the lying in the face of evidence.
The refusal to allow independent investigation.
And the open declaration that we must believe the government over our own eyes.
That is not democracy. That is authoritarianism.
And Heather made something else painfully clear:
This does not stop unless Congress stops it.
The Math Matters — and It Favors Action
Here is the part that hit me hardest — and the part I want every reader to sit with:
We are not starting from zero.
We need only an additional 16 members of Congress to stop DHS and ICE abuses.
We need only an additional 23 members to impeach and remove a president who is actively undermining constitutional democracy.
That’s it.
Sixteen.
Twenty-three.
In a country of more than 330 million people, this comes down to a small, specific group of elected officials choosing courage over silence.
As Heather said plainly:
Republicans could stop this tonight if they wanted to.
This Is Not About Party — It’s About the Constitution
This is not a left vs. right argument.
It is a democracy vs. authoritarianism argument.
You cannot claim to support “law and order” while excusing:
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extrajudicial killings,
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denial of due process,
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criminalization of protest,
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and federal agencies policing themselves after lethal force.
Heather reminded viewers that the courts are not the final safeguard of democracy.
The people are.
And the mechanism we have right now is pressure — focused, informed, relentless pressure — on the Republicans who still have the power to stop this.
Why This Is Bigger Than One State
This is not just about Minnesota.
Heather was clear: the additional votes can come from Republicans in states where Trump’s approval rating has gone negative — states where lawmakers know they are politically vulnerable, and where public pressure can move the needle.
This post provides a link of the contact information to those representatives by state, because accountability requires names, not abstractions.
Republican Representatives Contact Information
What You Can Do — Starting Today
You don’t need the perfect script.
You don’t need to be an expert.
But if it helps, I’ve created a simple letter template you can use or adapt — something you can send as-is or make your own.
What matters most is making one thing unmistakable:
“You have the power to stop this. And if you choose not to, I will remember.”
Heather emphasized that Republicans are already underwater nationally — including in states they won. The choice they are making now is not just moral; it is political.
They can side with democracy.
Or they can own what comes next.
This Is the Line
Heather said something on Saturday that I can’t shake:
There will come a point when no one can credibly say, “I didn’t know.”
We are past that point.
Between the killings, the lies, the suppression of investigations, and the open expansion of “domestic terrorism” to include political opposition, the choice is now stark and unavoidable.
Either:
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you believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the rule of law,
or
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you accept a regime that uses violence and fear to maintain power.
This is me choosing.
And I’m asking you to choose too.
Call the representatives listed in the link.
Share this blog post.
Apply pressure — peacefully, relentlessly, and together.
Because we have the numbers.
We have the truth.
And history will remember who acted — and who stayed silent.
— The Not So Common Gal