1. United States
2. N.J.
3. Letter

The United States government depends on the vote. Our constitution gives us the right to manifest destiny- to choose our leaders based on our morals, values, and desires. What started out as an experiment in freedom and democracy has unraveled to tyranny and oppression. WE THE PEOPLE have continued to vote but our elected officials have failed to deliver the promises they made to acquire those votes. For years, we have stagnated in a state of static existence. And for years, the status quo has kept us afloat. However here, in the year 2026, we are watching the ship go off course. We are watching our elected ignore it. We are watching our friends and neighbors be rounded up and shipped to concentration camps and third party nations. We are watching women’s rights spiral down the drain. We are watching attempts at voter suppression. We are watching the instigation of wars we never wanted and never signed up for. And we are watching you- our congress people- ignore it all while cashing checks from your stock options and your book sales. You rely on the status quo because it has never failed you before. You sit secure in a position of power because you have learned to trust that your constituents will blindly follow you, ignorantly casting their votes for same old same old. I am writing to tell you- no more. If you want to keep your seat, you’d best work for it. We are tired. We are angry. We are banding together in numbers unseen since the Vietnam war. You may write us off, but we promise to do the same in turn. It’s still a free country- for now- and those ballot boxes still offer us opportunities to rock your comfortable world. As Maya Angelou said, “we still rise.” You can rise with us, or you can fester below us, but we will rise. It’s your choice. WE THE PEOPLE demand change. Impeach the Trump administration. Release the files. Burn it all down. Still I Rise BY MAYA ANGELOU “You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own backyard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.”