1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

The excessive use of force and escalation by deploying 2,000 National Guard troops against protesters in Los Angeles is an alarming authoritarian overreach by the President and his regime. This unnecessary military response to largely peaceful protests risks further inflaming tensions and eroding the civil liberties that are fundamental to American democracy. The President's false characterization of protesters as "insurrectionists" and "paid troublemakers" is a dangerous attempt to delegitimize dissent and justify oppressive tactics reminiscent of a police state. This is behavior that is seen in dictatorships. It is unacceptable in a democratic society governed by the rule of law. These protests, regardless of one's view of them, are not an armed insurrection. They are not a threat to national security. The protestors are exercising their constitutional rights of free speech, which need to be safeguarded and protected, not suppressed by unnecessary, unasked-for martial force and initimidation. The governor and mayors have made it clear that federal intervention is unwanted and unnecessary. Local law enforcement has the situation under control. Activating a state's National Guard without the governor's request for the first time in 50 years is an unconstitutional violation of state sovereignty. And the last time a president activated the National Guard, it was in order to protect protestors from violence, not to threaten them. The excessive militarization promoted by the Trump administration risks a catastrophic escalation of violence in a major American city. This violence is being committed against American citizens who are protesting the draconian immigration crackdowns that are being committed by masked officers who refuse to provide ID or show a warrant. I urge Congress to intervene and curtail this reckless executive overreach to prevent further civil rights violations and uphold democratic principles. Congress must forcefully check and balance this regime's authoritarian abuses of power immediately.