1. United States
2. Letter

You must act now to dismantle the corruption in this administration before citizens feel they have no choice but to take matters into their own hands. In August 1946, World War II veterans in McMinn County, Tennessee, staged an armed rebellion against a political machine that had stolen elections for a decade. After deputies shot an elderly black farmer trying to vote and took ballot boxes to count in secret at the county jail, 70 veterans armed themselves with weapons from the National Guard armory and laid siege to the jail. They threw dynamite until the corrupt officials surrendered. This happened because every legal avenue had failed. The Department of Justice investigated electoral fraud in 1940, 1942, and 1944 without resolution. When institutions fail to hold corrupt officials accountable, people lose faith in orderly process. The veterans in Athens won back their democracy that night, but at tremendous risk. We should never reach that point again. You have the power to investigate, to hold hearings, to demand accountability through constitutional means. Use it before the pressure builds to a breaking point. History shows what happens when elected officials ignore corruption until citizens see no other option.