Demand State Action to Check Federal Overreach and Protect Residents

I am writing to question the fundamental purpose of our state government when it fails to fulfill its most basic obligation: protecting residents from unchecked force and violence, regardless of the source. Government exists for one essential reason, as John Locke articulated centuries ago: to protect life and liberty. Before constitutions and modern nation-states, societies learned that unchecked force becomes predatory. We created government as a social compact where people agree to be governed in exchange for protection from armed power. Violence must be restrained, force must be accountable, and power must answer to law. That promise is being broken. Federal paramilitary forces are operating in our communities, conducting raids, detaining people without transparency, and acting like an occupying force rather than public servants bound by law. This is not law and order. This is precisely what government was designed to prevent. State governments are not subsidiaries of federal power. They exist specifically to intercede when centralized authority turns predatory. When federal power becomes unaccountable and destructive of the very ends it was meant to serve, it forfeits legitimacy. At that point, state and local governments have a constitutional duty to block, resist, and refuse cooperation with forces that brutalize residents. I am asking what purpose our state government serves if it stands aside while federal forces terrorize the people it claims to represent. Why should I continue paying into a system that fails to keep me safe? A government that will not shield its people from terror has no reason to exist. This is not a radical position. It is foundational to American governance. Government was created so no one could rule by fear. I expect you to hold our state government accountable to that principle and take concrete action to protect residents from federal overreach. Our communities deserve protection from all forms of unchecked violence, whether it comes from criminals or from those who claim to act in the name of law.