“The real American tradition isn’t war—it’s the people’s resistance to it.”
On June 16, Rolling Stone reported on the recent “No Kings” demonstrations that revealed something profound about American values. In the article they noted that Saturday’s protests drew millions into the streets to oppose increasingly autocratic governance. The ACLU declared that over five million people had assembled across 2,000 demonstrations—a response organized to counter what critics called Trump’s “dictator-style” military parade for his own birthday.
While political leaders stage military spectacles, millions of ordinary Americans take to the streets in peaceful protest. This pattern reveals where the nation’s heart actually lies.
Trump gained significant support by criticizing U.S. involvement in foreign wars—particularly in Ukraine and Palestine—and by promising swift peace. Yet his actions have consistently intensified conflict rather than resolved it. His current military posturing mirrors the very policies he once condemned, reinforcing a familiar pattern in American politics: campaign promises of peace followed by military escalations once in power.
For centuries, millions have immigrated to the United States, often fleeing war, violence, and economic despair. In doing so, they helped build one of the most culturally diverse societies on the planet—a living experiment in what a future human community might look like. The resistance to ICE raids and immigration crackdowns, such as those recently witnessed in Los Angeles, must be understood not as isolated events, but as part of a broader defense of this evolving multicultural identity.
These immigrants didn’t come to America to build weapons or wage wars. They came seeking the promise of peaceful coexistence—a promise that remains unfulfilled largely because of militarized institutions that drain resources from the communities that need them most.
It’s not the ballot box that has failed us, but unchecked military power. From Vietnam to Iraq, from Gaza to Iran, and now across Europe, who bears responsibility for the carnage? NATO’s expansionism, military conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, and relentless U.S. interventions have all contributed to a climate of global instability.
As Martin Luther King Jr. warned in his 1967 speech “Beyond Vietnam,” the problem is not only individual wars—it’s the military system that enables and perpetuates them. King understood that militarism corrupts democracy from within, turning resources meant for human flourishing toward instruments of destruction.
Universities and religious institutions too often legitimize this system. Rather than guiding us toward peace, they bless military ventures, sanctify violence, and provide intellectual and spiritual cover for destruction. These institutions—meant to inspire moral clarity and spiritual awakening—have instead become complicit in normalizing violence. It is deeply troubling that so many educated individuals not only support but help design the machinery of organized killing.
Let’s be clear: no immigrant or working-class person is building the bombs dropped on Iran. No poor neighborhood is siphoning billions in tax dollars the way the military-industrial complex does. The real democratic struggle in the United States has always been against this machinery of war and the elite interests it serves.
The American people consistently show a desire to live in peace and security. But that desire has been manipulated by those who profit from perpetual conflict—interests that Trump represents through his birthday military spectacles, saber-rattling toward Iran and Israel, and nostalgic appeals to nationalism.
Imagine a world without armies. We would be compelled to resolve our tensions through diplomacy and creativity. This isn’t naive idealism—it’s practical wisdom. The resources currently devoted to weapons of mass destruction could transform education, healthcare, infrastructure, and environmental protection.
Such a transformation would require dismantling not just military hardware, but the economic and political systems that depend on perpetual conflict. It would mean choosing cooperation over competition, dialogue over dominance, and shared prosperity over zero-sum thinking.
History shows us that leaders who rely on military force and divisive rhetoric ultimately lose political ground. Previous administrations have fallen due to reckless policies, mishandling of crises, and divisive stances that fracture rather than heal. They lose not because the public forgets, but because they remember—and because they continue to choose nonviolent resistance over submission to authoritarian power.
The millions who filled the streets in peaceful protest represent America’s true tradition. They embody the country’s deepest values: diversity, democracy, and the persistent belief that conflicts must be resolved without violence.
In the end, nonviolence always wins.
