This Is What Fear Looks Like in a Democracy
On State Power, Human Life, and the Cost of Normalization
By LONNIE KING
As an ice storm blows through Houston and much of the country this weekend, there’s an irony in how we’re hunkered down against the cold. Outside, the weather bites and everything slows. At the same time, across the country in Minneapolis, a different kind of cold—a chilling use of force by federal agents—is making headlines again. It’s the kind of juxtaposition that feels too on-the-nose to ignore.
I never thought I’d live to see Americans afraid of a national police force operating in our own cities.
But here we are.
Another Killing. The Same Script.
Saturday morning in Minneapolis, federal agents killed a 37-year-old man. Before the facts were fully known—before accountability even had a chance to breathe—the familiar narrative snapped into place:
He was armed.
He was threatening.
They had no choice.
First of all, let’s plainly call that narrative what it is–a LIE. Even if you want to contend he was armed (legallty licensed to carry), his handgun had been separated from him before he was murdered by ICE agents.
But, we’ve seen this movie before. The sequels are poorly written but the scripts are always ready to go.
What troubles me most isn’t just the killing itself. It’s how quickly the machinery of justification spins up. How efficiently fear is managed. How casually lethal force is normalized when it comes from the state. And how many of you – my contemporaries – will quickly and eagerly latch on to the lie.
But hear this: this isn’t law and order. It’s maniacal power protecting itself. And if you’re not openly against that evil, you’re for it.
Clarity Matters Now More Than Ever
Let me say this plainly.
I am not calling for violence. I am not advocating harm to anyone. And I am not threatening a person.
What I am doing is naming something that feels deeply wrong—and increasingly accepted.
I already know how some of you will respond to this. I know I’ll be written off as hysterical, irrational, or unhinged. I know some will call me a crackpot.
Or a snowflake.
Who Gets Called a “Snowflake”—and Why
When I previously wrote about Renée Good, who was killed in Minneapolis several weeks ago, someone dismissed my outrage in the comment section by calling me a “snowflake” and got some ‘thumbs-up’ encouragement too.
That’s fine. People who don’t know me can call me whatever they want. I’m not personally threatened by lazy insults.
But what does disturb me is what that insult reveals.
Because, somehow, being outraged by the reckless killing of American citizens by an out-of-control police force began being treated as softness. Fragility. Delicacy. As if empathy is weakness. As if caring about human life makes you dainty or naïve.
That’s backwards.
The real fragility isn’t protest. It isn’t dissent. It isn’t anger in the face of injustice.
The real snowflake mentality is a system—and a mindset—that cannot tolerate being challenged without resorting to lethal force.
If your authority is so brittle that it has to kill people who resist it, that’s not strength…that’s panic. That’s fear dressed up as power.
And the fact that this gets cheered, excused, or mocked away says something deeply unsettling about who we are becoming.
What I Mean When I Say “This Must Be Stopped”
Yes, I believe Donald Trump must be stopped.
Not “stopped” in some cinematic or violent sense. Not “stopped” by individuals taking the law into their own hands. But stopped in the only ways that matter in a democracy:
- By exposure
- By resistance
- By accountability
- By refusing to normalize what should never be normal
What we are witnessing—the expansion of federal force into American cities, the erosion of transparency, the reflexive criminalization of dissent—is dangerous.
And pretending otherwise doesn’t make us tough. It makes us complicit.
When the Guardrails Start to Feel Imaginary
Here’s the part that feels unbearable right now.
It’s getting harder to trust that the usual guardrails will hold.
I want to believe elections will be honored. I want to believe courts will remain independent. I want to believe emergency powers won’t be abused to consolidate permanent authority.
But watching federal force expand while accountability shrinks makes those beliefs harder to sustain.
And when people feel trapped between silence and being labeled a threat, democracies don’t collapse all at once. They hollow out.
What I’m Not Calling For—and What I Am
I’m too old to fight a war. I do not currently own a gun or any other firearm. I don’t fantasize about violent revolution.
I don’t want chaos.
What I want is restraint. I want oversight. I want a country where the government goes back to being ‘by the people, of the people, for the people,’ and fears abusing its citizens more than citizens fear speaking out against it.
That should not be a radical demand.
Patriotism Without Fear
The term “patriot” is being thrown around a lot these days. Unfortunately, it is often misinterpreted or misused. Patriotism is not proud obedience to nationalistic power – it is loyalty to principles.
And one of those principles is this:
The state does not get to kill its way to legitimacy.
So no, I won’t say we’re running out of options. But I will say this cannot continue unchecked.
This must be confronted. It must be restrained. It must not be normalized.
Because a country where people are afraid of their own government is not strong. It is already broken.
Grace and grit to you — LK
This is SO good, I've gotta share it!
Related
Randomly Rudimentary Faith Stuff 
This Is What Fear Looks Like in a Democracy
On State Power, Human Life, and the Cost of Normalization
By LONNIE KING
As an ice storm blows through Houston and much of the country this weekend, there’s an irony in how we’re hunkered down against the cold. Outside, the weather bites and everything slows. At the same time, across the country in Minneapolis, a different kind of cold—a chilling use of force by federal agents—is making headlines again. It’s the kind of juxtaposition that feels too on-the-nose to ignore.
I never thought I’d live to see Americans afraid of a national police force operating in our own cities.
But here we are.
Another Killing. The Same Script.
Saturday morning in Minneapolis, federal agents killed a 37-year-old man. Before the facts were fully known—before accountability even had a chance to breathe—the familiar narrative snapped into place:
First of all, let’s plainly call that narrative what it is–a LIE. Even if you want to contend he was armed (legallty licensed to carry), his handgun had been separated from him before he was murdered by ICE agents.
But, we’ve seen this movie before. The sequels are poorly written but the scripts are always ready to go.
What troubles me most isn’t just the killing itself. It’s how quickly the machinery of justification spins up. How efficiently fear is managed. How casually lethal force is normalized when it comes from the state. And how many of you – my contemporaries – will quickly and eagerly latch on to the lie.
But hear this: this isn’t law and order. It’s maniacal power protecting itself. And if you’re not openly against that evil, you’re for it.
Clarity Matters Now More Than Ever
Let me say this plainly.
I am not calling for violence. I am not advocating harm to anyone. And I am not threatening a person.
What I am doing is naming something that feels deeply wrong—and increasingly accepted.
I already know how some of you will respond to this. I know I’ll be written off as hysterical, irrational, or unhinged. I know some will call me a crackpot.
Or a snowflake.
Who Gets Called a “Snowflake”—and Why
When I previously wrote about Renée Good, who was killed in Minneapolis several weeks ago, someone dismissed my outrage in the comment section by calling me a “snowflake” and got some ‘thumbs-up’ encouragement too.
That’s fine. People who don’t know me can call me whatever they want. I’m not personally threatened by lazy insults.
But what does disturb me is what that insult reveals.
Because, somehow, being outraged by the reckless killing of American citizens by an out-of-control police force began being treated as softness. Fragility. Delicacy. As if empathy is weakness. As if caring about human life makes you dainty or naïve.
That’s backwards.
The real fragility isn’t protest. It isn’t dissent. It isn’t anger in the face of injustice.
The real snowflake mentality is a system—and a mindset—that cannot tolerate being challenged without resorting to lethal force.
If your authority is so brittle that it has to kill people who resist it, that’s not strength…that’s panic. That’s fear dressed up as power.
And the fact that this gets cheered, excused, or mocked away says something deeply unsettling about who we are becoming.
What I Mean When I Say “This Must Be Stopped”
Yes, I believe Donald Trump must be stopped.
Not “stopped” in some cinematic or violent sense. Not “stopped” by individuals taking the law into their own hands. But stopped in the only ways that matter in a democracy:
What we are witnessing—the expansion of federal force into American cities, the erosion of transparency, the reflexive criminalization of dissent—is dangerous.
And pretending otherwise doesn’t make us tough. It makes us complicit.
When the Guardrails Start to Feel Imaginary
Here’s the part that feels unbearable right now.
It’s getting harder to trust that the usual guardrails will hold.
I want to believe elections will be honored. I want to believe courts will remain independent. I want to believe emergency powers won’t be abused to consolidate permanent authority.
But watching federal force expand while accountability shrinks makes those beliefs harder to sustain.
And when people feel trapped between silence and being labeled a threat, democracies don’t collapse all at once. They hollow out.
What I’m Not Calling For—and What I Am
I’m too old to fight a war. I do not currently own a gun or any other firearm. I don’t fantasize about violent revolution.
I don’t want chaos.
What I want is restraint. I want oversight. I want a country where the government goes back to being ‘by the people, of the people, for the people,’ and fears abusing its citizens more than citizens fear speaking out against it.
That should not be a radical demand.
Patriotism Without Fear
The term “patriot” is being thrown around a lot these days. Unfortunately, it is often misinterpreted or misused. Patriotism is not proud obedience to nationalistic power – it is loyalty to principles.
And one of those principles is this:
So no, I won’t say we’re running out of options. But I will say this cannot continue unchecked.
This must be confronted. It must be restrained. It must not be normalized.
Because a country where people are afraid of their own government is not strong. It is already broken.
Grace and grit to you — LK
This is SO good, I've gotta share it!
Related