NO KINGS: FROM PROTEST TO PARTICIPATION
A Five-Minute Commentary
October 17, 2026
You know, something extraordinary is happening in America today.
All across this country, people are gathering under a banner called No Kings.
More than 2,500 events are planned nationwide.
And here’s what I find particularly interesting.
They’re changing their message.
They’re moving from protest to participation.
And folks, that’s a very important distinction.
Because for months now, I’ve been traveling around Greensboro, North Carolina, talking to strangers, interviewing people, asking questions, and trying to understand what Americans are really thinking.
And I’ve come to a pretty simple conclusion.
Americans don’t have an awareness problem. We have a participation problem.
Think about that for a second.
Everybody knows something’s wrong.
Everybody knows Washington isn’t working the way they’d like it to work.
Everybody knows that housing is too expensive, healthcare is too complicated, education costs too much, and ordinary working families are struggling to get ahead.
You don’t have to convince people that these problems exist.
They live with them every single day.
But here’s where things get interesting.
What are we actually doing about it?
Because complaining isn’t participating.
Posting something on Facebook isn’t participating in an election.
And standing on a street corner holding a sign, while certainly an expression of your constitutional rights, isn’t the same thing as casting a ballot.
Now, don’t misunderstand me.
I love a good protest.
I grew up in Connecticut during the 1960s.
I remember the Vietnam War protests. I remember the civil rights movement. I remember watching ordinary Americans come together and demand change.
I’ve seen what happens when people organize around something they believe in.
And I’ve seen the extraordinary power of ordinary people.
But I’ve also learned something in my 69 years on this planet.
Showing up is important. Following through is essential.
And that’s what makes today’s No Kings events interesting.
Instead of simply gathering to express frustration with President Trump, organizers say they’re focusing on helping people vote.
They’re helping people check their voter registration.
They’re helping people understand early voting.
They’re helping people request absentee ballots.
They’re even organizing transportation to polling places.
Now we’re talking about something concrete.
Because democracy isn’t just something you believe in.
Democracy is something you do.
And that brings me to something I’ve been working on for the past several months.
I started an organization called the Truth Party.
And when I started it, I had a lot of ideas about what was wrong with America and how we might fix it.
But the more people I talked to, the more my thinking evolved.
I realized that before we can change anything, we have to get people involved.
So we developed four simple ideas.
Wake up.
Get engaged.
Increase participation.
Demand accountability.
That’s it.
Four steps.
And what I find fascinating about today’s No Kings events is that they’re emphasizing that third step.
Participation.
Because awareness without participation doesn’t necessarily change anything.
You can be the most informed person in America.
You can read every newspaper.
You can watch every political program.
You can argue with your neighbors until you’re blue in the face.
But if you never participate in the democratic process, you’re leaving those decisions to everybody else.
And that’s your right.
But think about what that means.
You’re allowing other people to make decisions about your schools, your roads, your healthcare, your taxes, and your community.
Now, here’s something else I’ve learned from talking to strangers.
People are a whole lot more alike than our politics would suggest.
I’ve talked to young people and old people.
Black people and white people.
Conservatives and liberals.
People who love Donald Trump and people who can’t stand him.
And underneath all those political differences, I keep hearing the same basic concerns.
People want a decent place to live.
They want safe streets.
They want a good education.
They want access to healthcare.
And they want to be able to provide for their families.
Five things.
That’s what keeps coming up in my conversations.
And I’ve got a question.
If so many of us want those same basic things, why do we spend so much time fighting about everything else?
Why aren’t we spending more time figuring out how to accomplish those things together?
Now, I’m not suggesting that political differences aren’t real.
Of course they are.
People have fundamentally different ideas about how government should operate.
That’s democracy.
We’re supposed to disagree.
But disagreement doesn’t have to mean disengagement.
And that’s where I think we have an opportunity.
Because today’s No Kings organizers say their events are nonpartisan.
They’re not endorsing candidates.
They’re not inviting politicians to campaign.
They’re focusing on the mechanics of participation.
And I think that raises an interesting possibility.
What if civic engagement became something we practiced every day, rather than something we thought about every two or four years?
What if we started talking to our neighbors again?
What if we actually listened to people we disagreed with?
What if we helped somebody understand how to register to vote?
What if we offered somebody a ride to the polls?
What if we attended a city council meeting?
What if we asked our elected representatives a question and expected an answer?
These aren’t revolutionary ideas.
They’re basic acts of citizenship.
But imagine what would happen if millions more Americans started doing them.
And here’s the part that really excites me.
We don’t have to wait for Washington.
We don’t need permission from Congress.
We don’t need a president to tell us it’s okay.
We can start right here.
In Greensboro.
In North Carolina.
In every community across this country.
One conversation.
One neighbor.
One voter.
One community at a time.
You know, I’ve spent much of my life trying to understand why things happen.
Why people behave the way they do.
Why our institutions work the way they work.
And why, sometimes, they don’t work at all.
And lately I’ve been asking myself a different question.
What happens when ordinary people decide they’re no longer content to be spectators?
What happens when they start participating?
I think that’s a question worth exploring.
And today, with thousands of No Kings events planned across America, we’re seeing one attempt to answer it.
But here’s the real test.
Not how many people show up today.
Not how many signs they carry.
Not how many photographs get posted on social media.
The real test is what happens afterward.
How many people register?
How many people make a voting plan?
How many people actually cast a ballot?
And how many people stay involved after Election Day?
Because democracy doesn’t end when the polls close.
It continues at school board meetings.
At city council meetings.
In conversations with neighbors.
And in the everyday decisions we make about our communities.
So whether you attend a No Kings event today or not, whether you’re a Republican, a Democrat, an independent, or somebody who’s completely fed up with politics, here’s something worth remembering.
You have a voice.
You have a vote.
And you have the ability to participate.
What you choose to do with those things is entirely up to you.
I’m John Eagleton.
I’m 69 years old.
And after a lifetime of watching this country change, I’m more interested than ever in what happens when ordinary Americans get involved.
Because I’ve learned something.
You don’t have to be powerful to participate.
But participation is one of the ways ordinary people build power together.
And that, my friends, is what democracy is all about.
Thank you.