Do you hear it? It’s not the toll of the Liberty Bell. It’s not the sound of letting freedom ring. It’s the voice of We, the People.

Of all things I never expected this: an old-school sit-in. Reminiscent of 1960s lunch counters and college war protests. A superbly non-violent reaction to the violence which has been shredding the American way of life for the last two decades.

I have hoped, but my hope has wavered between doubt, frustration, and exasperation. But now? No matter if the US House Democrats achieve their goal today or next week or not until the next President is sworn in, it is this very thing, this old-school refusal to give up or give in which has restored my hope. And that hope has magnified the volume of  We, the People.

Forget the bombast and rhetoric and teleprompter bullshit spouted. Forget the cherry-picked platitudes and patronizing. Forget the meaningless thoughts and prayers, the unachievable, empty promises. THIS right here; a righteous old-fashioned protest of the people–or in this case, our elected officials. It is the turned up, bull-horned, microphoned voices of We, the People rising up which is the foundation of American greatness.

For the first time in my lifetime the elected Democrats of the House seem to be hearing the echo of the hands who pulled that lever, the ones who checked that box and cast that ballot. They seem to be listening: to the mothers, the victims, the survivors, the advocates. To the doctors and business leaders, the military experts, the gun-owners, the veterans, the police who have been saying for years ENOUGH is ENOUGH.

We, the People.

We, the people. Duped, lulled and shushed and lied to, bamboozled into believing in the impenetrability of a long ago written sentence, swindled into giving up hope.

We, the fed up, tired, exasperated people.

WE, THE PEOPLE, HAVE HAD ENOUGH.

Enough watching our children die, of seeing our mothers gunned down, our young men slaughtered all in the name of an ambiguous abstract written two and a half centuries ago.

It is not the might of America that makes it great. It is not the army or our nuclear capacity. It is not our manufacturing or technology.

It is THIS. This very thing happening right now. It is We, the People finally beginning to be heard once again.