Editor’s note: Due to a printing error, this story is being reprinted from the May 19 issue.
I began this column just before the March 28 No Kings rally in Wilton and after speaking with someone sitting next to me who was part of a Great Decisions discussion group I joined at a library in Massachusetts. This man, whose full name I never knew, commented that he didn’t understand why people were participating in the upcoming marches. He explained he and his wife see people earning just a bit less than them — or not working at all — getting by on what he called “handouts.” He thinks this is unfair. He feels our president is speaking to him, while he felt ignored by previous administrations.
This discussion intrigued me for two reasons. First, I’m a person filled with curiosity and questions about how things work, why we do things as we do, why we choose to live with or break cultural, social or familial norms and move to the beat of our own internal drum. I want to understand the subjective or foundational experiences that make us who we have become. This is one reason writing Words About Wilton is so much fun for me. In doing so, I learn about all the creative ways people have taken to become who they are.
The second reason is that I once lost a friend over politics. Not because we disagreed on issues, but because she refused to talk to me about how she arrived at her current perspective. I didn’t want to change her opinions. I just wanted to understand where her ideas originated. I was asking her to educate me. Instead, it seemed we were inhabiting two separate worlds that didn’t connect. There became little we could talk about, and our time together dwindled until it became no time at all.
From this man’s perspective, I can understand what he perceives as an unjust system that needs correcting, and I doubt few would disagree that it needs some serious tweaking, no matter one’s viewpoint. This is one reason I decided to visit the Wilton No Kings rally in hopes of talking to people. I wanted to understand what prompted them to create and hold whatever sign they carried.
I hoped to find people standing on both sides of the street willing to tell me why they were there. But there were no counterprotesters other than a few who offered hand gestures from pickup trucks as they zipped by. Instead, I later planned to interview people whom I thought would have been on the opposite side of the street if they had decided to attend.
In the meantime, I interviewed 15 of the more than 50 people carrying signs and flags. This is what I learned:
Wilton residents Heidi Dunn and her daughter, Michelle, carried signs explaining why they were there. One read, “Our president is taking power away from the people and our representatives are not representing us.” Another stated, “Keep your hands off our bodies, rights, choices, votes, families, voices, autonomy, diversity, futures, freedom, equality, our government.” Michelle said this was particularly important when considering the world her 15-year-old goddaughter will inherit. She added, “I had a friend who was detained and had a heart attack because of the detainment process. It’s so wrong.”
MaryBeth Raven traveled to Wilton from Merrimack for her third No Kings rally. She said, “I began protesting in 2015 when the Kinder Morgan pipeline was designed to cut through our region. It made me realize how few options people have if those in power want to take your land or create an unsafe environment for you to live in. Now it has only gotten worse with so many constitutional rights taken away. We need to uphold our Constitution and help others understand why this is important.”
One man simply replied, “This is not the country I learned about when I was in law school.”
When I noticed Wilton resident Stephanie Ouellette’s sign and asked why she was there, she quickly replied, “If my grandchildren ask me what I did about this, I can at least say, ‘I went out and protested.'”
Caitlin Murphy and her partner, Kerry Hildebrand, both from Wilton, stood together carrying two signs, one reading “Empathy over empire.” I asked why they chose that sentiment. They explained they feel empathy is lacking in a world of hate speech and hateful acts, particularly toward the LGBT+ community. They believe things must change and want to voice their protest over the way hate has been allowed to fester and grow, especially when voiced from positions of power.
Wilton’s Pam Bealo observed that she saw similarities between the conditions leading to the rise of Nazi Germany and things happening in the United States today. When questioned, she mentioned suppression of education, minorities, voices of opposition and the press without Congress stepping up to use the checks and balances established by the nation’s founders. She added, “The current administration is eviscerating our legislative branch and it’s going off on the wrong path. I work with a diverse group of students from all over the world and I fear for their safety. When we travel, I’m always afraid they will be arrested and I won’t know how to help them. This kind of fear hits everyone.”
Lou D’Amore of Wilton piped up, “I’m just a cranky old man with a question — where are all the young people at these protests? This is the only thing we can do to support our democracy, the things we believe in and the things that need to change.”
Donna D’Amore added, “I never thought this could happen in our country. I’m doing it for my grandson. I want a better world for him.”
After the rally, I contacted a few people who believe things may not be as bad as they seem under the current administration. Part of what I learned is that imbalanced news reporting beginning in the late 1960s, permissive attitudes toward drugs, the influence of social media on vulnerable children, hate speech and provocative signage all have a major impact on how people process information and react to it. I also learned that economic downturns caused by outside influences, including the rise of labor unions many decades ago, can lead to political distrust that cements voting habits still in place today. However, these comments came from people who did not wish to be quoted directly, so I can only summarize our conversations. The rest comes from people who agreed to speak on the record.
James Catlin, an independent who voted Democratic until 2024, wrote out his response. He explained that he voted for Trump because of what he described as the vitriol he heard from Democrats. He wanted to have civil discussions with people but found that, rather than discuss issues and ideas, they challenged his thinking and accused him of being mentally deficient. As he explained, “Those in the Democratic Party seemed to be filled with pretentious vitriol and seek to marginalize anyone not aligned with their views, labeling someone with opposing ideas racist, homophobic or misogynistic. … It’s hateful and insulting posts like these that helped other independents make their choice. The least we can do is act civilly toward one another.”
Another person I spoke with was Dave DeWitt, formerly of Peterborough and now living in Dublin. Drivers passing the corner where Route 202 meets Route 101 may have seen DeWitt holding signs proclaiming, “Trump was right about everything.” He said he believes many people are protesting simply because they “hate Trump.” He thinks that dislike is misplaced and should not be directed at individuals as scapegoats, but at the system that is failing. The next step, he said, would be to determine what is going wrong and correct it without casting blame on one person.
DeWitt said his point of view came from learning how Japanese corporate owners view employees as valued members of an extended family. The assumption, he said, is that the system is at fault and corrections should be made there. He continued, “Trump recognized there were systemic problems and has taken steps to resolve them. The trouble with the protesters today is they just don’t like his solutions, but at least he is trying to do something to help our country. The majority spoke during the last election and people should learn to live with the results.”
He added, “I had one experience that really bothered me. I arrived with my sign at the corner where I usually stand before a No Kings protest group showed up. Someone asked if I could go home and come back another day. I replied that I had the same right to voice my opinion as they did and I didn’t want to leave. The next time we were all at the same spot, someone came up next to me with an umbrella and an annoying whistle. They tried to block my sign with their umbrella and continually blew that whistle in my ear, hoping I would leave. I replied, ‘I have just as much right to be here as you.'” He continued, “Unlike the Black Lives Matter group, the No Kings protesters seemed more concerned with silencing me than doing anything positive.”
Regardless of the side of the street a person chooses, I hope one day we can all meet in the middle, talk together and bring back some sanity without the emotional chaos we are all experiencing today. This is my attempt to begin that discussion.
