An open letter to the fascist regime attempting to take over our country

By Nishelle Gonzales
Reader Contributor

I have sat back and watched this new administration the last few months with horror and grief. I had a realization today that brings me hope that things will eventually be OK. Having three kids in the pre-teen, teen and young adult age ranges gives me a tremendous amount of faith that your tyranny will end very soon. This generation coming up does not value the things that you do. 

For example, this whole gender identity and obsession with labeling preferences in who they are attracted to is not a thing to them —at all. They do not care if you are straight or gay, non-binary or trans, and, in fact, reject assumed and rigid gender roles from generations past. They are not carrying this obsession into power with them. They are being raised by a generation that witnessed our country evolve into a more understanding, open-minded and empathetic society. 

We are not going backward. In fact, what I do know about the youth, is that the surefire way to make them dig in their heels harder, is to take away these freedoms and forbid their expansion into more evolved beings. 

Shoving your religious beliefs and ideologies down their throats is a great way to ensure they do the opposite. It kills any chance of your beliefs to be adopted. You are actively building an army against you. I look back at my friends in my teenage years, and the pastor’s kids were always the wildest and craziest kids who rebelled — even if secretly — against the strict and stifling ways of organized religion. 

Those parents never knew the story about what was really going on with their kids because they did not have the tolerance or understanding to tell if the kids were deviating from the chokehold of organized religion. Look at how much damage and religious trauma that has been done using this tactic. The stricter the rules, the more intense the rebellion. 

I think about this concept through the lens of what is happening in our country now: people losing freedoms they once had, assuming we can go backward, and I become giddy when I realize what your attempts to stifle our expansion will do to our youth. Your old, outdated ways of thinking and existing in the world are going to be your downfall. You are out of touch with the reality we are all living. 

Here are the things that they care about, and they are nowhere in your political campaigns or talking points:

They want affordable housing and the option to own a home. They want a living wage and jobs with benefits that actually benefit them. Affordable, quality health care and access to a solid education are top of mind. They are already terrified about the climate change that is undeniably happening. They are tired of the scientific community under fire, tired of gun lobbyists keeping our schools war zones, tired of their attention being commodified and profited upon using addictive social media platforms that knowingly use rage and disgust to fuel the false sense of belonging. 

The institution of marriage has become a joke, the takeover of women’s reproductive rights makes a girl not want to subject herself to the “duty” of motherhood. If our power structure isn’t there for us as children, what on earth makes you think we would be motivated to become parents? 

We are actively witnessing the exhaustion burst of the patriarchy. This temper tantrum in the form of power and control over others is the exact thing that will push us all into direct opposition to you, actively building and motivating an army against you. So, please, keep up the foolish and ignorant attempts at stifling our growth and maturity as a culture. You are guaranteeing a revolution will take place, and we now know your outdated, sad plan outlined in Project 2025. 

No matter how hard you try, no matter how many of your old cronies think they hold the power, you will not live forever. These amazing kids are going to take over and make this country theirs. You can watch from your graves as they evolve into a more tolerant and loving society that is healing and patient with one another, creating a world that is free from war, hatred, and a lust for money and power. 

The irony of a country created through the escape from forced ideologies now subjecting its citizens to the same persecution hundreds of years later is not lost on any of us. So, pull your coveted Constitution out of your ass and actually read it. It is not for you to kill, it is a living and evolving set of rules that will far outlive you and your black-and-white thinking. 

Until then, I congratulate you on creating a fierce opposition to you, made only by you. 

Nishelle Gonzales is a Sandpoint resident.