Caffeinated Politics

Yesterday, I wrote feeling quite sad about the upending of a Halloween parade for children in some Chicago neighborhoods. I find that each day there are increasing reasons to be troubled and deeply concerned over the actions of the Donald Trump Administration. Today, however, in my news feed I read a story that lifted my spirits and gave me a boost of not only hope but genuine pride as a result of the actions from two Illinois national Guard members.

Two Illinois National Guard members told CBS News they would refuse to obey federal orders to deploy in Chicago as part of President Trump’s controversial immigration enforcement mission — a rare act of open defiance from within the military ranks.

“It’s disheartening to be forced to go against your community members and your neighbors,” said Staff Sgt. Demi Palecek, a Latina guardswoman and state legislative candidate from Illinois’s 13th District. “It feels illegal. This is not what we signed up to do.”

Both Palecek and Capt. Dylan Blaha, who is running for Congress in the same district, described growing unease among Guard members after the White House federalized 500 troops – including members of the Illinois and Texas National Guard – to secure federal immigration facilities and personnel in the Chicago area.

“I signed up to defend the American people and protect the Constitution,” Blaha said. “When we have somebody in power who’s actively dismantling our rights — free speech, due process, freedom of the press — it’s really hard to be a soldier right now.”

Above my head, as I write this column, is John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage. It seems the best place to sit as I put a few words down about the reason to feel some pride about a couple of fellow Americans and a real dose of renewed faith in bedrock American values. When was the last time we could honestly say there was a clear example of moral clarity in the news? Capt. Dylan Blaha and Staff Sgt. Demi Palecek correctly refused a federal order to deploy in Chicago, which is needless to say, the type of story that meets with the book title above my head. When was the last time we learned of an act of conscience since Inauguration Day? The more apt question would be who even has a conscience in the current White House?

Their decision, made under pressure and in defiance of a sweeping directive from Trump, was not just a personal stand. It was a reaffirmation of the rule of law, of democratic norms, and of the quiet strength that sustains a republic in peril. When was the last time someone made headlines for having the same type of character?

We are all too aware that the federal government is increasingly wielded as a tool of autocratic power-grabbing and dissent is cast as disloyalty. We see daily that the federal military forces are used to intimidate rather than protect. That is why when Blaha and Palecek chose fidelity to the Constitution over obedience to autocratic demands, it met with such approval at this desk. I contend that their refusal to participate in what is a purely racist and highly politicized show of force in Chicago is not just brave. It is downright patriotic.

The deployment orders in cities from Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Portland, and Chicago were framed as a response to civil unrest, amid escalating rhetoric from the White House that paints American cities as enemy territory and fellow citizens, especially Brown people, as threats. It is part of a broader and truly troubling pattern where the use of federal authority is aimed to suppress dissent, to bypass local governance, and to stoke racial fear for partisan political gain. In such a climate it is not hard to see how compliance becomes complicity. But equally we can also see that courage becomes welcome resistance.

Blanca and Palecek’s stand is rooted in the oath they swore. It was not to Donald Trump, but to the Constitution. Their refusal this week is a reminder to us about the lessons from our civics books in our youth. It is a reminder that the military, and those who serve in it, are not instruments of personal power. They are guardians of a democratic order. When that order is threatened from within, as is the case now from Trump, it means that silence is not an option.

Their act is even more powerful because it is quiet. Just a simple, principled “no.” It is the kind of courage that does not seek attention, but deserves it.

The erosion of democratic norms is happening in real time. In such moments, the defense of liberty does not always come from the halls of Congress or the courts. Sometimes, it comes from two individuals who refuse to be used by a dangerous and pathetic autocrat.

Blanca and Palecek may not see themselves as heroes. But I think they are of the same gravitas as Senator Wayne Morse (who was born in Madison) when he rejected the war fever surrounding Vietnam. Sometimes, all it takes to make a real impact is just doing what is right. Let us honor that courage. Let us remember it. And let us be guided by it.