As citizens living in this country we ascribe to a social contract, taking on not only all of its benefits but its responsibilities as well.

I love this country to the deepest core of my being. That being said, it is the ultimate responsibility regarding citizenship that we hold our government accountable. We have a responsibility, bestowed onto us by our Founding Fathers, to use the tools they gave us to maintain a government for and by the people.

This fundamental idea can be traced back to Plato, who said that “one of the best penalties for refusing to participate in politics is to be governed by one’s inferiors.”

Never has it been more imperative to the state of our union that we heed this advice. We must stand: black, white, liberal, conservative, as Americans. We are citizens of these United States, who must recognize our history and the importance of intersectionality while loving this country and its unparalleled potential.

It would be treasonous to disrespect the wisdom imparted during the farewell address of George Washington, who knew, “…interwoven is as the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.”

To quote him once more, “…it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate that the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness, that you should cherish cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it.”

It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to vote. It is our duty to protest and contact our representatives, and through all of this, we must realize that a government by the people and for the people requires that people show up.

We must each see our individual responsibility in making change.

It may be time to choose resistance over perceived responsibility, to stand up against the status quo. There is nothing more worthwhile than fighting for liberty and the rights that follow.

Our country began with a group of people standing against those who would impose tyranny on them, and now we must make our voices heard. Make our voices heard.

The power of the government resides in its people, and it is our constitutional duty to never forget this.

What we have here is an opportunity. An opportunity to show the world that we are not complacent, that action will follow outcry, which we are the pillar of freedom we claim to be, that we stand proud with open arms, ready to overcome any differences to protect the fabric of this nation.

We stand in the proudest defiance and the utmost solidarity against those enemies that would chop at the pillar of freedom that our country has always been and meant to be. We can be better. We can do this.

Every lesson I have learned from my Christian upbringing, my love for reading and my exquisite public and Jesuit education — all delivered to me by the strong-willed, hard-working, excellent examples of humanity I had as parents — has led me to an important conclusion: if we do not come together, we will all fall.

With all the sincerity one mortal man can summon, I believe in US.