Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

—Frank Wilhout in what is now known as “Wilhout’ Law”

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that [some] men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

—from the Declaration of Independence (edits added)

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for [some of] the States of America.

—from the preamble to the United States Constitution (edits added)

THIS YEAR, America will mark its semiquincentennial. We will reach 250 years of what is sometimes called “the American Experiment,” the idea that a large constitutional democracy based on individual liberty, rooted in self-evident and inalienable rights, can sustain a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Of course, even in our foundational documents, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, certain terms and conditions applied. It turned out not everyone’s rights were inalienable, and, almost immediately, rights that could be alienated were alienated with extreme prejudice—in the streets and in the courts. The Constitution did not apply to the stewards of the First Nations to inhabit this land. It did not apply to Black Americans. It did not apply to women. It didn’t apply to people who arrived here from other countries, often regardless of how or why they arrived. And, as Bad Bunny pointed out so artfully in his already iconic Superbowl halftime performance, it didn’t apply to people whose countries were made part of the United States through the manifestations of empire. The Supreme Court initially deemed them “noncitizen nationals.” They couldn’t vote; they had a separate tier of rights.

In order to access life and liberty, in order to be free to pursue happiness, you needed to be a land owning (wealthy) white man.

We didn’t abandon the American Experiment, though. We just never agreed on a hypothesis. We couldn’t even agree on a definition for “people.” We still can’t.

In fact, over the 250 years since America was formed, the list of who has rights here has only grown smaller.

We work hard, every day, to secure the blessing of liberty for ourselves and others.

In this second term of this administration, the clear goal is to make that list smaller still.

Your rights can be undermined, curtailed, or stripped away if you are Indigenous, Black or brown; not born here (even if you are here lawfully, and, if the Administration gets its way, sometimes even if you are a naturalized citizen); if you are a woman; if you are queer; if you are not sufficiently Christian; if you are a Democrat; if you live in a city in blue state; if you do not demonstrate constant fealty to the President’s whims.

Which brings me to Minnesota in the present time, in February, 2026, the third month of the federal occupation. Which brings me to the Twin Cities, my community, my home.

The violence that forms one of the goals of Operation Metro Surge has not gone away. Nor has it seen much change since “border czar” Gregory Bovino was swapped out for Tom Homan and the number of ICE and CBP agents were reduced by seven hundred.

Brown and Black people are still being targeted, immigrants are still being targeted (regardless of their residency status or citizenship). We’re subjected to Kavanaugh stops; we can be pulled over based on our perceived identity. People are still afraid to leave their homes, many of our schools are still teaching online, many of our businesses are closed or suffering from labor shortages and loss of customers. Our economy is still under significant strain. Masked, armed, unidentified agents of the federal government are still terrorizing the town. They’re still breaking down doors, busting out windows, crashing into cars, dispatching tear gas and deploying flash grenades like unsupervised kids with an unlimited supply of smoke bombs and firecrackers.

Without warrants, these agents of the federal government invade homes and toss cars. They stop people without probable cause. They arrest folks who have broken no law; deny people their Constitutional right to counsel, detain citizens and lawful residents for hours and sometimes days without cause for arrest. They do this sometimes because people are exercising their Constitutional rights. They do this to warn others, as a kind of prior restraint. These agents apprehend lawful residents, asylum seekers, and undocumented people without due process and ship them to “detention facilities” in other states before a court can intervene. The conditions in those facilities are inhumane. People there are denied adequate food and sleep, access to restroom facilities and counsel; they’re denied medication, healthcare, and contact with loved ones. Sometimes they are beaten. Sometimes they are killed.  Efforts to perform oversight have been frustrated at almost every turn. The latest thing is releasing people they’re forced to release into cold Minnesota nights with no coat and no one to see them home, or releasing them several states away with no support in getting back to Minnesota.

At the Whipple Center in Minneapolis, ICE and CBP agents refer to people as “bodies.”

Our federal judges can’t count the court orders that have been ignored or violated.

The actual American Experiment is, and always has been, “can we make the blessings of liberty available only to some of the people who live here?”

Right now it isn’t safe to go into it, but there are so many heroes here doing so many heroic things, large and small, to ease the suffering of others. . . .

That’s the experiment that is underway in earnest in the Twin Cities.

It is possible to live here without concern that your rights will be violated by ICE or CBP. You need a few accidents of birth, and you need the ability to turn a blind eye to other people’s suffering, but it’s possible.

And it is possible to live here and support the federal occupation, every aspect of it.

At the same time, there are so many people here who reject the current experiment in favor of the original texts in their plain meaning. In favor of self-evident truths, inalienable rights, the blessing of liberty and a government of [all] people, by [all] people, and for [all] people. In favor of the First Amendment, the Second, the Fourth, the Tenth, and the Fourteenth.

We work hard, every day, to secure the blessing of liberty for ourselves and others.

Lately, so many of our efforts have gone toward secrecy. I can’t really go into it here. Not now. Right now it isn’t safe to go into it, but there are so many heroes here doing so many heroic things, large and small, to ease the suffering of others; to support those most impacted by the federal occupation; to house them and feed them (and their pets); to minimize, to the extent we can, disruptions to their education, their health, their routines, their lives.

These people honor our founding ideals. They are the experiment in action. They exemplify what it should mean to be American.