ASHE IN AMERICA — OPINION
Let’s go back to the beginning… to January 20, 2017.
“What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”
I wasn’t die hard MAGA on that day, but I still get chills when I read or hear that speech. During his first term, President Trump very quickly earned my support for two reasons: (1) He was the first President in my lifetime to do the things he said he was going to do, and (2) he made all the right enemies.
The unprecedented attacks on President Trump, by every previously trusted institution, are not because President Trump is a terrible person or a predator or a super serious threat to democracy.
The attacks on President Trump are because he is giving the power back to the people.
But what does that mean?
Since the explosion of cable news, Americans have been slowly transferring their attention, and outrage, from their local communities to Washington, D.C. It’s been about 30 years, and the results are measurable.
People know their congressman, but they don’t know their state rep. Coinciding with this shift is strengthening of party tribalism — even as party membership has declined — for both parties over a decade in Colorado.
In many ways, party has replaced community. Parties rose as a way to organize and make change based on shared values, but parties today look more like each other than the communities and value systems they claim to represent.
You do not exercise your power by joining a party. You exercise your power by standing on your rights.
I learned this lesson intimately over the past several years fighting leftist lawfare from three leftist NGOs (and their pals in local, state, and federal government).
The claims were voter suppression, intimidation, coercion, and threats under the Voting Rights Act and the KKK Act. They claimed we were sending armed agents to people’s homes to intimidate and interrogate them about their votes. In reality, we simply canvassed the 2020 election, in a 100% volunteer effort, to check the government’s work. The real reason for the lawsuit, based on the evidence and arguments at trial, is that we were “election deniers” daring to exercise our First Amendment rights.
The case went to trial last July, I defended myself, and the judge entered judgement in our favor and awarded us costs. The plaintiffs appealed, and the case is docketed for November in the 10th Circuit. (24-1328)
Your rights are meaningless if you don’t hold the line on them.
There are many other examples of Colorado patriots standing on their rights in Colorado. Tina Peters is in prison for nine years. She was convicted, essentially for lying to public officials about a person who was in her office. The part of the story that you don’t hear is that Peters had the authority to have whomever she wanted in her office — until Secretary Griswold invented emergency rules for COVID.
Dallas Schroeder and Rhonda Braun in Elbert County also took images of voting equipment, and Griswold libeled and slandered the officials and imposed baseless and retaliatory sanctions on the county. No crime has ever been found in Elbert County. And no retractions or clarifications were ever issued by the Secretary.
Then there is Rebecca Lavrens, the praying grandmother of January 6th who prayed inside the capitol, and was dragged into DC court years later. During her sentencing, she was effectively told to deny her faith before the court. Lavrens refused, and she was stripped of her internet access and placed on house arrest.
At this point you might be thinking, “but, Ashe, everyone in your examples had horrible consequences for standing on their rights.”
That’s true.
I’m adapting this column on September 10th. Charlie Kirk was just assassinated. It is, right now to me, profoundly true that standing for American rights and values comes with consequences.
But that’s not just true of our current moment. It’s true of every patriot who has held the line of liberty in the face of tyranny — every patriot since the founding of our nation.
Americans are out of practice on Americanism. Over the past 30 years, our attention and focus have shifted away from our communities, and as we watched the soap opera in the nation’s capitol, murderous despots filled the vacuum.
Along the way, we decided to prioritize comfort over liberty. Our comfort keeps us in fear.
Do you want to be comfortable? Or do you want to be free?
Self governance is our birth right in America — we should never abandon American liberty in the face of fear. Our response should be to get louder.
Charlie Kirk’s assassination is a tragedy that is shaking the nation. Pray for his beautiful family, and for all the students that witnessed his horrific assassination. They will be forever changed, irreparably scarred by such a hateful, deliberate, and gruesome act of violence.
Then get off your knees and get loud.
This month’s column is adapted from Ashe in America’s remarks to Parker Conservatives on September 3, 2025. You can read the full remarks on asheinamerica.substack.com. Ashe in America is a writer and activist. Find all her work at linktree.com/asheinamerica.
