Yesterday, in response to my own sense of powerlessness while watching the ongoing assault on democracy led by Elon Musk and Donald Trump, I engaged in a quixotic gesture: I went down to my local FBI field office to offer a small token of public support.

Not surprisingly, it isn’t possible to walk into an FBI office. Since the Oklahoma bombing, all such offices are well fortified. This office did have a kiosk in front of the main entrance where I was able to speak to an official who I couldn’t see. He politely listened to my explanation about why I was there (I asked whether it was possible to speak to someone in public affairs) and he then spoke to someone inside the building to find out how they might be able to respond to my request. The best they could do (ironically) was to present me with an FBI complaint form.

Rather than fill that out, I elected to send the following message to their public affairs officer by email:

You are on the front line in the defense of American democracy. Hold strong!

In the movie Bridge of Spies (2015), the lead character (lawyer James B. Donovan, played by Tom Hanks) says this to a CIA agent called Hoffman:

“I’m Irish, you’re German, but what makes us both Americans? Just one thing… the ‘rule book.’ We call it the Constitution and we agree to the rules and that’s what makes us Americans. That’s all that makes us Americans.”

That statement has no greater salience in American history than it does right now and especially for an agency that has at its mission to “protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.”

At a time when federal workers are being told that they have “low productivity” jobs and that they could do much better working outside government, I applaud the agents and staff at the FBI (and other agencies) whose commitment to public service surpasses their desire for personal profit.

While voices of civilian support might be infrequent — especially when there is such widespread mistrust in government — I feel compelled to speak up even while doing so as a solitary citizen.

I do so as a member of what I believe to be the silent majority — a majority that needs to break its silence if we are to have any hope of saving American democracy.

Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll and James E. Dennehy, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office, have shown great leadership and deep patriotism while Americans of all political stripes should recognize that our common interests must be placed above personal ambition and ideological differences.

Likewise, the FBI agents who today have filed a class action lawsuit against the DOJ are demonstrating their commitment to justice.

If we don’t ALL stand up in defense of the Constitution, the American experiment in democracy is destined to fail.

Paul Woodward