What Does "No Kings" Mean? It's a Cry for Freedom Straight From the Founding Fathers

It's all over the news by now: the "No Kings" protests are more than a one-off event; they're a movement. Whether you stand with the protesters or against them varies from person to person.

But at the root of the protests lies something beautifully, extraordinarily American: the right to Free Speech. Aimed at the administration of President Donald Trump, the protests are the embodiment of the freedom that Americans are so proud of.

Enshrined in the Constitution, the right to Free Speech is a foundation of American democracy, and a bedrock of the freedom Americans are promised as part of their citizenship. But the "No Kings" movement is about more than exercising the right to protest the government; it's about embracing the very spirit of the founding fathers. Here's what it means.

He's joked about it through the years; Trump thinks it's funny to talk about becoming a king or serving more than his legally allotted two terms. But some believe that his actions show he's not just joking, he's actively working towards such a scenario.

The "No Kings" movement is a hearkening back to the very Founding Fathers of America, who declared that their budding young colony would not be run by a king who refused to take the input of his subjects into account.

The website for the "No Kings" protests declares, "America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people." Which should sound very familiar, if you're a student of American history.

In the Declaration of Independence, America's revolutionaries wrote, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all 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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" (via the National Archives).

They added that when a government impedes these ends, the People should abolish or alter it.

While the "No Kings" protestors aren't calling for a revolution, the aim is to put the power back in the hands of the people. Despite Republican talking points suggesting that the protests are anti-American, it doesn't get much more American than that.

In order to understand why people are choosing to protest, you'd have to listen to a million different perspectives. However, there are some main points that protest-goers seem to agree on.

According to social media, there are a few core tenets of the "No Kings" movement:

• Pushback against federal overreach
• A dislike of ICE and their tactics
• Support for undocumented immigrants and a diverse America
• Protest against the anti-science and anti-education agenda being enacted at the federal level
• A desire to see the end of National Guard occupation of American cities
• A shared desire to see President Trump follow the law and respect the limits of his position.

The goal, as many social media users have shared, is to show enough solidarity and pushback that the Trump administration feels they can't ignore the will of the people anymore.

While not everyone agrees with the movement, if it's large enough, the hope is to surpass something called "The 3.5% rule."

This number comes from a study of past peaceful revolutions showing that when 3.5% of a population band together to protest a government, they have never failed to enact change, per the BBC.

Protest attendees hope that reaching that threshold will further some of their goals. But if nothing else, they hope to let others who protest the current administration feel a little less alone.