San Francisco showed up.

Thousands of residents poured into the streets over the weekend for the 'No Kings' protest, joining a wave of demonstrations happening across the country. The message was blunt: Americans don't do monarchs, and a growing chunk of the population is worried the country is drifting toward something that looks uncomfortably close to one.

The turnout here was hard to ignore. From the photos circulating, this wasn't a small gathering of the usual suspects — it was a genuine cross-section of the city, which in San Francisco means a lot of things to a lot of people. Teachers, tech workers, retirees, kids in strollers. The whole deal.

Now, this is where we put on our editor hat for a second. At The Dissent, we're not in the business of cheerleading for any political movement, left or right. But we do care deeply about one thing: accountability in government. And the core concern animating these protests — that executive power is being stretched well beyond its constitutional stitching — is a legitimate one worth taking seriously, regardless of which party is holding the pen.

Fiscal conservatives and liberty-minded folks should probably be paying the closest attention here. Concentrated power is the enemy of the free market, individual rights, and government accountability. It doesn't matter if it comes wrapped in a red tie or a blue one. When one branch of government starts acting like the rules don't apply to it, that's everyone's problem.

San Francisco's protest culture sometimes tips into performance art, sure. But thousands of people showing up on a weekend, on their own time, to say this is not normal — that's worth acknowledging.

Whether it translates into anything beyond a good photo op remains to be seen. In this city, the gap between street energy and actual political change has historically been wide enough to drive a Waymo through.

But hey — the people showed up. That's a start.