If there is anything the ears of Oregon Democrats have been yearning for, it is resistance to the stream of change coming from President Trump’s administration.

They would have heard some if they had been at Oregon State University-Cascades on Saturday morning. Politicians and advocates from Deschutes County and the state delivered a blunt message: We are standing up and fighting back.

“What are Democrats doing? Are they fighting back?” said Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Democrat who represents a district from Bend to Portland in Congress. “Oh, it’s getting saucy now.”

Attorney General Rayfield said the state is engaged in 16 lawsuits in part to protect federal dollars promised to this state some $1.6 billion that are now in jeopardy. “We don’t have the kind of state that can backfill the federal responsibility for $1.6 billion dollars,” Rayfield said.

This was the third in a series organized by Rayfield dedicated to gathering input about how changes at the federal level are affecting Oregonians and how public officials are responding.

State Sen. Anthony Broadman, D-Bend, pledged to use his power in the state legislature to give Rayfield’s office the resources it needs to protect Oregonians in public safety — and where necessary — from change at the federal level. Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler added a quick lesson in civics: An executive order is not a law. Members of the Bend-La Pine School Board, Marcus LeGrand and Kina Chadwick, and Catalina Sánchez Frank, the Latino Community Association’s executive director, shared a message of protecting diversity.

The crowd at OSU-Cascades applauded and cheered. If there were loyal supporters of President Trump there, they likely felt uncomfortable and were quiet. Bulletin reporter Noemi Arellano Summer provided more complete coverage of the event here: tinyurl.com/OSUClisten.

The test for Democrats is that losing this election has meant an unraveling of much of what they cherish. And for every victory in the courts, there is a new deluge of executive orders, a new pursuit of more executive power.

Every decade has its political challenges, though this one may feel special for Democrats.

It feels different because of the aspersions cast on an independent judiciary and disregard for due process. Those are at the core of a democracy.

Oregonians have met challenges before and they aren’t going to wilt now. That’s why we would like to close with some of the opening remarks from state Rep. Jason Kropf, D-Bend, who was one of the politicians up on the panel on Saturday, along with Rayfield, Bynum and Broadman.

He opened with a good joke.

“I did not arrive late for dramatic effect,” he said. “I was in super, high-level negotiations with a 12-year-old.” He continued: “In these dark times, I refuse not to be optimistic. I’m optimistic in part because of the people I get to serve with up here. I served with Dan and Janelle in the past. I learned a ton from both of them, attorney general and congresswoman, sorry. And I also fundamentally believe in the resiliency of this country. But resiliency is not like a passive characteristic. It is a characteristic that needs to be developed and enhanced. It is about community. And community is not a place it is about how we show up for one another, how we make sure people who are not typically heard are heard …  And so even though this is a very dark time when I see a room full of people like this when I see the May day rally the other day with laborers and farm workers showing up of our Oregon state capitol, it makes me optimistic that if we continue to fight, if we continue to connect, to lift up the people who need us right now that we will get through this….”