Stopping the slide into dictatorship

Let’s cut right to the chase. Some of my Republican and Independent friends (yes, I have a bunch of them) don’t want to hear this: Donald Trump is leading America into dictatorship!

If that wasn’t obvious before, it’s becoming more and more obvious with each passing day. With every new executive order and presidential tweet, we can see where things are headed.

As we (individually and collectively) decide how to respond, it’s helpful to understand how we got here.

First, I blame the endless growth economy. Dictatorship is the logical outcome of an economic system that denigrates people as mere “consumers.”

Dictatorship is where you land when “the economy” becomes, essentially, the state religion, when people, land, plants, and animals are trampled because they’re in the way of resources coveted by industry.

You know you’re on the precipice of dictatorship when leading political figures are millionaires and even billionaires — some of them unelected. Continue Reading →

Anticipatory DISobedience

We’re hearing a lot about “anticipatory obedience.” Terrified of what President Trump might do, some media, universities, corporations, and even individuals are choosing to censure themselves. One of the earliest examples happened last fall, when the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times (both owned by billionaires) chose NOT to endorse a candidate for President.

Historian Timothy Snyder has been warning people and institutions against caving in to authoritarian power in advance. Snyder was quoted in The Guardian, saying, “the major lesson of the Nazi takeover, and what was supposed to be one of the major lessons of the twentieth century: don’t hand over the power you have before you have to. Don’t protect yourself too early.”
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