"I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend"

It's been ages since I've visited driftglass. That's an oversight I need to correct. I recommend "As We Dance on the Razor's Edge of this Election..." I think that post gives a good rundown of the stakes of this election's outcome. What happens to the small circulation bloggers like us is anyone's guess in the eventuality of a Trump dictatorship. Higher profile opposition leaders probably have a lot more to worry about. Regardless, we will see a chilling effect on free expression pretty quickly. That's what happens when a democratic society descends into dictatorship. 

I was watching a two-part documentary series that the History Channel did a little while back: The Third Reich. The first episode is devoted to the rise of the Third Reich. The second episode is devoted to the rapid fall of the Third Reich. If you have a Hulu subscription, it's easy to access. I can't really say that I learned anything I didn't already know from reading far too many books on the topic as a teen and later into adulthood, but the unique angle is to tell the story through amateur video equipment that was available to at least a few folks even back nearly a century ago. 

The upshot was that once Hitler, who never did win a majority of the vote ever in a free election, was able to consolidate power, life in Germany changed very suddenly. On the surface, for many, it was more of the same old same old for a few years. Dig beneath the surface and you realize that the folks enjoying their beer at the outdoor cafes were suddenly living with the knowledge that their phones were probably being tapped, their letters opened, and their desks searched simply because the Nazi government could do so. Open communication had become dangerous. Hitler was adept at finding folks to blame for Germany's woes. The most vocal opponents, the communists, were rounded up and placed into concentration camps practically overnight. Those of Jewish descent were also blamed for Germany's woes, and a campaign against Jewish businesses also began practically overnight after the Reichstag Fire. Anyone who deluded themselves into thinking that they were safe from the persecution eventually realized how wrong they were. And so what you see is a change in overt behavior. Suddenly everyone puts on the performance of being a Nazi enthusiast, whether or not that's what they really believed in. Why? To avoid being ratted out by a neighbor or coworker or maybe a spiteful ex-spouse or lover for not showing sufficient loyalty to the dictator. 

We'll face our own challenges. We may not send letters much these days, but we do send texts and emails. Cell phones can be tapped and phone records can be obtained quite easily by a zealous enough government that might want that information. Medical records also can be obtained at the whim of a dictatorship. Those who've never worried about being afoul of the government will be in for a rude awakening under a dictatorship. The names and the technology change, as do some tactics, but the song remains the same. The communities we live in now will seem less recognizable. So too will our country. One troubling sign is that we have folks with some real influence already self-censoring. Rule number 1 when dealing with an approaching dictatorship is to not self-censor. It won't work, for starters. Plus it gives the dictatorship the opening it needs to impose its own form of censorship. The other big rule is to stand firm, which is asking a lot. Without the courage of our convictions, we have nothing. We need to hang on to that courage. It may not do much for our individual survival, but it will serve us well as we create our own samizdat in the eventuality of a dictatorship. That courage will also serve us well once the dictatorship inevitably crumbles, as they all do eventually. Most importantly, avoiding self-censorship and keeping the courage of our convictions may be what prevents a dictatorship from happening in the first place. This is our challenge. I hope we are ready to meet the moment.