On Tyranny: Do Not Obey In Advance

As we await results in the Blue Wall states, which are not looking so great, revisiting the work of Dr. Timothy Snyder strikes me as a good idea. We got a taste of what a Trump dictatorship might look like during his term as president, and we've certainly been made aware of Trump's threats for a second term. I have repeated a well-worn line time and time again: when someone shows you who they are, you would be wise to believe them. Trump showed us who is was then and who he is now. That he is on the cusp of winning the electoral vote now is a reminder that we will soon be reliving the chaos of that first term, but with far fewer guardrails to keep his worst impulses in check. We have to accept the reality that around half of our fellow citizens will embrace a fascist for the promise of cheaper gasoline or eggs (ironically, we were moving away from the high inflation era, but perhaps too late). That is hardly a comforting thought, and it's one that should not be sugar-coated, especially as we now have to stare into the proverbial abyss as we devolve from a fairly stable democratic republic (albeit one with plenty of flaws) to a dictatorship. My mom is famous in our family for telling us that we won't know what we've missed until it is gone. We all are going to be collectively experience that loss, although how we each react to that loss will vary. Some will celebrate, some will expatriate, many others will suffer whatever indignities await. To the extent that we can resist, we'll need all the strength we can muster, and some useful lessons for how to navigate the new political hellscape. Hence, the first video in a series that Dr. Snyder posted on his YouTube channel in 2021 to coincide with the release of a new edition of his book On Tyranny.


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