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jenny_islander"Lesson 2: Defend institutions. It is institutions that help us to preserve democracy. They need our help as well. Do not speak of "our institutions" unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about--a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union--and take its side."
Snyder, as a historian, provides historical examples large and small. He quotes a newspaper editor who was certain that it was impossible for tyrants to do as they liked after being elected because institutions would simply stop that from happening. Those institutions were thereafter hollowed out or destroyed. Snyder also notes that some people in the groups chosen by the tyrant as targets upon which to display his strength nevertheless voted for him, hoping thereby to protect themselves using the institution of "this for that." This was also, of course, ignored.
The current tyrants have taken aim at everything from SSDI to Lutheran Social Services to FEMA to the constitutional separation of powers. The flurries of executive orders leave one breathless. What to do?
Again, as an ordinary person without power on the national level, your job is to turn your eye away from the national stage. Look around you.
Can you donate a little bit of time or money to your local library?
Can you join a union? ETA: And if you have union membership but you don't attend meetings, can you start?
Can you write a letter to your newspaper? Tip a reporter off to a story? Buy a subscription?
Can you identify a local helping organization that you can assist in some way?
This all seems so tiny. But isolation and inaction are the tools of the enemy. Refuse to use them on yourself.
Snyder, as a historian, provides historical examples large and small. He quotes a newspaper editor who was certain that it was impossible for tyrants to do as they liked after being elected because institutions would simply stop that from happening. Those institutions were thereafter hollowed out or destroyed. Snyder also notes that some people in the groups chosen by the tyrant as targets upon which to display his strength nevertheless voted for him, hoping thereby to protect themselves using the institution of "this for that." This was also, of course, ignored.
The current tyrants have taken aim at everything from SSDI to Lutheran Social Services to FEMA to the constitutional separation of powers. The flurries of executive orders leave one breathless. What to do?
Again, as an ordinary person without power on the national level, your job is to turn your eye away from the national stage. Look around you.
Can you donate a little bit of time or money to your local library?
Can you join a union? ETA: And if you have union membership but you don't attend meetings, can you start?
Can you write a letter to your newspaper? Tip a reporter off to a story? Buy a subscription?
Can you identify a local helping organization that you can assist in some way?
This all seems so tiny. But isolation and inaction are the tools of the enemy. Refuse to use them on yourself.
