It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges.
When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become important.
Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.ĥ. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Notice the swastikas and other signs of hate. The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Take responsibility for the face of the world. So support the multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections.Ĥ. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. So choose an institution you care about and take its side.ģ. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.Ģ. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked.
Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so. From across the fearful twentieth century, here are twenty lessons about what it takes to oppose tyranny, adapted to the circumstances of today.ġ.
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