Thank you Professor, for the boosting of confidence (in this essay) of those who are seeking refuge from death.
To make a long story short, my own current experience in seeking refuge from death, has brought me to the identification of two groups of people in issues of exile:
(1) The ordinary people, who are running from death;
(2) those sought by the killer governments for assassination anywhere on this planet. It is their (sought people's) existence that is a problem for these killer governments.
If by some deceptive means, they get to have control over this group of targeted people, the killer governments will handicap them in such a way that, they would not be able to evade their control or leave the country. For example, they might deny them travel documents, or national ID card, or not allowing them to cross the country's borders, or to have access to any foreign power. This is my current situation. In this case, exile can happen only on action of foreign power. Thank You Professor. Rodolphe Nogbou
I found RBG’s post of November 16, “Waiting for the Apocalypse,” to be reassuring, particularly in its accepting and tolerant observation, “in times of transition” [like the present] “some may take their distance from politics.” Then in her post of November 7, “Resiliency and Hope,” she wrote that “exiles have learned the hard way that nothing is fixed in life“ and “any of us could become exiles one day.” In contrast to her earlier post, this resonated for me emotionally as, “The end is coming, it’s time to run for your life. “
When I am doomscrolling, I almost always think the end is indeed coming. When I ask myself what the nature of the situation in America in 2021 is from an objective point of view, I think that those who have the power to protect democracy do not understand what must be done, while those who understand what must be done do not have the power to do it. It is too late for mass action to save us. In 2021 the government of the greatest and most powerful country in the history of the universe can’t even deliver the mail. Those who have the power to protect democracy are complicit in its destruction, and will not wake up until it is too late.
But occasionally when I am not doomscrolling, I feel that disaster may yet be averted. There is more fright than hurt in life. Sometimes you get lucky. And the future is unknowable, after all.
On rare occasions, I reflect that while others may suffer terribly in the years to come, this has always been the nature of life in this world. Every human being has had to live in the midst of the immense suffering of the human race. Perhaps I will be able to live in a reasonably satisfactory way in the ruins, as so many people throughout human history have done. Then I feel ashamed of myself for having such thoughts.
Many of us undoubtedly are experiencing this ambivalence, oscillating between hope and fear. Many sensitive, intelligent, informed comments on Lucid exhibit this ambivalence.
This situation suggests to me that my ambivalence is itself a problem that I need to address. Actually resolving my ambivalence is impossible, because it reflects the objective nature of the situation. But in the form it presently takes in me, it resembles the bipolar disorder, oscillating wildly between the extremes of irrational exuberance and irrational despair. I have become so accustomed to it, and see it so strongly exhibited in the media every day, that it has come to seem normal to me, not extreme. Neither an individual’s nor a society’s mental health can survive such ambivalence. In fact, integrating the positives and negatives of internal and external experience is one of the major tasks of our psychological life, essential to our mental health. (The child’s failure to do so is how the narcissistic personality disorder gets started, and the failure remains highly visible throughout life.) My ambivalent feelings are not “wrong.” But they are based on a false perspective.
My ambivalence is based on an obsession with the future. Obsession intrinsically involves a distorted perspective. I am constantly looking into the future, hoping for the best and fearing the worst. This is neither healthy nor sane, first of all for the simple reason that it is impossible to know the future. A sane, realistic approach to life cannot be organized around trying to predict the future. Constantly surveying the future for the threats it might hold is not only manic-depressive, it is paranoid.
We live in a present that is always receding into the past, and simultaneously moving into an unknown future. A sane, healthy approach to living requires that we continually reintegrate the past, present, and future as a whole, in order to live in the present. Supporters of the anti-democracy forces are paranoiacally obsessed with an infantile desire to return to a stolen paradisal past that never was. In my ambivalence, I am mirroring their withdrawal from reality and sanity, paranoiacally obsessing about a hellish future that may or may not come into being.
Some of us will conclude, contemplating our polarized situation, that they must emigrate, either because all Americans will be reduced to merely struggling to survive a life hardly worth living; or because they judge their individual prospects in America to be intolerable. These are reasonable conclusions, but I cannot imagine emigrating myself.
Nor can I put an end to my ambivalence about future conditions in America. But I can learn to tolerate my ambivalence, and stop being subject to violent, paranoid, manic-depressive oscillations between hope and fear. I can stop feeding my ambivalence, constantly being frustrated and indignant at the apparently immovable inertia of those who should be protecting American democracy and are not.
I can begin to realistically assess the various possibilities the future holds, and try to figure out how to deal with them. I need not succumb, as so many pro-democracy Americans seem to have done in 2021, to the learned helplessness that the anti-democracy forces are trying to teach us. Human beings have always given up their liberty because they have failed to realize that the powers within ourselves are immeasurably greater than we know, while the superior power of tyranny, being based on illusions, is therefore itself an illusion, that which both is and is not.
To all those who dig RBG and Lucid - I implore you…stop everything and take a few minutes and read this piece from the Atlantic. It gives you a very detailed look at what happened and will most likely happen to democracy in the USA. It is more than a sobering read. It is an absolute cold wet towel to the face and sharp poke in the behind!
The reality: America needs Americans to stop the death of democracy. No one else can really do it.
I’d love for RBG to write columns about democracy is flourishing and NO ONE is in exile.
I’d love for her to write about how Trumpism was squashed by a massive voter turnout in 2022 and 2024.
BUT …I sit here in Toronto with zero voting power.
All I can do is sound the alarm.
If you live and can vote in the USA, the onus is on YOU and your fellow citizens. Articles like this should be disseminated and discussed. If you’re on Lucid, you already know all this.
Once citizens get sucked into an authoritarian's post-truth vortex, it becomes very difficult to extricate them. They have become angry, and feel victimized, which is classic fascist sentiment.
Yes, the Nazi Party was not a majority but we saw the results of that. The illiberal movement is not isolated to the US, but worldwide. Countries that are not infected need to take notice and prepare for the possibility.
I think there is a new type of refugee emerging on the global stage. Perhaps, we should not call them new, because the systemic actions causing their desperate choice to flee their native lands is anything but new. However, their numbers are growing dramatically. These are those who become more impoverished than their forebears to the point where their daily bread is a question-mark each and every day.
Some call them economic refugees, others climate refugees. Yet, they all flee from hunger. The hunger comes in many ways, but almost always at the core is a government seeking to extract resources from their country to enrich their elites. While their government may not specifically target a tribe, tongue, or faith for internment, exile, or persecution; government policies - choices to not protect property rights, not provide infrastructure, support predatory lending to indenture land owners and secure land titles, allow extractive industries to pollute water supplies and air basins - all lead to lower incomes and impoverishment of specific groups, be they identifiable by skin-tone, culture, language, or be they within a resource-rich geography craved by the elites.
Atop those local governance drivers of hunger is climate change where droughts, floods, pests, etc. occur where they did not or more frequently and severely than ever before, disrupting crop yields, creating food shocks, and further impoverishing those with fewer means to secure their daily bread.
The U.S. is not free of these same migrations in its own history - the great migration of African Americans from south to north as the 19th century turned over to the 20th comes particularly to mind.
As local populations feel the intolerable pangs of frequent hunger, the more apt they are to rush into the open arms of a strongman autocrat promising them milk and honey in return for loyalty. This seems to be frequently married to casting blame on the "other," who then is formally persecuted and, thus, prone to exile. The cycle is vicious.
As we come together to battle autocracy, we need to recognize the governance systems, legal frameworks, social structures, and lexicon, most of which were developed during the age of European (and U.S.) colonialism, that perpetuates the ability of elites to exploit a nation's resources and segments of its population to enrich themselves. These systems are the root cause of the attraction of authoritarianism to much too large a segment of the population, IMHO.
We are not free of this exploitation in the U.S. The U.S. constitution was drafted by wealthy land owners and industrialists to protect the property rights of land owners and industrialists. Its amend-ability and judicial interpret-ability has allowed its broadening to protect citizens' rights to due process, privacy, environmental quality, among other protections. Yet, it can be amended and re-interpreted in the other direction as well.
When democracy no longer works for the elites, they will work to end democracy, as we are seeing today in numerous anti-democratic measures being passed at the state level. That is where the battle is. But the war is over who democracy is to work for. The war is between those who want democracy to work for everyone and those who want democracy to work just for them.
In the Matrix the architect told Neo "there are levels of survival we are prepared to accept" when Neo questioned whether he would allow the extinction of the entire human race because he believed the machines needed humans to survive. See the Youtube link at the bottom.
Trump and his neo fascist leader cult, which was once a conservative party known as the GOP is not only prepared to end democracy but actively engaged in a slow moving coup to do just that right now and since last Jan 6th! they are in effect saying to the majority (the rest of us) you no longer have a choice or say over who should run government,or over who your leaders should be, or over who should make policy. Your vote doesn't count! Hence the autocratic moment is up on us and many of us are thinking about the consequences and implications of living in a system of government run by an authoritarian leader. Are there levels of survival we are willing to accept or will we decide to leave in exile to other liberal democratic countries before it's too late? Do we have the resiliency to live under tyranny and persecution in a country we once knew as America? Like the machines in the Matrix, autocratic governments can't handle allowing [choice] to flourish among its citizens when deciding election outcomes.
They may gain power in the near term, but inevitably without allowing choice they guarantee a equal and opposite reaction; a strong and active resistance emerges in response to their prevailing anti democratic tyranny and authoritarianism. Strongmen sow the seeds of their own downfall and destruction.
We resisted tyranny at Lexington and Concord, we resisted it at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, we resisted it on the shores of Normandy and on the Edmund Pettus bridge and we will resist and fight no less I'm sure if god forbid ..the Trump coup succeeds.
Except that, for example, Putin has been in power for over two decades (I don't know much about Russian politics, but I believe Medvedev was basically a Putin puppet?). That is very depressing to me.
Its economy is in tatters and threatened with more economic sanctions from the US and allied powers that will further erode any hope for future economic vitality. Its basically a petro state/oligarchy that deals in international money laundering and promoting corruption around the world to undermine democracies. How long can that level of tyranny and corruption last? Forever?
What I find shocking is the degree in which our CIA, with the backing of our oligarchs, has installed illiberal regimes around the globe. The US has directly and indirectly caused exodus from the nations in which we have interfered. Most of our interference has been economic imperialism. Chile appears to be one of those, with our installation of neoliberal economics there. The advent of neoliberal economics here in the US circa 1980 could have easily been a planned move for the future establishment of economic authoritarianism down the road. Once the unions and middle class were broken, then they would be amenable to a fascist leaning charismatic leader, promising to make the nation great again. Our oligarchs would finally get what they have long wanted... a grifters' paradise. Their interest in democracy? Zero.
The current reality is very grim. But that is not what we focus on. We focus on what we value and are willing to work for in our future. Look around you, find what positive you can do, and keep doing it. This is a good way to live. It is also a good way to die.
Perhaps it is for you. It is absolutely not for me. This certainty of conflict is precisely what is making me seek exile outside of the US. (I've already applied for residency in another country, and hope to leave within a few months.)
I think there's another type of exile, perhaps one that Ruth will eventually describe, and which I identify as. This other exile escapes not because of the usual direct persecution of religion, sexuality, ethnicity, etc., but because of the intense, personal, emotional cost of inter-societal conflict itself.
Note that this is not 'despair,' as it's often disparaged, nor is it apathy or a quest for intentional ignorance. Rather, it's a realization that for some of us, our severe reaction to conflict, felt so internally, overrides any sense of staying, or even belonging. As Ruth alludes to above, sometimes exiles can do *better* work having left their home -- whether because danger is knocking at their door, or that they simply cannot *function* within a society that is at such a high boil.
Interesting response. I do not disagree with your reasons for leaving. I'm sure that there are many folks who can do "better work" living abroad. In separate posts I have said as much. I was not trying to lay down a universal approach, only one of many possible approaches.
For those of us too old, not nimble enough, nor having any particular special talent to offer another country, we have a choice to make. Either to simply collapse in despair, or to find a way forward.
I was trying to say that one does not have to be a hero. It is enough to live as well as one can under the circumstances, making whatever effort one can to support what is a positive value for one.
I'm sorry, John -- I misunderstood what you said, and misinterpreted what you meant.
Lately I have seen so much rhetoric, from all extremes, that call for standing up and fighting back. For someone like me who takes things literally (probably one reason I have such trouble with conflict), it's very difficult to tease apart what is a direct call for action, a personal statement to fight for one's principles, a righteous stand, a desperate resignation towards violence, a vicious trolling, or a well-meaning cheerleading chant.
Often I wish I didn't understand English; it would be much easier to get by these days. :)
I understand perfectly, having many of the same emotional responses as you. I imagine that is why we hope to find dialogue with others with whom we can share our thoughts and feelings. The situation is, to me, quite frightening, and I am struggling to try to keep an even keel. I find some support and comfort being able to communicate with other thoughtful persons who are trying their best to make the most sense out of events.
I appreciate your response. It has informed as much as it has touched me.
I totally understand what you mean. In a way, it's like living with a narcissist (which I have experience with). It is so distressing and so damaging to one's psyche that in order to save yourself, some people have to go "no contact" in order to survive.
The phrase that leaps out at me (that I REALLY don’t want to forget … in spite of my almost overwhelming desire to curl up in a little ball and wake up like Dorothy from the land of oz) is … by 1971 … Xavier … tried to warn … leftists that only a United front of All parties could stop the rising right-wing danger. Paul Mason (author HOW TO STOP FASCISM) repeated that several times in Lucidit Heidi Cuda’s interview with him on her most recent RADICALIZED podcast. Thanks, Ruth, for the recommendations of the books by Ariel Dorfman and Marsha Gessen. Two other German Nobel laureates (Max Von Laue and James Franck) smuggled their gold (200 grams with their names inscribed upon) medallions out of Nazi Germany, by dissolving the gold, sending the container of inauspicious orange liquid to another Nobel laureate in Copenhagen … then after war, reconstituting the gold, and having gold re-cast into their medallions. Resiliency thru chemistry!!
I tooka look at Gessen's book - here's an excerpt that pretty much lays it out: the concept of autocratic transformation, which proceeds in three stages: autocratic attempt, autocratic breakthrough, and autocratic consolidation.1 down...2 two go. Buckle up.
I’ve been telling my family that now we know why so few Jewish people left their homes in the face of fascism. Those with the money will leave the USA, and I believe have already secured their homes in countries to which they will emigrate. Those like us, will remain to face the new America if Trump runs and wins and theRepublicans gain dominance. We’re already seeing it in Texas, Florida, Georgia. We are watching our future in the lessons of the past.
The fascists are winning everywhere. Even for the few who acknowledge the actual implosion of democracy in the US and UK, few can afford the price of exile (the literal financial cost and loss of emotional support of family, friends, career). And is there really a safe alternative? Germany was a leader in democracy until Merkel unforgivably caved to Puton with the pipeline, ensuring that Germany would be dependent on Russia for energy. Biden's 'summit on democracy' might have meant something if he had spent his first year educating Americans about the dangers of autocracy and putting a full court press on strengthening our institutions and removing the rot. Instead, he forfeited immense goodwill with his stubborn position on Afghanistan, and infrastructure legislation. The result has been a normalization of political violence on the right and a loss of trust in Democratic leadership on the left and center. Even if Merrick Garland actually took action today, it's far too late. The GOP doesn't need Trump...their base is 'on automatic'. They don't want policies or deliverables, they want cruelty and Twitter memes. In the beginning, some people in 'red states' might move to purple states, but it's not tenable to maintain 2 systems of government in 1 country. There will be exiles, but most people will adapt to unified GOP rule, just as they've adapted to unfettered gun deaths and just as they've adapted to the loss of 800K (per Worldometer) from Covid. I hope others see more light than I do, but I've watched this all unfold with seeming inevitability. Bob Dole, for all the fawning yesterday, died a fervent Trump supporter.
"They don't want policies or deliverables, they want cruelty and Twitter memes." Wow, yes. You managed to sum up, in one sentence, how I've felt about the entire GOP base. This is why such cruel and absurd people like Cawthorn, Greene, and Boebert are able to win and become famous.
What we're seeing is ethical drift by those emulating Trump. But what they're emulating is sociopathic behavior, so in essence, it is sociopathy by proxy. Recently, I have been calling fascism, the politics of lunacy. We are seeing a destructive collective delusion. Cruelty is a part of sociopathic behavior and it is also a part of fascism. It is no accident that both have this characteristic.
Apropos of this column, I just saw this tweet from Masha Gessen who is traveling back to the US. "Every time I fly to the U.S. EVERY SINGLE TIME. I am on list for "additional security check." Just now made to disembark a Paris-JFK flight to have carry-on checked, shoes and hands dusted for explosives. Then allowed back on flight. Routine harassment of journalist by U.S. gov't."
Very disheartening and embarrassing for her adopted country.
"Resiliency and Hope: Lessons from Life"
Thank you Professor, for the boosting of confidence (in this essay) of those who are seeking refuge from death.
To make a long story short, my own current experience in seeking refuge from death, has brought me to the identification of two groups of people in issues of exile:
(1) The ordinary people, who are running from death;
(2) those sought by the killer governments for assassination anywhere on this planet. It is their (sought people's) existence that is a problem for these killer governments.
If by some deceptive means, they get to have control over this group of targeted people, the killer governments will handicap them in such a way that, they would not be able to evade their control or leave the country. For example, they might deny them travel documents, or national ID card, or not allowing them to cross the country's borders, or to have access to any foreign power. This is my current situation. In this case, exile can happen only on action of foreign power. Thank You Professor. Rodolphe Nogbou
I found RBG’s post of November 16, “Waiting for the Apocalypse,” to be reassuring, particularly in its accepting and tolerant observation, “in times of transition” [like the present] “some may take their distance from politics.” Then in her post of November 7, “Resiliency and Hope,” she wrote that “exiles have learned the hard way that nothing is fixed in life“ and “any of us could become exiles one day.” In contrast to her earlier post, this resonated for me emotionally as, “The end is coming, it’s time to run for your life. “
When I am doomscrolling, I almost always think the end is indeed coming. When I ask myself what the nature of the situation in America in 2021 is from an objective point of view, I think that those who have the power to protect democracy do not understand what must be done, while those who understand what must be done do not have the power to do it. It is too late for mass action to save us. In 2021 the government of the greatest and most powerful country in the history of the universe can’t even deliver the mail. Those who have the power to protect democracy are complicit in its destruction, and will not wake up until it is too late.
But occasionally when I am not doomscrolling, I feel that disaster may yet be averted. There is more fright than hurt in life. Sometimes you get lucky. And the future is unknowable, after all.
On rare occasions, I reflect that while others may suffer terribly in the years to come, this has always been the nature of life in this world. Every human being has had to live in the midst of the immense suffering of the human race. Perhaps I will be able to live in a reasonably satisfactory way in the ruins, as so many people throughout human history have done. Then I feel ashamed of myself for having such thoughts.
Many of us undoubtedly are experiencing this ambivalence, oscillating between hope and fear. Many sensitive, intelligent, informed comments on Lucid exhibit this ambivalence.
This situation suggests to me that my ambivalence is itself a problem that I need to address. Actually resolving my ambivalence is impossible, because it reflects the objective nature of the situation. But in the form it presently takes in me, it resembles the bipolar disorder, oscillating wildly between the extremes of irrational exuberance and irrational despair. I have become so accustomed to it, and see it so strongly exhibited in the media every day, that it has come to seem normal to me, not extreme. Neither an individual’s nor a society’s mental health can survive such ambivalence. In fact, integrating the positives and negatives of internal and external experience is one of the major tasks of our psychological life, essential to our mental health. (The child’s failure to do so is how the narcissistic personality disorder gets started, and the failure remains highly visible throughout life.) My ambivalent feelings are not “wrong.” But they are based on a false perspective.
My ambivalence is based on an obsession with the future. Obsession intrinsically involves a distorted perspective. I am constantly looking into the future, hoping for the best and fearing the worst. This is neither healthy nor sane, first of all for the simple reason that it is impossible to know the future. A sane, realistic approach to life cannot be organized around trying to predict the future. Constantly surveying the future for the threats it might hold is not only manic-depressive, it is paranoid.
We live in a present that is always receding into the past, and simultaneously moving into an unknown future. A sane, healthy approach to living requires that we continually reintegrate the past, present, and future as a whole, in order to live in the present. Supporters of the anti-democracy forces are paranoiacally obsessed with an infantile desire to return to a stolen paradisal past that never was. In my ambivalence, I am mirroring their withdrawal from reality and sanity, paranoiacally obsessing about a hellish future that may or may not come into being.
Some of us will conclude, contemplating our polarized situation, that they must emigrate, either because all Americans will be reduced to merely struggling to survive a life hardly worth living; or because they judge their individual prospects in America to be intolerable. These are reasonable conclusions, but I cannot imagine emigrating myself.
Nor can I put an end to my ambivalence about future conditions in America. But I can learn to tolerate my ambivalence, and stop being subject to violent, paranoid, manic-depressive oscillations between hope and fear. I can stop feeding my ambivalence, constantly being frustrated and indignant at the apparently immovable inertia of those who should be protecting American democracy and are not.
I can begin to realistically assess the various possibilities the future holds, and try to figure out how to deal with them. I need not succumb, as so many pro-democracy Americans seem to have done in 2021, to the learned helplessness that the anti-democracy forces are trying to teach us. Human beings have always given up their liberty because they have failed to realize that the powers within ourselves are immeasurably greater than we know, while the superior power of tyranny, being based on illusions, is therefore itself an illusion, that which both is and is not.
To all those who dig RBG and Lucid - I implore you…stop everything and take a few minutes and read this piece from the Atlantic. It gives you a very detailed look at what happened and will most likely happen to democracy in the USA. It is more than a sobering read. It is an absolute cold wet towel to the face and sharp poke in the behind!
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/01/january-6-insurrection-trump-coup-2024-election/620843/
The reality: America needs Americans to stop the death of democracy. No one else can really do it.
I’d love for RBG to write columns about democracy is flourishing and NO ONE is in exile.
I’d love for her to write about how Trumpism was squashed by a massive voter turnout in 2022 and 2024.
BUT …I sit here in Toronto with zero voting power.
All I can do is sound the alarm.
If you live and can vote in the USA, the onus is on YOU and your fellow citizens. Articles like this should be disseminated and discussed. If you’re on Lucid, you already know all this.
Once citizens get sucked into an authoritarian's post-truth vortex, it becomes very difficult to extricate them. They have become angry, and feel victimized, which is classic fascist sentiment.
The voter suppression when combined with targeted approaches to specific states is a very bad omen. If 25% of a population decides they want Trumpism, it’s most likely going to happen. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-25-revolution-how-big-does-a-minority-have-to-be-to-reshape-society/
Yes, the Nazi Party was not a majority but we saw the results of that. The illiberal movement is not isolated to the US, but worldwide. Countries that are not infected need to take notice and prepare for the possibility.
I feel like an exile in my own country these days……
I think there is a new type of refugee emerging on the global stage. Perhaps, we should not call them new, because the systemic actions causing their desperate choice to flee their native lands is anything but new. However, their numbers are growing dramatically. These are those who become more impoverished than their forebears to the point where their daily bread is a question-mark each and every day.
Some call them economic refugees, others climate refugees. Yet, they all flee from hunger. The hunger comes in many ways, but almost always at the core is a government seeking to extract resources from their country to enrich their elites. While their government may not specifically target a tribe, tongue, or faith for internment, exile, or persecution; government policies - choices to not protect property rights, not provide infrastructure, support predatory lending to indenture land owners and secure land titles, allow extractive industries to pollute water supplies and air basins - all lead to lower incomes and impoverishment of specific groups, be they identifiable by skin-tone, culture, language, or be they within a resource-rich geography craved by the elites.
Atop those local governance drivers of hunger is climate change where droughts, floods, pests, etc. occur where they did not or more frequently and severely than ever before, disrupting crop yields, creating food shocks, and further impoverishing those with fewer means to secure their daily bread.
The U.S. is not free of these same migrations in its own history - the great migration of African Americans from south to north as the 19th century turned over to the 20th comes particularly to mind.
As local populations feel the intolerable pangs of frequent hunger, the more apt they are to rush into the open arms of a strongman autocrat promising them milk and honey in return for loyalty. This seems to be frequently married to casting blame on the "other," who then is formally persecuted and, thus, prone to exile. The cycle is vicious.
As we come together to battle autocracy, we need to recognize the governance systems, legal frameworks, social structures, and lexicon, most of which were developed during the age of European (and U.S.) colonialism, that perpetuates the ability of elites to exploit a nation's resources and segments of its population to enrich themselves. These systems are the root cause of the attraction of authoritarianism to much too large a segment of the population, IMHO.
We are not free of this exploitation in the U.S. The U.S. constitution was drafted by wealthy land owners and industrialists to protect the property rights of land owners and industrialists. Its amend-ability and judicial interpret-ability has allowed its broadening to protect citizens' rights to due process, privacy, environmental quality, among other protections. Yet, it can be amended and re-interpreted in the other direction as well.
When democracy no longer works for the elites, they will work to end democracy, as we are seeing today in numerous anti-democratic measures being passed at the state level. That is where the battle is. But the war is over who democracy is to work for. The war is between those who want democracy to work for everyone and those who want democracy to work just for them.
In the Matrix the architect told Neo "there are levels of survival we are prepared to accept" when Neo questioned whether he would allow the extinction of the entire human race because he believed the machines needed humans to survive. See the Youtube link at the bottom.
Trump and his neo fascist leader cult, which was once a conservative party known as the GOP is not only prepared to end democracy but actively engaged in a slow moving coup to do just that right now and since last Jan 6th! they are in effect saying to the majority (the rest of us) you no longer have a choice or say over who should run government,or over who your leaders should be, or over who should make policy. Your vote doesn't count! Hence the autocratic moment is up on us and many of us are thinking about the consequences and implications of living in a system of government run by an authoritarian leader. Are there levels of survival we are willing to accept or will we decide to leave in exile to other liberal democratic countries before it's too late? Do we have the resiliency to live under tyranny and persecution in a country we once knew as America? Like the machines in the Matrix, autocratic governments can't handle allowing [choice] to flourish among its citizens when deciding election outcomes.
They may gain power in the near term, but inevitably without allowing choice they guarantee a equal and opposite reaction; a strong and active resistance emerges in response to their prevailing anti democratic tyranny and authoritarianism. Strongmen sow the seeds of their own downfall and destruction.
We resisted tyranny at Lexington and Concord, we resisted it at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, we resisted it on the shores of Normandy and on the Edmund Pettus bridge and we will resist and fight no less I'm sure if god forbid ..the Trump coup succeeds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0dL7riclpU
Except that, for example, Putin has been in power for over two decades (I don't know much about Russian politics, but I believe Medvedev was basically a Putin puppet?). That is very depressing to me.
Its economy is in tatters and threatened with more economic sanctions from the US and allied powers that will further erode any hope for future economic vitality. Its basically a petro state/oligarchy that deals in international money laundering and promoting corruption around the world to undermine democracies. How long can that level of tyranny and corruption last? Forever?
What I find shocking is the degree in which our CIA, with the backing of our oligarchs, has installed illiberal regimes around the globe. The US has directly and indirectly caused exodus from the nations in which we have interfered. Most of our interference has been economic imperialism. Chile appears to be one of those, with our installation of neoliberal economics there. The advent of neoliberal economics here in the US circa 1980 could have easily been a planned move for the future establishment of economic authoritarianism down the road. Once the unions and middle class were broken, then they would be amenable to a fascist leaning charismatic leader, promising to make the nation great again. Our oligarchs would finally get what they have long wanted... a grifters' paradise. Their interest in democracy? Zero.
The current reality is very grim. But that is not what we focus on. We focus on what we value and are willing to work for in our future. Look around you, find what positive you can do, and keep doing it. This is a good way to live. It is also a good way to die.
Perhaps it is for you. It is absolutely not for me. This certainty of conflict is precisely what is making me seek exile outside of the US. (I've already applied for residency in another country, and hope to leave within a few months.)
I think there's another type of exile, perhaps one that Ruth will eventually describe, and which I identify as. This other exile escapes not because of the usual direct persecution of religion, sexuality, ethnicity, etc., but because of the intense, personal, emotional cost of inter-societal conflict itself.
Note that this is not 'despair,' as it's often disparaged, nor is it apathy or a quest for intentional ignorance. Rather, it's a realization that for some of us, our severe reaction to conflict, felt so internally, overrides any sense of staying, or even belonging. As Ruth alludes to above, sometimes exiles can do *better* work having left their home -- whether because danger is knocking at their door, or that they simply cannot *function* within a society that is at such a high boil.
J. Stanley,
Interesting response. I do not disagree with your reasons for leaving. I'm sure that there are many folks who can do "better work" living abroad. In separate posts I have said as much. I was not trying to lay down a universal approach, only one of many possible approaches.
For those of us too old, not nimble enough, nor having any particular special talent to offer another country, we have a choice to make. Either to simply collapse in despair, or to find a way forward.
I was trying to say that one does not have to be a hero. It is enough to live as well as one can under the circumstances, making whatever effort one can to support what is a positive value for one.
I'm sorry, John -- I misunderstood what you said, and misinterpreted what you meant.
Lately I have seen so much rhetoric, from all extremes, that call for standing up and fighting back. For someone like me who takes things literally (probably one reason I have such trouble with conflict), it's very difficult to tease apart what is a direct call for action, a personal statement to fight for one's principles, a righteous stand, a desperate resignation towards violence, a vicious trolling, or a well-meaning cheerleading chant.
Often I wish I didn't understand English; it would be much easier to get by these days. :)
I understand perfectly, having many of the same emotional responses as you. I imagine that is why we hope to find dialogue with others with whom we can share our thoughts and feelings. The situation is, to me, quite frightening, and I am struggling to try to keep an even keel. I find some support and comfort being able to communicate with other thoughtful persons who are trying their best to make the most sense out of events.
I appreciate your response. It has informed as much as it has touched me.
I totally understand what you mean. In a way, it's like living with a narcissist (which I have experience with). It is so distressing and so damaging to one's psyche that in order to save yourself, some people have to go "no contact" in order to survive.
I'm don't think I'd consider Enrico Fermi's choice to work on nuclear weapons once he left Italy a great example for future generations...
The phrase that leaps out at me (that I REALLY don’t want to forget … in spite of my almost overwhelming desire to curl up in a little ball and wake up like Dorothy from the land of oz) is … by 1971 … Xavier … tried to warn … leftists that only a United front of All parties could stop the rising right-wing danger. Paul Mason (author HOW TO STOP FASCISM) repeated that several times in Lucidit Heidi Cuda’s interview with him on her most recent RADICALIZED podcast. Thanks, Ruth, for the recommendations of the books by Ariel Dorfman and Marsha Gessen. Two other German Nobel laureates (Max Von Laue and James Franck) smuggled their gold (200 grams with their names inscribed upon) medallions out of Nazi Germany, by dissolving the gold, sending the container of inauspicious orange liquid to another Nobel laureate in Copenhagen … then after war, reconstituting the gold, and having gold re-cast into their medallions. Resiliency thru chemistry!!
Few know that aqua regia will react with gold. Handy to know that.
I tooka look at Gessen's book - here's an excerpt that pretty much lays it out: the concept of autocratic transformation, which proceeds in three stages: autocratic attempt, autocratic breakthrough, and autocratic consolidation.1 down...2 two go. Buckle up.
The handwriting is on the wall for those paying attention.
I’ve been telling my family that now we know why so few Jewish people left their homes in the face of fascism. Those with the money will leave the USA, and I believe have already secured their homes in countries to which they will emigrate. Those like us, will remain to face the new America if Trump runs and wins and theRepublicans gain dominance. We’re already seeing it in Texas, Florida, Georgia. We are watching our future in the lessons of the past.
The fascists are winning everywhere. Even for the few who acknowledge the actual implosion of democracy in the US and UK, few can afford the price of exile (the literal financial cost and loss of emotional support of family, friends, career). And is there really a safe alternative? Germany was a leader in democracy until Merkel unforgivably caved to Puton with the pipeline, ensuring that Germany would be dependent on Russia for energy. Biden's 'summit on democracy' might have meant something if he had spent his first year educating Americans about the dangers of autocracy and putting a full court press on strengthening our institutions and removing the rot. Instead, he forfeited immense goodwill with his stubborn position on Afghanistan, and infrastructure legislation. The result has been a normalization of political violence on the right and a loss of trust in Democratic leadership on the left and center. Even if Merrick Garland actually took action today, it's far too late. The GOP doesn't need Trump...their base is 'on automatic'. They don't want policies or deliverables, they want cruelty and Twitter memes. In the beginning, some people in 'red states' might move to purple states, but it's not tenable to maintain 2 systems of government in 1 country. There will be exiles, but most people will adapt to unified GOP rule, just as they've adapted to unfettered gun deaths and just as they've adapted to the loss of 800K (per Worldometer) from Covid. I hope others see more light than I do, but I've watched this all unfold with seeming inevitability. Bob Dole, for all the fawning yesterday, died a fervent Trump supporter.
"They don't want policies or deliverables, they want cruelty and Twitter memes." Wow, yes. You managed to sum up, in one sentence, how I've felt about the entire GOP base. This is why such cruel and absurd people like Cawthorn, Greene, and Boebert are able to win and become famous.
What we're seeing is ethical drift by those emulating Trump. But what they're emulating is sociopathic behavior, so in essence, it is sociopathy by proxy. Recently, I have been calling fascism, the politics of lunacy. We are seeing a destructive collective delusion. Cruelty is a part of sociopathic behavior and it is also a part of fascism. It is no accident that both have this characteristic.
This is EXACTLY how I feel: The GOP doesn't need Trump...their base is 'on automatic'.
Thank you, Ruth.
Apropos of this column, I just saw this tweet from Masha Gessen who is traveling back to the US. "Every time I fly to the U.S. EVERY SINGLE TIME. I am on list for "additional security check." Just now made to disembark a Paris-JFK flight to have carry-on checked, shoes and hands dusted for explosives. Then allowed back on flight. Routine harassment of journalist by U.S. gov't."
Very disheartening and embarrassing for her adopted country.
And yet, she continues.