A checklist for tyranny

Back around the time of the last presidential election, Yale history professor Timothy Snyder wrote what felt like a timely book. On Tyranny laid out twenty lessons culled from the messier bits of the twentieth century. It’s basically a set of two interlaced checklists: what to watch out for, and what to do. He recently shared short versions of those lessons via a Twitter thread. I’ve culled that list down to a handful of items from each list and shared a few thoughts.

What to watch out for

The first item I’ve called out from Snyder’s list probably seems a no-brainer, and I’m not suggesting we’re there, but we’ve got a lot of people showing up for dress rehearsals that could very quickly become something else.

Thomas Ricks appears to be referring to the ‘federal agents’ that have been harassing protestors in Portland, but the sentiment works broadly for me.

Next up is ‘dangerous’ words.

CNN has this covered and backs Snyder’s assessment.

Next up is the one-party state. We’re not there yet, but the unbalanced, gerrymandered system we have is in serious danger even without any shenanigans. And I fear there are plenty of those in the offing for the coming election.

What to do

Now we’re on the items that tell us what to do, or in this case, what not to do. Moms and veterans (and many others) are lighting the way on this in Portland.

The last two items guide us on how to act should matters really go sideways. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen, but I think we should keep these ideas in the back of our minds in case they do. Keeping our heads seems an obvious first step. Panic would only serve to make matters worse if we head down that path. What we’d need instead would be measured wisdom.

Here’s the scary one. Should things go off the rails, prof Snyder admonishes us to be a courageous as we can. I think back to all of the heroes from the last century who stood up for their communities and values in the face of unrelenting terror. I hope we’ll never face the same, but that if history calls our names, we’ll be up to the test.

No one knows what tomorrow will bring. I hope we’ll soon see an inflection point that points us all in a better direction. And while I’m pessimistic about our current path, I remain wildly optimistic about our possible future. Let’s work together to make that turn, with whatever means we have. Let’s do it before any of the really bad stuff that might lie ahead comes into being. We best hurry. (Many are already out there doing the work.)