Beating Authoritarianism Isn’t as Simple as You Think. It’s Even Simpler

Three Lessons of History We’ve Forgotten

Kids in camps. Congressmen who can’t get access to them. A President denying it’s happening. What’s happening to us? We’ve forgotten three key lessons of history.

Beating authoritarianism isn’t as simple as you think. It’s even simpler. Yes, really. Not easy, mind you, convenient, comfortable, a walk in the park. But simple, as in undo the cause, undo the effect. There’s no need to overthink it — to endlessly look for nuance, as if there are a million beautiful and subtle shades of grey among dictatorships. That is a way to prove how smart we are — but it does less than nothing to beat the bad guys. In fact, overthinking it, we end up paralyzed and powerless, which is where we are now, a point I’ll return to. Let’s start here.

Authoritarianism arises in broken societies. Just how broken is America? The average American doesn’t have $500 in emergency savings, his life expectancy’s fallng, he’ll never retire, he lives with a mountain of debt, and his income’s shrinking. Inequality is higher than ancient Rome, trust has collapsed, social bonds have imploded along with towns, villages, and cities, some of which don’t have basic utilities like water, the polity is badly dysfunctional, and so on. America is a…