I Rely On You
I have a growing concern for the future of our most basic freedom, the core of what it means to be an American – the right to have our own beliefs and to express them. People are waiting, perhaps, for Trump to declare himself dictator, before they acknowledge the threat of authoritarianism. In reality, it rarely announces itself so boldly. In most dictatorships, elections are still held, and average people often feel themselves to be free, as long as they have nothing objectionable to say, or they do not say it too loudly and publicly. And there are many means of political repression. ICE has arrested and detained people specifically because of their political speech; the Department of Justice has been weaponized against those who are prominent critics of the President; criminals whose violence is aimed at Trump’s enemies are pardoned or not investigated with the vigor now reserved for immigrants and his personal enemies; companies are capitulating to even a little pressure from the administration, cutting deals—how long until they become willing to fire outspoken employees in order to retain contracts? Now, the National Guard has been deployed to our capital city as a show of force. This week, Trump sent the Border Patrol, in masks, to stand around with guns outside Governor Newsom’s press conference as an act of intimidation; the administration floated a plan for a military ‘Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force’ to rapidly deploy against protests anywhere in America; and when he took direct control of DC police, Trump said that now they will be “allowed to do whatever the hell they want” to protesters.
In this context, I do worry what will happen at the next protest, or the one after that. What guarantee of safety is there? In truth, you can never guarantee your own safety in this life, try as we might to convince ourselves we have that power. All that we can control are our own actions; we are not responsible for what anyone else does. I do know that quiescence in the face of nascent oppression is a mistake. If you believe you can guarantee your own safety by keeping your head down, I would remind you that regimes which care only about power and not truth or justice are wild animals and they will bite the hand that feeds them; you are never safe with them, even if you are neutral, even if you are on their side at first. All that quiescence does is destroy your own integrity at the cost of your neighbor’s safety; those who refrain from speaking out of fear are spiritually broken, those who speak anyway are exposed and vulnerable because the mass of people do not stand with them. But I hope that will not be the case.
Our rights are ours, individually. They are written in the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence tells us that these are not made up by men, but they are a part of our nature as creatures made by God with free will. I have the right to speak, and I will continue to use it; I do not need to know what anyone else, or what the Trump administration, is going to do in response—that does not enter my calculus. It should not enter yours. There is no good endgame where we keep our heads down and go quietly into authoritarianism; I simply will not live at peace with an authoritarian America. But I do not believe I am alone. Our rights are ours, individually; but all we can do individually is exercise them, in spite of threats and intimidation. For these rights to be protected, we are all reliant on each other. I am relying on you, my friends, family, community, everyone who affirms the Pledge of Allegiance and with it the idea that liberty is the essence of America, to keep the promise of the First Amendment to me, to protect me as I speak, even if we disagree, by exercising your own right to speak, and not standing by and letting a gaggle of bullies threaten or assault free citizens.
