Reply To: On Tyranny Lesson 2: Defend Institutions

My answer to the first question (as others have already noted) is ALL of them, every possible democratic institution in the U.S. That is a feature, not a bug, an intentional strategy to limit people’s capacity to respond effectively.

Sadly, I believe much of the ground work for this assault on democratic institutions in the U.S. has been going on for years, but incrementally, making it harder to see where we were headed. I see multiple examples, a politicization of the courts, especially the U.S. Supreme Court, the efforts to defund public media and the obeisance of media in general to this administration, effective gerrymandering of legislative districts and the Supreme Court decision with revoked Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act. Under this administration, the entire justice system has been subverted and any semblance of equal justice or obedience to the rule of law is effectively non-existent.

I appreciate the idea of choosing one institution and focusing one’s efforts and resources there. That seems to me an effective frame of reference and one that makes resistance workable. In this case, I think it is more effective to know all one can about a limited example rather than trying to keep up with more than one can truly follow. If you have the resources and bandwidth to do more, then do that but don’t let oneself become overwhelmed.