Winning Hearts and Minds in the Battle Against Authoritarianism
Many of us are wondering how we can be most effective in blocking authoritarianism from completely taking over the United States now that Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans are about to assume political power. This is not an easy question, but it’s an important one. I’m sure that we will need to join with others and keep thinking about it and trying things throughout the coming months and years.
First, I want to express my deep gratitude to everyone who supported the Kamala Harris campaign. We didn’t win the election, but we did enough that we prevented Trump from winning a landslide and limited him to less than 50% of the vote. This will make a significant difference in our efforts to prevent the rise of fascism over the next four years. Whether you made a donation, wrote postcards or letters, called voters in other states, went door to door, or helped in some other way, thank you!
The MAGA Republicans will have great political power, will do unconscionable harm to our collective health and safety, and will undermine equity and justice at every turn. Despite our best efforts they will frequently succeed in eliminating regulations, enacting policies, and passing legislation that benefit their wealthy supporters at the expense of the rest of us.
Where we can struggle and win
However, full-blown authoritarianism also requires capturing the minds of a majority of the population. They have not yet done this and this is where we can struggle and win.
The MAGA extremists are following the classic tyrants’ playbook of seeking to implant in the public consciousness key myths and lies that seem to justify their extreme actions to come. We can each speak and write and post on social media on behalf of fact-based truth. We can engage in the struggle for the minds of all the people of the United States. Sometimes we can be effective by sharing vital information. At other times we may be more effective by listening and inviting people to share their experiences and how they see things.
Here are some key truths that I hope we can spread widely:
- Trump does not have a mandate. He won less than a majority of the vote and his margin of victory in the popular vote was the smallest (except for Bush v Gore) since 1968.
- Immigrants are not dangerous or criminal. Immigrants commit crimes at significantly lower rates than native-born citizens. We desperately need to retain our immigrant labor force–in our food system, in the construction industry, and in virtually every part of our economy.
- Removing government regulations at the request of powerful businesses will endanger our health and safety, do nothing to bring jobs and better pay to working people, and will enrich the already wealthy and powerful.
- Tax cuts for billionaires are unfair and make things worse for everyone else. The ultra-rich are not paying their fair share of taxes.
$50 trillion
As I try to make sense of the recent election and think about what makes sense now, I keep coming back to one fact. From the time of Ronald Reagan to the present day, our economy has moved $50 trillion from the bottom 90% of our population to the top 1%. This has continued under both Republican and Democratic administrations. This is outrageous.
The working class, white people and people of color alike, have been abandoned by both major political parties. They have every right to be upset and to demand that things be shaken up. An equitable and just future for our country requires that we build new mutually respectful relationships, especially between the working class and the middle class.
Building new relationships and alliances
It will be essential for those of us who identify as liberal, progressive, or left to give up the moral or intellectual superiority we tend to feel toward those who voted for Trump. We have no chance of building new alliances or reaching across differences with those attitudes in place.
Together we can work toward a vastly more equitable distribution of our nation’s wealth and guaranteeing human rights for everyone. Developing these relationships now, with humility, interest, care, and respect, will be an important step in combating the rise of authoritarianism.
Gábor Scheiring recently wrote about lessons he learned from watching democracy be destroyed in Hungary. He said, “… you don’t protect democracy by talking about democracy — you protect democracy by protecting people. Only a democracy that works for the people is sustainable.”
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Two comments in response to your practical and hopeful message:
1. From the time when Frances Perkins in 1933 articulated a vision of a government that worked to provide a basic social safety net and give every person a chance to succeed in the economy, the American middle class grew and wages kept pace with productivity and ahead of inflation. This political and social compact, endorsed by both political parties, made the American economy-the envy of the world. Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980 begin a retreat from this idea and this success. The new idea then was that for the economy to grow even further, the heavy hand of taxation would be lifted for the wealthy so that they would invest more in the American economy and grow it even faster than before. But that did NOT happen: they invested in manufacturing outside the United States to take advantage of lower wage there, and they invested in technology here at home to make labor more productive. The effect was that while productivity did increase, real wages did not; the benefits of increased productivity were more money and profit for the wealthy. That’s the $50 trillion transfer you prefer to. Add to this the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case gave the wealthy the ability to influence election outcomes because candidates — both Republican AND Democratic –were ready to support the interests of wealthy people who lavished campaign contributions on them and their PACs. The Democratic Party once prided itself on representing the interests of working people, but the Party became heavily dependent on donations of wealthy people, and the party scaled back its support of the interests of workers. While we should work for the election of Democratic candidates, we need to work equally hard to make the party is less dependent on the interests of the wealthy.
2. Your essay lays out a blueprint for sustaining one’s mental health in hard times: there’s nothing better than actually doing the good work of electing good candidates and battling climate change in actual practice, and not as a bystander.
Your four points to keep in mind are really good ones.
The suggestion about responding publicly to correct myths is excellent advice.
The 50 trillion dollars to the top 1% since the time of Reagan is a stunning (and horrifying) statistic and one that will likely stick in people’s minds once they have heard it.
Letting go of the attitude of superiority is absolutely essential. The fact is that the work done by some working class Trump supporters makes our lives possible. Many of us with “superior” attitudes don’t actually have down-to-earth skills and would not fare well without the contributions made by our neighbors who supported Trump in the election. We need to appreciate them and their work.
Thank you, Russ, Ginny Bales, and Ralph Faulkingham for these excellent points. I have been told by my opposing friend that I need to admit errors and come across as elitist but I do honestly struggle against disgust and anger against those friends & family who have brought us to this dire situation. Reading what you allies have posted helps me strive toward different tactics. Thanks!