I've had the Guns N’ Roses' song lyrics "I don't need your civil war" (posted below) in my head after a sobering conversation days ago with one of my people who's worried that one could happen - a civil war. Threats of such a thing have increased since a search warrant was executed on Trump’s Mar-A-Lago estate two weeks ago.
A few years back, I attended a speech by Bassem Youssef, who had lived in Egypt during the Arab Spring as the country was actively in turmoil. Youssef had been on a regular TV show in Egypt up until things got too intense for the show staff and TV channel due to pressure from those in power. Then the show went off the air… even as the injustice and disruption in the country continued. That the show was clearly pressured to go off the air and then did go off the air was publicly well known, but it happened anyway because of the increasing dominance of those in power.
It sounded surreal and faraway when I first learned of it. Now I can see how something like that could happen; because unbelievable, inconceivable, outrageous things are happening every day in the US… as we watch in shock.
Our country is on a precipice.
Not everybody's getting the message. And not everybody’s recognizing the risk - or recognizing that we could take action to turn it around.
Our media isn't helping.
The media doesn't have the tools or the motivation to tell the truth about what's going on. To really put it in the stark terms that it needs to be put in.
It's contributing to the denial - but some of the denial we do all on our own.
It's easier to actually think it's not as bad as it is.
And there's all the daily life stuff that needs to get done. And people don't have any idea what to actually do.
Yo if you need someone to tell you it's pretty bad, I'm here to help. I can do that.
It's pretty bad.
How's that?
Here's more. If things go the way of civil war, like in the Guns N’ Roses song mentioned above, it's more likely to be an insurgency than a split geography conflict like we saw in the 1800s.
It’s more likely to include distributed violence, threats of violence, aggressiveness, and attempts to take over pieces of government at every level.
We're pretty much right there already. People actively undermining elections, voting, and democracy have been seeking increased power over elections and voting at every level. Many states have passed laws that further suppress votes, and that facilitate the politicizing of vote processing and certification.
Hate crimes are seriously up. Legalized intolerance is happening and expanding in state after state.
Political threats and political violence have happened and continue.
Violence and threats influence politics by creating fear to keep people from pushing back.
I've been hearing stories from small towns where people are afraid to stand up for their values and rights because of bullies and dangerous people in those towns. Whether it's going to a rally, or advocating for schools or inclusion, or just being good humans… or whatever it is. This fear is underlined by the fact that people will show up at political events and stand around looking intimidating - sometimes armed, or while wearing shirts with aggressive wording. Or they drive oversized trucks by events; adorned with hostile bumper stickers, signs, or flags.
I fully expect that people are going to be standing around being intimidating outside polls during the election this fall with their emotional support firearms and aggressive, hostile signs and t-shirts.
I think we're going to see tension, violence, and threats of violence around the election like we've never seen.
I was afraid that was going to happen in 2020, but it's way more realistic and possible now. Not just because we've had an insurrection; but because Trumpism has metastasized into a whole movement. It's matured and spread; and it's backed by an enormous media machine in podcasts, on the radio, and on TV.
It will be years before the fever breaks.
It's delusional to think this radicalism is dissolving anytime soon. You can't de-radicalize people in a heartbeat, or because one guy might fall out of favour.
This radicalism won't just be tied to the election, either. It hasn't been so far.
It's hostility, aggression, threats, and straight-up violence in so many places. At schools. At libraries. At churches. At grocery stores.
I'm not writing this to make you afraid. I'm not writing this to increase overwhelm.
I'm writing this because we have to talk about it.
WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT.
We have to figure out what in the hell we're going to do about it.
We have to figure out how to counter fear.
We have to figure out how to champion vision and values and a future in a country where violence and threats and hostility are no longer the norm as they are now.
We have to champion a country where we actually fund schools and communities, where we choose to invest in humans, and where we clearly intend to build a country where way more people have a genuine shot at thriving and flourishing.
That's not what we're doing now.
Right now the push from Republicans is to dismantle.
The push is not to build, to educate, to innovate, to solve problems, and to be ready for an extremely challenging present and future.
But shouldn't it be? Yes, is my answer.
We're going to have to fight for it, and in very different ways than what we've been doing.
Expecting that politicians are going to solve this problem clearly isn’t working.
If we sit around and wait for politicians to fix this mess all on their own, we're going to be living in tyranny in 2 months; or in 2 months + 2 years after the 2024 election.
One thing you can do is to talk about it.
Have uncomfortable conversations. Talk through scenarios. Figure out what you will do, or need to keep doing.
Talking is critical in this.
Connection is critical in this.
One reason tyranny sets in is because people don't have the courage to step forward and do the awkward and uncomfortable.
So talk about this. Work through some scenarios. Figure out what you intend to do, and what you and your people intend to do - or to be open to doing. And maybe figure out where your lines are. How far are you willing to go in peaceful and nonviolent defense of this democracy?
We're going to have some reckonings. They're going to be way more than uncomfortable. I suspect we have some serious tragedy on the horizon.
Are you willing to face scary people so that you can vote?
That's going to be one of the most critical questions. It’s worth thinking through now, and talking about.
We've already seen people stand up to hate and intolerance and aggressiveness and fear and meanness. We've seen so much.
Yes, we are a country of violence. We always have been.
We are ALSO a country of nonviolent push-back and fierce advocacy for rights, freedoms, equity, and democracy.
How many millions of people have gotten us this far?
Are we going to build on that, or let it die?
Are we going to back the people getting attacked by the aggressiveness and violence and threats?
It's antisemitism. It's anti women. It's racist. It's anti-LGBTQ. It's anti-intellectual. It's anti-science. It's anti-public health. It's anti-collective good. It's anti-law-and-order. It's anti-constitutional. It's anti-society.
The social contract itself is what's at stake.
That's about civilization. It's about functional government.
We have to talk about it. We have to use the words.
We have to get better at saying these things. This is the moment.
We need to be able to understand what the stakes are… but more than that we need to be able to explain them to other people.
We need to get the people who are not up to speed on what's going on to understand why we all need them to help us hold this thing together. Why we need them to vote. Why we need them to help us collectively protect the most vulnerable. To protect those of us who would be hurt by government falling away and falling apart.
It's time. Words matter.
Words are part of what got us into this trouble. Words are part of what's going to help get us out.
Let's use them.
And be safe out there while you're going around being morally courageous. Listen to your gut. Trust your instincts. Don't let fear rule you, but don't let it cow you either.
It's a tricky dance. But we can't let the fear win.
We stand on the shoulders of giants. We stand on the shoulders of the vulnerable. We stand on the shoulders of the enslaved. We stand on the shoulders of the disrespected. We stand on the shoulders of veterans. We stand on the shoulders of factory workers who fought for safety.
We stand on the shoulders of everyone who came before us.
We can honor that by building on what they gave us, and making it better.
And so we will.
We don't need what they're selling. "We don't need their civil war." We don't need their violence. We don't need the meanness. We don't need the aggressiveness. We don't need the refusal to support a social contract, a government, or our constitution.
We can be so much better.
We need an intact society, and we need to grow and evolve it. That's what we need. So let's explain it, and then let's do it.
We totally can. And so we will.
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Be safe. Keep the faith - in good people, and in this democracy.
So much truth in your words, Vanessa. There is much to fear. But we are strong if we pull together. Some of us are fortunate to live in states that are far less likely to succumb to the dangers than others—although there are no guarantees about that. What can we do to bolster those who find themselves on the front lines already? How can we connect? How can we assist? My expectation is for things to start heating up after Labor Day—when campaigns begin in earnest. What can we do—now—to prepare? What do we need to do to prepare *ourselves*? There’s lots of uncertainty—things could go in so many different directions…it’s difficult to know what to expect. Right now I think the most important thing is that we acknowledge the challenges ahead, and as you suggest, make our plans for what we can do to address them.