What if we fail to effect positive change with our ballots? There are two possibilities, and both are ugly. Either we resign ourselves to watching freedom in the USA die, or we fight back with means that are neither peaceful nor legal. States may secede (queue jokes about how well that worked out last time), while resistance movements are inevitable, as are acts of sabotage and terror.
Many of us support multiple progressive causes, such as reproductive rights, marriage equality, maintaining the separation of church and state, and protecting access to the ballot box for all qualified voters. We could easily become targets of discrimination and persecution. We must never think that it couldn’t happen here. How many people would have scoffed at claims that the Nazis would set up systematic extermination of Jews and other “undesirables” before Hitler came to power?
We need to prepare for the worst. I know that I sound like a scaremonger, but just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that nobody is out to get you. History provides plenty of examples when people should have taken precautions and thought about what to do if governments became hostile to those of their particular creed, color, lifestyle, national origin or political view.
For the sake of simplicity, I will use the term “Progressives” to mean any and all people who are likely to be targeted by a dictatorial right-wing regime that gains power in the U.S. This includes liberals, Democrats, left-wingers, greens, et cetera. This includes people of numerous creeds, colors, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds, who are at various places on various political spectra.
Some suggest that Progressives should self-exile to other countries. Canada is a popular hypothetical destination, since it shares a very long border with the USA and English is one of the two official languages. However, emigrating to Canada is not as simple as packing up your lares and penates and driving across the Ambassador Bridge. You’ll need a good reason to move there, as well as the proper Visa. Also, you need to have a job lined up in the Great White North well before you drive across the border.
Mexico is another possibility, if your Spanish is up to snuff. New Zealand and Australia are appealing; the problem is they are so far away. Some European countries may welcome American immigrants, but unless you wind up in Great Britain you’ll have to learn a new language. No matter where you go, though, you had better have a marketable skill or many a door will be slammed in your face.
Some suggest “heading for the hills.” The problem here is, where do you go? Country people tend to be right-wing, so unless you have property out in the boondocks, or kith or kin with a large farm or ranch in the middle of nowhere, or if your wilderness survival skills are really keen, you probably want to forget this one.
This leaves “stay and fight.” If Progressives are to survive an oppressive government, they need to remember there is safety in numbers. Progressives need to have places where many of them can gather and stay together. We’ll probably have to set up an Underground Railroad style system to funnel people to safe places, and make accommodations for those with small children and/or pets, as well as for those with mobility issues.
Progressives will definitely have to resist, and such resistance will not be pretty. Mohandas Gandhi and Rev. Dr. King succeeded with nonviolence because they were up against systems that had decency at heart. A fascist regime never has any decency at heart, just stomping the masses into submission. Also, you can bet your bottom dollar the Powers That Be will attempt to infiltrate resistance movements.
The 2022 general election could be our last chance to save democracy in the United States. We need to muster the Progressive vote, which means getting people registered, double-checking our registration, helping people get to the polls, and in the meantime fighting against any and all forms of voter suppression, including gerrymandering, limiting polling place hours, forbidding the distribution of water and snacks to people waiting to vote, and squelching mail-in balloting.
Time to gird our loins.
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