Dr. Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755 on lots o’ platforms) Profile picture
Award-winning historian,Yale. Early US politics/violence; A.Ham ✏️The Field of Blood: Violence in Congress & the Road to Civil War

Sep 23, 2020, 5 tweets

1/ In 2020, we learned that some people don't understand what democracy is; don't know that it takes work; don't know that it's fallible; don't accept that the USA can fall; don't know what they lose when democracy falls; & don't know how hard it will be to get it back.

2/ And preventing people from teaching & learning how we've had to fight for democracy; the people & events that attacked it; the people who fought for it vs immense opposition; & the failures in our democratic system from the outset is NOT the way to protect & sustain democracy.

3/ But....people in power know that.

4/ Authoritarian power grabs are about using threats & bullying to intimidate people into compliance or silence. ("I don't know if I'll allow a peaceful transfer of power.")

They're about convincing people to neglect, ignore, or disbelieve in their fundamental rights.

5/ Authoritarian power grabs are about preventing broad swaths of people -- the majority -- from coming together as a "we" who can confirm their rights w/each other and DEMAND them.

They're about fooling people into accepting what they're given.

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