You’re either against authoritarianism or you’re not. There’s no negotiating with it. There’s no accepting it here and rejecting it there. There are no half measures. The moment you start sacrificing innocent peoples is the moment you lose it all.
History is littered with cultures that play games with rights. Playing both sides, picking and choosing. And those cultures look up one day and see authoritarianism sweeping in like a plague. It’s a predictable cycle. And we must, must, must do better.
It’s not okay to sacrifice anyone. Red States. Houseless communities. Gay and trans people. Palestinians. Any number of people in marginalized nations or anywhere. Either you want to lift up everyone or you’re flirting with authoritarian energies. That’s it. Period.
The basis for American life has been a privileged existence in which you don’t have to think of the people and cultures that have to suffer to create that privilege. It’s accepting one tinpot dictator after another, one atrocity after another you can ignore. That’s over.
We either get serious about democracy and human dignity or we plunge into full blown, unconcealed authoritarianism.
That’s the choice. And we’ll have to live with it for the rest of our lives and many, many generations to come.
That’s the choice. And we’ll have to live with it for the rest of our lives and many, many generations to come.
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