• This piece represents my thoughts.  I realize that many NoVES members do not agree with my assessment and they are most welcome to do so.  We are not a credal religion and my views do not need to be your views.

  I look at the political landscape in America today and I think we are far down the path toward an authoritarian political system, farther than I was previously willing to admit.   All of the menu items in the Authoritarian Playbook are manifest and I fear that the worst is yet to come.

  I look at the list of steps toward authoritarianism and I can tick off all of the items.  Here they are:

•       Politicizing independent institutions
•      Spreading disinformation
•      Aggrandizing executive power, weakening checks and balances
•      Quashing criticism or dissent
•      Scapegoating vulnerable communities
•     Corrupting elections
•      Stoking violence

The government and courts have been stacked with right wing adherents.  Disinformation is rife to the point that truth has been reduced to competing opinions.  Executive power expands daily, continuously reinforced by the Supreme Court, and there is little effective opposition in Congress. 

Freedom of speech is under assault.  In American Democracy, freedom of belief and speech are guaranteed by the Constitution’s First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Yet President Trump has signed a National Security Directive which expands federal power to “disrupt” individuals or groups which “foment political violence,” including “before they result in violent political acts.”   Trump plans to use law enforcement and the IRS to target NGO’s, funders, and other groups, that supposedly incite violence by espousing “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”

This National Security Directive runs counter to the First Amendment, at every level.  Trumps egregious behavior would bring down any other President.

He is now free to label anyone as a terrorist.  You can now be prosecuted for what you believe, organizations that you belong to, who you love.  Trump’s National Security Directive allows law enforcement to detain anyone they choose under a vague, all-encompassing list of criteria. 

Extreme actions have been launched based on false declarations of emergency.  Destroying a successful economy with tariffs undertaken in the name of National Security.  Gutting federal agencies under the guise of Efficiency.  False accusations that cities are violent “hellscapes”, put forth to send National Guard Troops to cities that are actually safe, with levels of violent crime lower than it has been in decades.  This is all about intimidation and setting the stage for future repression.

Universities are under assault.  Financially, through withholding of grants, and politically, through insisting that Universities eliminate programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.  Many Universities are complying only to find an ever-increasing list of demands.  Others are engaging in preemptive compliance hoping to avoid the President’s wrath.

Pretexts are found or created to persecute political enemies.

It is typical of Trump to accuse others of doing what he is in the process of doing, such as weaponizing the Justice Department.  Trump has directed the Department of Justice to prosecute his perceived “enemies”.

Prosecutors were changed to find one politically zealous enough to indite former FBI Director James Comey.  Letitia James, who successfully prosecuted Trump for fraud, is being investigated, as is former FBI Director Christopher Wray.  Opposition politicians are also on his “list”.

Trump continues to encourage persecution of Trans people.  This further devastates a group already mistreated by society.  By attacking members of the most marginalized, most vulnerable community, he sets the stage for scapegoating others.

Violent rhetoric by Trump is common place.  He has unleashed ICE on minorities claiming a disproven association between immigrants and crime.

The President is encouraging states to gerrymander congressional districts to maintain a Republican majority in Congress in the mid-term elections.  I fear that some pretext will be created to postpone or cancel future elections.

I do not believe that the path to authoritarianism can be stopped.  American Democracy has been compromised.  I must deal with where we are and where we are going.

People are being doxed for expressing their views.  People are being fired.  I fear that arrests for speaking out against the regime are coming soon.

I am scared and intimidated by what is happening.  I cannot let intimidation stop me from speaking out and doing what I believe is right.  My silence will not keep me safe.

I need to acknowledge my fears yet see that I am not actually, personally under threat.  I must use my privilege to reach out and support those who are under threat and have faced personal consequences from the Trump administration.

My humanist values of the worth and dignity of everyone stand in contrast to how the Trump administration is treating trans persons, immigrants, minorities, and government workers.

I must protest.  I must contribute.  I must help organize.  I must resist.  I must do what I can in small ways to help make a difference.

I do not know the way forward.  I must work with others to find a way to support my values through actions.  I encourage you to do the same.