Don't Give Up, Step Up

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen the argument that the United States today is well on the way to a horrid totalitarian regime which will oppress us for decades to come. Some compare our current situation with Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

I strongly disagree with this assessment. Sadly, it serves to increase our sense of fear and hopelessness. But instead, I say that we need the resolve and optimism to get through these difficult times, rather than recoil with fear, depression, or despondency.

There are many significant differences between the United States in the world today and the situation in Europe 90 years ago. The United States is not under the oppression of a treaty imposed on it by the rest of the world, as Germany was after World War I.1 This is one of the most important factors, in that it destroyed the entire economy of Germany and humiliated its people under the treaty’s “War Guilt Clause.” This essentially backed the entire nation into a corner, out of which it came fighting back, starting World War II. Remember, the most dangerous people are often those who have nothing left to lose.

The United States is in an entirely different position. We suffer from no such oppression. Indeed, if anything, we have amassed immense power in the world since the fall of the Soviet Union, our only true adversary in the decades since the end of World War II.2

Our population and culture are much more diverse than that of Germany back then. We now have over a third of a billion people, with countless different cultural backgrounds. Our country covers almost an entire continent and has multiple climates.

World communication media are much more decentralized and network based by now, compared to the hierarchy of radio and movie film in the 1930s. Now, we carry powerful computers and communication devices around in our pockets! We have tools to organize ourselves that weren’t even imagined back then.

I could go on and give much more detail, but I don’t want to take the time to do so here. All I ask is that you please think about the radical differences between now and then.

My point is that a descent into a totalitarian morass is definitely not inevitable! As scary as the current administration in Washington may appear to be, it is vulnerable to its own ineptitude as well as to the power of the states, the cities, and various citizen groups, now working together more and more.

As I said above, we need to recognize our true power and resolve, not just to fight back but to work diligently to build a new culture of generosity and collaboration to replace the rapacious and divisive one we are struggling with now. I firmly believe that we can do this if we set our minds to it and recognize the progress we’re already making toward this goal

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