Many of us would have never expected our government to descend to an authoritarian mindset, but here we are. A United States defined by leaders who have no respect for our laws, our freedoms, nor for elections and the very foundations of our democratic processes. They are ready to fight tooth and nail to cater solely to themselves, with clear disregard to the very people who elected them and call for accountability. So, where did this start?
In modern history, most authoritarian governments have not lost their democratic principles due to coups nor due to revolts and such, but thanks to a particular leader elected into office. For example, a notable case is Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi), which gained massive support in Germany in 1932 following an economic crisis and instability. The party, including Hitler himself, capitalized on these issues to deliver a message of strength, law and order, not driven by the sanctity of law but by scapegoating others for the populace’s complications. While Hitler was not elected, and his own party did not win an outright majority in the 1932 German federal elections, the pressure of his cronies was enough for President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint him to the puissant position. Internal pressure by radical conservatives pushed the President to mutually believe that they could control the man and lead the government to a more stable form, which, of course, never actually occurred. Quite the opposite happened in reality, with the nation promptly morphing into a dictatorship following the passage of the Enabling Act which eliminated the need for the Parliament and allowed Hitler to enact full control over the government solely in his hands.
Another more recent example is Venezuela under Hugo Chavez, after he won democratically in 1999. Running on a socialist campaign, he bridged the lower and middle class together in the fight against the wealthy and government. Once elected, he passed popular social welfare programs while stripping checks and balances and appointing the government and his advisors with members of his own party. By 2004, the majority turned against him but it was already too late. I could go on and on – Turkey and Erdogan, Russia and Vladimir Putin, Hungary and Orban, and Lukashenko in Belarus. The pattern is consistent – candidates running against a supposed enemy promised widespread change and reform, ensued by either subtle or rapid transformations of government institutions which allowed them to control and centralize power for themselves and their allies for as long as possible.
I do not mean to exaggerate, but there are deeply concerning parallels between what happened in countries such as Germany and Venezuela, and what is currently unfolding in the United States. It has been the Trump Administration’s mission to radically reform the government, even if it encroaches on constitutional rights and liberties. President Donald Trump has long speculated and wished that he could eliminate the 14th Amendment, a right of citizenship to virtually very human being born within our country’s borders. However, Trump sees that as a potential burden to his widespread immigration crackdowns, as well as conflicting with his often racist views of other cultures. So for the President, stripping everyday Americans of their rights to fulfill a radical ideology is worth violating not only our enumerated rights, but the Constitution, historic legal and political precedent, and our human decency.
When victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex ring demand that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi apologize for the heinous and exploitative actions of the sex offender, Bondi refused to turn around and look them in the eye and have the moral propriety to apologize to them. No, and rather she continued to defend Trump’s actions in regard to the files, despite the numerous proven allegations that Donald Trump was aware that Jeffrey Epstein was profiting from sexually abusing, harassing and raping his victims, mainly young women under the age of eighteen. The angst many of us feel towards this sheer willful ignorance and lack of compassion is incomprehensible, but just take a moment and think about the many victims and family members impacted by Epstein and his associates.
Today, the Trump administration has repealed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) right to control, oversee and monitor climate change, because according to the administration, climate change is not the result of ozone nor carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Meanwhile, the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming and climate change are real. And out of everyone that the President and his team may have snubbed the most is the future generation they so claim to protect, as they will be the ones, including us, who have to deal with the impacts of stronger storms, intense floods, scorching heat and unbearable cold. And if we so wish to expand the sizes of our families, have children, and embrace the family construct universally as a society, ignoring an issue that is so omnipresent is both ignorant and outright halfwitted. A recent Lancet study found that a slight majority of young Americans are hesitant to have their first child because they are uncertain about the existential crisis of our climate. The issue of climate change needs to be addressed, and whether one wishes to have children or not, we will all move forward in our lives living in a world that is increasingly on edge with nature itself. That is not the future we should be looking forward to, and the Trump administration’s complicity to addressing that issue to further entrench themselves in the fossil fuels lobbying funds is abhorrent.
Under the Trump administrations, a country with a working and middle class already crumbling has continued to deteriorate. Furthermore, our institutions are under attack in an unprecedented number of ways, as our constitutional rights are being subject to moral and political debate by those in power. We the people have to remember one thing – keep those in power in check. The power of a vote is so, so pivotal in controlling our outcomes, as we can see in the present moment. This is not about scoring political points, nor catering towards partisan interests, but rather protecting the lives and freedoms of our future children and grandchildren. Whether we want to or not, we are all in this together, and it should be a non-partisan priority to transform our system in a way that works for everyone, not just the few, and most importantly protects the rights we have been given. Without what defines us as American citizens, we cannot truly be a nation.
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