It is strange to be commemorating those who lost their lives opposing tyranny as the nation veers increasingly into autocracy. I have been thinking a lot recently about Romania, having lived there for three years and visited many times before and since then. It is the country with a recent history of dictatorship in which I have spent the most time. Of course, it is easy to forget that other places I have lived, such as Ireland and England, and most places in the world, have a history of autocratic rule. Efforts at genuine democracy are the exception, historically.
For those of us wrestling with how to make sense of the present moment and respond to it, we need to consider those instances when a society had democracy and moved away from it. Countries that are now democracies were almost without exception once ruled by a monarch or similar figure. What is most interesting is when and how a society has moved in the other direction.
Socrates
It is no surprise that a democracy should veer towards tyranny. Plato wrote about this in The Republic millennia ago. Tyranny, Plato depicted Socrates as saying, was the worst form of government, with democracy being the second worst. He also indicated that democracy would eventually lead to tyranny. Placing decisions in the hands of everyone merely creates frustration since humans do not agree. The differences of opinion are bound to be great among a populace without expertise in all the areas that a government needs to oversee and navigate. Frustration increases as it becomes hard to get things done. When a strong man appears and says that he will do what needs to be done if given power, he will find enough support to seize power.
The present moment in the history of the United States shows that he was not incorrect in his analysis.
Star Wars
Andor’s story of the early days of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, referred to by imperial authorities as the Rebel Alliance, picks up the thread that begins with Padme’s comment when Chancellor Palpatine declares his plan to transform the Republic into the first galactic empire. She says, “So this is how liberty dies…with thunderous applause.” In Andor, this thread is continued, with senator Mon Mothma courageously declaring Palpatine the heart of the problem, but also indicating that a dictator does not exist in a vacuum. Ultimately, if no one recognizes a person’s authority, however unwillingly, then that person is not a dictator. What Mon Mothma identifies as central to the widespread support of Palpatine is the willingness of the populace as a whole and most senators to accept spin and propaganda. In her speech she says, “Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous. The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil.” Fictional stories about people heroically opposing tyranny can help us think about the important issues of our time.
Romania
Romania is the country that I know best where a democracy became a dictatorship. The key thing to note is that it did not appear that that was what was happening at the time. They went from being a constitutional monarchy to a republic. That would have seemed to many the right direction, a move towards freedom. It was not an overnight move from there to the repressive dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu. In this lies the cautionary warning from Romanian history for the United States today. No one should take comfort by saying that Donald Trump is not a Ceaușescu or a Hitler. Tyranny doesn’t always start as such. It creeps along in steps until turning back is difficult. It is never impossible–that too is something to remember. Romania had a bloody revolution in 1989. By that point, there may have been no other way to bring about the end of the dictatorship. It is important to look back with hindsight and notice moments when other paths could have been followed. Opposing tyranny when it already has power is much more difficult than preventing a nation from reaching that point.
The wisdom in the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” is not an encouragement to start, but an encouragement to intervene. Stopping someone from reaching a point a thousand miles away is best done when they are just leaving, rather than by taking your own arduous journey to attempt to catch up with them later. Opposing tyranny is best done when the first small steps are taken in that direction. They already have, but if the best time to act was then, now is still much better than later.
Takeaways
What gives me hope for the present is that there are widespread outcries and strong pushback from people all over the United States. We are not currently a place where a senator, if they call out the troubling trends in society, will then need to quickly flee into exile.
We are right now at one of those moments when, if the nation continues down the road of dismantling democracy in its historic form, future generations will look back and ask what could have been done differently. On this Memorial Day, as we remember those who gave their lives fighting for what they believed in, I don’t call on anyone to kill anyone else. Those are not my values as a follower of Jesus. I do think, however, that there is a need to be willing to suffer whatever consequences follow from our actions. We need to speak out in complaint about illegal and immoral acts by the present administration (or anyone else, for that matter). But we must also act, or on occasion refuse to act, in resistance against the harm being done to others by a government that is supposed to represent us, and to follow and defend a constitution that safeguards our rights.
Those who think that the present administration is only attacking criminals and foreigners are missing the point. The only way you can show you have a right to be here, the only way you can show that you are not a criminal, is if your right to due process is safeguarded. That is what is under attack. Do not dishonor those who died fighting while opposing tyranny elsewhere, by supporting tyranny here.
Related
Brief History of Romania: From Ancient Tribes to Communist Dictators
Elsewhere, Kristin Du Mez calls us all to be as courageous as we can be. She also shared a conversation with Neal Rickner specifically for Memorial Day.
Vance Morgan marked the occasion by asking whether our experiment with democracy is failing.
A democracy…if you can keep it
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