Status Updates From Tyranie: 20 lekcí z 20. sto...

Professional ethics must guide us precisely when we are told that the situation is exceptional (no “just following orders). In Nazi Germany if lawyers had followed the norm of no execution w/o trial, if doctors had refused to do surgery w/o consent, if bureaucrats had refused to handle paperwork involving murder, then it would have been much harder for the regime to carry out the atrocities it’s remembered for.

REMEMBER PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers or hold a show trial without judges (these professionals can provide a checking force). Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor.

In the politics of the everyday, our words & gestures (or absence) count. These minor choices are a kind of vote. A greengrocer that posts the communist “Workers of the World, unite!” sign in his window doesn’t actually endorse the content, he does it to avoid hassle from authorities. When everyone else follows the same logic, the public sphere is covered with signs of loyalty & resistance becomes unthinkable.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FACE OF THE WORLD.
The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.

Brief. To-the-point. Adapted for a — then (2017) — contemporary view on the politics of Donald J. Trump in the United States of America. Hardly incorrect, yet also boasting only limited new insights. It works well as a collection of aspects to strengthen ad-hoc recall when moments require specific behavior or attention. As an in-depth context invariable work exceeding democratic essentials, it merely suffices.

We believe that we have checks & balances, but have rarely faced a situation like the present: when the less popular of the two parties suppresses voting, claims fraud when it loses elections, and controls the majority of statehouses. The party that exercises such control purposes few policies that are popular and several that are unpopular- and thus must either fear democracy or weaken it.

BEWARE THE ONE-PARTY STATE
The [dangerous] parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local and state elections while you can. Consider running for office.

A leading newspaper for German Jews published this editorial on 2/2/1933:
“We do not subscribe to the view that Mr. Hitler & his friends…will implement the proposals circulating in (Nazi newspapers); they will not suddenly deprive German Jews of their constitutional rights, nor enclose them in ghettos… because a number of crucial factors hold powers in check…”

DEFEND INSTITUTIONS
It is institutions that help preserve decency; they need our help as well. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So chose an institution you care about (a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union) & take its side.

Anti-communist propaganda with some helpful historical facts and commentary regarding fascism in the US.