This piece centers around a single question, and the very existence of this question is completely dependent on a stark reality that I just don’t think is avoidable at this point. The stark reality of our future that I see is that the forces of authoritarianism that are not only sweeping through the United States, but through the world in general, have developed so much inertia and momentum, that I don’t think we will be able to stop them for many years. We will not be able to stop their temporary success in dominating our society.
This is one of the core realities of human activity; the inner longing for freedom, liberty, diversity, equity and inclusion is set against the lust for power that continually tries to stifle these drives. Each dominates for years, but then must give way to other forces; the cyclical nature of the universe as a whole demands it. Believe me, I am well aware of how unfortunate this prospect is, and I am sorry that it is not a happy tale to tell. That being said, we must also remember that we have the power to decide whether various cycles that affect our lives are long or short.
I see the cycle in which freedom and liberty became an increasingly dominant doctrine in human cultures throughout the world as beginning with the Age of Enlightenment, from the late 17th century, until our current predicament today. That’s several hundred years of liberal progress in human thought and culture. Along side this progress has been the constant specter of authoritarian and totalitarian thought. Within the long cycle of progress there have been, and continue to be, much shorter cycles of the growth and domination of these authoritarian value sets.
One could argue, I suppose, that our current cycle is actually much shorter: that it began, in the United States anyway, in the post World War Two years and lasted through the Obama Administration. In my opinion, this period represents a sub-cycle. This seventy year span propelled both the civil rights movement and the rapid expansion of human consciousness regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. At the center of this liberal thought is that all people, genders, races, creeds, religious affiliations, sexual orientations, etcetera, need not be bound by the rigid, traditional roles and values which had previously dominated society.
I think that such an interpretation misses the mark. The great social movements of the second half of the 20th century into the early 21st century drew their ideas, inspiration, and a great deal of the momentum they enjoyed for several decades, from the philosophy of the Enlightenment. This was, after all, the age of thought that provided the ideas of personal freedom, liberty, and responsibility necessary for the genesis of the United States and other republics that function on the democratic process. The United States proved to be the first functioning modern representative democracy, and it owes its very existence to the school of thought that sought to change the status of the individual from “subject” to “citizen.”
However, we have to consider the proposition that the long cycle of progress, born of the Age of Enlightenment and Reason may be coming to an end — or, at least a serious and lengthy period of disruption. That is the stark reality, as I see it, that forms the basis of the required question, and I will proceed through the rest of this brief essay is if this new, grim reality is inevitable.
I consider it inevitable because, as an American, I witness the cowardice of elected republican representatives on a daily basis. They, more than any other group of people in America, have the power to stop this march toward the authoritarian abyss dead in its tracks right now, but they refuse. This can only mean two things: first, they are all in, on a personal level, with the rise of authoritarianism in this country, or second, they are, to a person, pathetic cowards.
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Now, the question:
In a world in which we no longer enjoy the protections of our Constitution, and in which the interpretation by the courts, at the instructions of the regime, of both constitutional and statutory law that should provide the same protections for everyone have been weaponized to serve the regime, how do we navigate three things: shortening the current authoritarian cycle as much as possible, daily life, and effective resistance?
These three essential goals of the individual living under authoritarian regimes cannot be separated from one another. The fact of the matter is that living one’s daily life under the authoritarian regime’s radar while offering resistance in small ways is the best and most assured way of shortening the authoritarian cycle.
How, then do we achieve each of these goals, especially that of sending the authoritarian regime to an early grave? This may be the most difficult question any American can be asked to answer, because we have enjoyed life in an open society that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion for so long, that the very prospect of living in a closed, paranoid, whites only driven society is completely foreign to our collective psyche.
The answer is different for every person. Some will take a public, and openly hostile attitude to every authoritarian act the state may take to stifle freedom and liberty. The rest, aside from collaborators, will take more subtle approaches, and these will look different for every person. At this writing, I am still trying to formulate what such subtle resistance would look like. I can assure you of one thing, though, the central application of effective resistance will be contained in binary code.
This is not 1940 to 1945 Europe, this is 2025 (and beyond) America. The game is electronic, not physical. The forces of authoritarianism will use the threat of physical violence to try to extinguish the flame that burns in the right hand of the Statue of Liberty, and in each of us as well, but it will not happen. The flame may have to be hidden for a while, but the longer it remains hidden, the brighter it will burn when it is once again revealed in all of its glory. In that moment, it will burn so brightly that it will consume and destroy the motivators and collaborators of the defunct authoritarian regime.
This is the only inevitability of the cycle in which we may soon find ourselves.
© 2025
C. A. Hollrah