Indifference Is Surrender And We Will Never Surrender

"We forward in this generation triumphantly. Won't you help to sing these songs of freedom?" -Robert Nesta Marley

Thanks to Don Trump’s big win last Tuesday, people we love are scared, in tears, and uncertain about the future. We are zapped and zombied, gut-punched, and feeling like a spectator as life marches on.

“Everyone who realizes with proper alarm that this is a deeply dangerous moment in American life must think hard about where we are,” writes David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker since 1998 and author of seven books. He adds, “Indifference is a form of surrender.”

Furthermore, Remnick warns, “One of the perils of life under authoritarian rule is that the leader seeks to drain people of their strength. A defeatism takes hold. There is an urge to pull back from civic life.”

I am inclined to agree with Remnick’s analysis. Indifference is poison and surrender is impossible. At the same time, We the People have serious grievances and the temptation to look the other way. To walk away altogether is also a gnawing ache for some Americans of good faith today.

“Uncle Scam,” acrylic on stretched canvas by David Burn

As we face the facts, we realize that those entrusted with administering the law in this nation failed to get Trump in jail or sentenced to a seaside mansion arrest. Instead, Democratic candidates and spokespersons told us it was on us to do this work for the American people. We the People had to show up and vote him into oblivion. It was our duty. Not the Democratically-run Justice Department’s duty. Because the long arm of the law isn’t that long. Not today. The law certainly can’t touch billionaires, no matter their crimes or repeated harm to society.

As I “think hard about where we are,” I am easily enraged at the injustice of it all. For instance, there is a threat to democracy, and it’s not at all new, it’s built into our capitalist structures. This nation has always been a place where people are divided by class, by race, by gender, by religion, by education, by age, and by country of origin.

The exploitation of working people has always been the way that some powerful men get rich in America. And these men know that getting workers to fight over scraps in a culture of fear and mistrust, allows them some much-needed protection from an uprising. Historians well understand this, and some well-known historians are reminding us today how the nation has been here before, and how we have overcome the threats to democracy and decency then, and thus, we can again.

I studied history in school and continue to do so now. There are some extraordinary new factors in play today that present a completely new challenge. We’ve never had to contend with THE INTERNET before. Now misinformation and disinformation is part of the daily diet for millions of people. Now, there’s no truth unless it falls from the Dick Tater’s lips.

It seems that American oligarchs are no different than any other oligarchs. They want total power and, in many cases, they have it now. One tech billionaire from California groomed the future VP for office. Another billionaire who routinely chats with Putin bought himself $150M of influence and will reportedly now—grab a barf bag—manage “austerity measures” for the second Trump administration.

Other billionaires inside and outside of the tech sector took part in orchestrating the election’s outcome. It’s a good investment for them. In an environment devoid of government regulation, these firms can make dangerous products, and exploit labor and the environment, all while skirting taxes. In other words, the payoff on their electoral investments can be quite large.

How does it feel to be under the thumb of American oligarchs? Does it feel disempowering? Like we’ve been had? Douglas Rushkoff, one of America’s great thinkers, suggests the problem is system-wide.

When you realize that new systems must be constructed, we can opt to build them in the spirit of cooperation or control. Which path we ultimately choose is a measure of how much we believe in and love each other. We can believe in humanity’s potential and learn to cooperate and share or we can deny humanity’s potential and go dark.

Trump is a convenient clown and Distractor in Chief, but the professional autocrats at The Heritage Foundation aren’t joking. Project 2025 is their dark blueprint and now this blueprint will be on the President’s desk every day. I’m not sure he can read it or do much with it, but the least incompetent around him will do much of the heavy lifting.

Did you know that last summer a Trump aide “joked” about eliminating the 19^TH AMENDMENT? That’s right, taking women’s bodily autonomy away is only the beginning. They also want to silence women by removing their vote. American dystopia isn’t speculative, it’s active now in all Southern states, where women are dying because their doctors fear jail time if anything they do or recommend results in an aborted fetus.

 It's daunting to consider what is here now and what might be coming our way. Social Security and Obamacare are in serious jeopardy. Overseas wars are being fought with American money and weapons. Come January, Putin will have his man in the White House again. And goods and services are generally way too expensive today.

Weighing all the factors could freak a person out. Let’s not go there. In this time of struggle and danger, let’s make it a priority to love and support the people who make up our world. The people right in front of us. Our family. Our friends and neighbors. We can learn to rely on one another, like we did before the Internet got in the way. We can also learn to fire weapons in self-defense. Learn to hunt, fish, and garden. Learn to value and read books again. Learn to make art and speak a new language.

Even in the face of American tyranny, we can hold on to joy. We can dance and make music. Swim in the ocean. Climb a mountain. Whatever works to keep you healthy and strong. Find the others and embrace your people.

While we’re doing all of the above, we will also be wise to recognize that a fundamentalist regime will threaten our freedom and stability, economically and otherwise. For example, now that Trump is on his way back to the White House, a military draft might one day return. A draft and large-scale war would require bodies from Republican-voting households, Democratic-voting households, and non-voting households.

Whatever the headlines and apologists say on TV, Trump and his cronies see the American people as fools. There’s much chatter today about how the Democratic Party abandoned the working class. Point taken, but where is the talk about the Republican party never having had the working person’s back in the first place? I’m not hearing it from the complicit media at all.

Let’s do ourselves a favor, and never overlook how exploitation of labor is at the root of American history. Calling in private or federal troops to quell labor unrest is quintessential American history. Lynching, cross burning, and brutal beatings to enforce the racial code is American history.

Our history has also proven lethal for far too many freedom fighters. President Kennedy and his brother Bobby, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, four students at Kent State, and John Lennon—all murdered by a gun in these never-united states. Abortion doctors, crime-beat reporters, beautiful children at school, people dancing at a club——all murdered by a gun in these never-united states.

We the People know what oligarchy looks like and we know what corruption looks like. We also know a death cult when we see one. We may not yet know exactly how to fight it and rid the nation of threats from fanatical anti-freedom forces, but we will learn quickly. Progress depends on it and on our ability to keep the faith and keep love alive.

Deep bow of gratitude for being here now,

When you are ready to grow a mission-based organization, spark a social change movement, or invest in an arts or culture project, let me know. I’m confident that we can benefit from each other’s experience and points of view, and introduce each other to new people and ideas.