Not too long ago, bleary-eyed, I scanned the PT one last time before heading off to start my bedtime ritual. There was a comment that said “The US is a lost cause at this point. Hard to see it any other way.”

My first thought was probably a consequence of ‘mod-instinct’- I thought ‘gee, that’s region-bashing’. Writing off an entire country for..reasons seemed a bit much. An estimated 340 million people live in America. Wikipedia says the total area of the US is 3,796,742 square miles. That’s a lot of writing off! And then, instinctively, I thought ‘People are not their governments.’ Because it’s true everywhere, not just in countries that we may not know as much about. How can we possibly shrug our shoulders in resignation at people in Seattle, in Miami, in Dallas, in Billings, in San Diego, in New Haven, in Sioux City..The realities we face in America vary so regionally, as they do in many places-the way that you talk, the way you eat, the way you move through public spaces, the expectations you might have for your life- all of these things are dictated by where we live, and in America, the complexity of this reality is something that is difficult to convey, even to ourselves. We often forget about it. But when I see region-bashing that is about America writ large, I find myself more confused than anything. Of course, that person in Iowa City is an American just like that person in Boston, but condemning everyone in the same way made me reflexively defensive. How can the entirety of America be a lost cause, in all its complexity, in all its diversity, in the fascinating variations of our lives here? 

It’s not. America is not a lost cause. Because if it is, we have to tell the hundreds, the thousands, the millions, perhaps, of people who, whether by virtue of their very existence, their deliberate acts of resistance, or their dedication to the vulnerable, that they should give up. Don’t write postcards, don’t teach/mentor, don’t work, don’t volunteer, don’t donate your time or resources, don’t organize, don’t bother. Don’t dream of, and/or work towards a better America. And why should we do that? What compelling reason would we have? The other guys? Because things seem difficult? 

Here’s the thing. Until we are all free, none of us are free. And a lot of us, here in America, are not free. We have a government and no shortage of people who revel in the possibility of harming those who are not like them, who they feel have slighted them, who cannot wait to wield unearned authority against the most vulnerable for their own benefit. They would erase our history, devalue our diversity, cast compassion as weakness, and bombard us with threats in hopes that we agree with that post- that we say ‘why should we bother? The cause is lost.’ 

But the cost of that, my friends, is so high. And we needn’t pay it, I don’t think. Our gorgeous array of people from all over the world, here to make a go of it, their ambition in the heartbeats of generations past and yet to come, we shouldn’t part with them. Those who are born here, who represent the wildest dreams of their ancestors, the first in their families to go to college, to own homes, to live without constant fear of state violence. Those who stand beside them, and in front of them if they can, are WORTH something. You know how we know that?

Over to ‘Andor’. Yep, the Star Wars show. See, there was a manifesto of sorts that came out in bits and pieces during the first season of that show. Bear with me- yes, it is a television show, but these bits of political commentary are salient. There is a quote that says: “The Imperial (the bad guys, for those unfamiliar) need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.” 

And so, if we write off the great project of this country, if we start to internalize ‘fuck this dumb country’, we’re reaching in our pockets, and we’re paying with the very people that make America absolutely fucking worth fighting for. Those that would control women’s bodies, would erase Black history, would demonize trans people, alienate the neurodivergent- it is a kind of desperation, a push against a tide of progress that they cannot abide. They seek to oppress because they’re afraid- they have no agenda but fear and assimilation, and I imagine that their appetite for all of these things will never waver, because ‘tyranny requires constant effort’. 

But we should not cede the worst of what they want to pass simply because we cannot imagine a better future. If facism holds that the enemy is both incredibly weak and impossibly strong, we must leave that contradiction to the fascists, and resist the instinct to characterize them in the same way. We shouldn’t justify our anxiety or our cynicism by declaring our cause to be lost.

Wrest yourself from the fear they want you to feel, from the anxiety wrought by a malignant press that only sees access and favor where they should see truth and accountability. Do not let them defeat you with words, with threats, with hatred. Choose to arm yourself with facts, with your rights, with the solidarity you find here and among friends and allies. 

Here in the PT, we’re in a pretty great position to be able to sniff out the specious from the relevant. We know why, for example, the election turned out the way that it did, a tragic combination of misogynoir, voter apathy, and voter disenfranchisement (if they didn’t care about you voting, they wouldn’t try so hard to take it from you). 

There was a story last week that upset me. I said as much, and someone replied, skeptical of why something as simple as a tweet should cause panic. Instinctively, I accused them of minimizing my distress, but their response is something I’m truly grateful for. They compassionately said that their intent wasn’t to trivialize my concern, but instead to try to immediately figure out how to fight back; and the groupthink began. I relay this because it’s such a great example of the help we can be to each other here, the way that we can make decisions about what we read and see beyond clickbait headlines and half-truths designed for maximum doom on social media. 

Fight back. I have been so inspired and delighted by all of the efforts PTers have shared- writing postcards, calling elected leaders, going to protests. WE ARE WORTH FIGHTING FOR. If you go to protest, when you are there, with your sign, with your chants, you are there for someone who can’t be there, you are there for someone who should be there and isn’t, you are there for someone who isn’t there yet but may be beside you in the future, linking arms, shouting, resisting. You MUST believe this. You must. And for those that cannot march-if your chance comes, take it. 

Another quote from ‘Andor’: “Remember that the frontier of (the) Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empires’s authority and then there will be one too many.” 

Speak up, if you can. Show up, if you can. It may seem small. You may see the next awful thing the US government is attempting to do, and think ‘this is it’, but it is not. It’s not. Think ‘ok, what’s our move?’. That move can be supporting a drag brunch, speaking up on behalf of your local library, donating to a women’s shelter. That’s still a move. That’s still believing that America is better than those who seek control at the expense of all else. Thank you to all who understand that rebellion takes time, is messy, has coalitions that may have overlapping but not necessarily identical priorities, but is stronger together than apart. The risk is worth it.

Also..region bashing is against the rules here. So there’s that. 

Lastly, here is John Lithgow giving us (in 10 or so minutes) some lessons on tyranny. The first one is ‘Do not obey in advance’. Do NOT let these clowns win because they won’t retreat in their moment of triumph (or at least in what triumph looks like to them). Don’t let them set the terms of their (desired) victory.