I see statements all the time that we are now living in a "dictatorship." Sometimes, when friends of mine make statements like that, I speedily provide them with a kind of "shame on you" message, since saying that we are currently living in a dictatorship comes across, to me, as a kind of stipulation to a "possibility" (not yet a "reality") that we should be resisting, full-force. Once we agree that we're already there, our problems become much greater.
Where's our Charlie Chaplin (shown above), to make fun of the pretensions of our current president? The picture above shows Chaplin in "The Great Dictator," one of his best-remembered films, and at this stage in our national life some Chaplinesque humor could be a real weapon, helping to prevent something that is, truly, a possible danger, but that has not yet become a fully-accomplished fact.
Our current president's "I, alone, can fix it" claims, as well as the prolific "Presidential Proclamations" he issues, rather willy-nilly, not to mention his decisions to send out the U.S. military to kill various people in small boats - and maybe in Minneapolis - do demonstrate a rather strong predisposition to dictatorship. I have referenced, of course, only a very small and "partial list" of the various dictatorial actions and orders of our current president and his appointed followers. Given where we are, and as we see where this seems to be going, our job is not to proclaim that the "dictatorship" has arrived, but to do everything we possibly can to resist, and to prevent it from ever arriving.
Thinking about "dictatorship" made me recall my years on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. I served for twenty years, and (as illustrated below) I routinely employed "dictation" to permit me to exercise the powers of my office, "dictating" various letters, memos, and other documents. I think it's true that the picture below might well have been a picture of me during those years (except that I didn't then have grey hair). If you were to consult the Chief Administrator of the Board's office, who also "took dictation," as did other employees, I think she would verify that I was, quite probably, the biggest "dictator" in County Government.
Here's what I know from my time as someone who was, perhaps, the "Chief Dictator" of Santa Cruz County government. The "Dictator" only has power - "agency," to use a word in contemporary parlance - when those to whom such a person "dictates," will then actually do what the "dictator" has said what the dictator wants done. I never issued any orders to violate the law, but if I had, no one would have obeyed. When I wanted something to happen, I had to get at least two other members of the Board of Supervisors to agree - to follow the process set out in the law, in other words.
At the national level, there are many laws, not to mention the Constitution, that our current president is ignoring. He is dictating away, issuing orders, and a lot of the time, people are doing what he says, despite the fact that his orders demand things that would violate the law. We, as citizens, need to be clear that this kind of conduct is wrong, and impermissible. Many are doing just that. Let's encourage everyone to refuse to follow the dictated commands of anyone who is seeking to have people violate the law or the Constitution. In fact, let's start with our elected representatives in Congress who seem to be doing what they're told - or saying nothing effective, and doing nothing effective, to oppose improper or illegal orders.
Active, nonviolent resistance to illegitimate dictation is the proper course of action in our present moment. And that kind of active, nonviolent resistance should be our response, right now. Let's not tell ourselves that a "dictatorship" has already arrived. Instead, let's make sure it never does - and we do that by refusing to undertake, and by actively and nonviolently resisting, illegitimate and illegal actions ordered by our current president, and by anyone else who is telling us that we should conform and obey any illegal or illegitimate order.
Image Credits:
(1) - https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/oct/18/chaplin-great-dictator-comedy
(2) - https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/professor-of-business-history-at-johns-hopkins-university-news-photo/588673922
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