Photo by Nancy Murr
There’s a 2020 book by Ruth Ben-Ghiat titled Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present that explores the disordered personalities of authoritarian leaders throughout modern history. She includes one such figure whom I will not name for fear of being deported from my own country and held behind bars halfway around the world. But I’m sure you know exactly who I mean.
We are meant to live in a democracy — one where we can study what we choose, write theses on subjects that inspire us, exercise our freedom of speech, and peacefully disagree with our leaders. That, after all, is what a democracy promises. But this ideal has begun to slip away under a leader who governs with the complicity of numerous appointed officials. Those who dissent are swiftly dismissed.
Personally, I cannot recall a time in my 80-plus years when our democracy felt so at risk, except perhaps during the televised Senate Permanent Subcommittee Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954. During those months, Senator Joseph McCarthy falsely and maliciously accused various officials of being communists. The hearings led to a senate resolution to censure McCarthy in December 1954, bringing an end to his damaging campaign of lies and smears. It was during those hearings that McCarthy was famously rebuked by the lawyer representing some of the accused who asked him, “Senator, have you no decency?” He did not.
Today, if you question the president, you risk losing your government job and the possibility harsh personal consequences — perhaps even having security services withdrawn, such as what happened to Dr. Anthony Fauci, who became a convenient scapegoat vilified and threatened by the far right. This kind of harassment ensures that no one in government feels free to express their own views or opinions, ultimately putting our democracy at risk.
I have been attending demonstrations against the president and his administration in my community’s downtown for months, which reliably draw significant crowds waving signs of disapproval with cars tooting their horns in a show of support. These gatherings have been going on since the inauguration and show no signs of stopping.
This is part of our present-day American history in the making — something future historians will write about, once doing so no longer puts their jobs in jeopardy. By then, I hope, foreign students won’t face the loss of scholarships or financial support, and colleges won’t fear losing government funding because of what their professors choose to teach or what their students choose to peacefully protest.
The future is full of unknowns. Might the president twist the rules and run for a third term in three more years? We shall have to wait and see.
In the meantime, I encourage you to dive into OLLI courses that help clarify this fraught moment or provide a much needed escape from it. Either way, I look forward to seeing you in class.
Dr. Hugh Winig is a retired psychiatrist, a longtime OLLI @Berkeley member and volunteer, and a regular contributor to the OLLI Blog.