From the Ground Up...

The worst people are in charge. We need to build something better from the ground up.

Photo by Nicole Green on Unsplash

Here’s a word for you: kakistocracy. It means government by the worst people, and it’s the answer to damn near everything that’s wrong with the United States right now.

• Murdering citizens in the streets and lying about it despite the video evidence—that’s kakistocracy.

• Threatening to seize the territory of an ally—only possible in a kakistocracy.

• Delaying renewable energy projects to death when there’s a surge in electricity demand and rising consumer prices—a spiteful kakistocracy.

• A President so on the take that he’s pocketed $4 billion since taking office while his wife nets $28 million for an infomercial posing as a documentary—quintessential kakistocracy.

It feels like we’ve tumbled through the looking glass and are living in a
Dadaesque piece of performance art. The difference, of course, is that this is the real world, and if the regime hasn’t yet come for you or your family, your friends or your community, your most cherished institutions or policy areas, know that they will. Know that destruction of the good and noble, the altruistic and kind, the functional and rules-based, is what they’re after. As Adam Serwer famously wrote, “the cruelty is the point.”

So what are we to do? For those who are willing and able, following the example from Minneapolis and peacefully taking to the streets when ICE and CBP come to your city is the play. When faced with lawless brownshirts who glory in violence, overwhelming nonviolence is the answer.

But it’s only a partial solution. Not everyone wants, can, or needs to take to the streets.

The US Federal Government, for all its size and scale, cannot terrify everyone in the country at once—at least physically. Their ability to spy on us digitally and create a surveillance state, especially with the help of their all-too-eager friends in Big Tech, is another story…But from a physical perspective, the ICE goons are limited in where they can go.

That leaves most of us in a liminal state. We know that our society is being reoriented by the worst of us, and want to do something to push back, but aren’t sure what, or how.

So here’s a simple recommendation: build community with those around you.

Join a gardening club. Volunteer with the PTA. Discover a new hobby. Or if you’re like me, do God’s work and decide to coach a group of eight and nine year olds who will be playing kid-pitch baseball for the first time. Encourage your neighbors and friends to get involved in something—anything that builds community.

Get outside your house.

Engage with people in the real world. Meet your neighbors.

Laugh. Share a beer. Umpire a little league game.

Cheer like hell when Jimmy finally makes contact after seven games. Forget about the brownshirts, and build the community you want, the community we need. It’s the only thing that can get us pointed in the right direction again.