Prologue

• Both fascism and communism were responses to globalization; to the real and perceived inequalities it created, and the apparent helplessness of the democracies in addressing them. Fascists rejected reason in the name of will, denying objective truth in favor of a glorious myth articulated by leaders who claimed to give voice to the people.

Chapter 1: Do not obey in advance.

Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it could do. 

• How big of a problem do you think anticipatory obedience is during the current administration? How can we prevent it?

Chapter 2: Defend institutions.

It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of “our institutions” unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about—a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union—and take its side.  

• “The mistake is to assume that rulers who came to power through institutions cannot change or destroy those very institutions—even when that is exactly what they have announced that they will do.” What’s an institution this current administration has targeted that you thought would be impossible to break?
• What’s one institution you will work to defend?

Chapter 3: Beware the one-party state.

The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local and state elections while you can. Consider running for office. 

• “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” What does this quote mean to you? 
• Does the history of tyranny apply to the United States? Certainly the early Americans who spoke of “eternal vigilance” would have thought so. The logic of the system they devised was to mitigate the consequences of our real imperfections, not to celebrate our imaginary perfection.
  • If our Founding Fathers understood the risks our democracy would face, how do we make Americans now understand them and act?
• Snyder writes about the need to fix the gerrymandered system so each citizen has one equal vote. He mentions the need for paper ballots and the removal of private funding for campaigns. What else can be done to protect our system of government and ensure checks and balances?

Chapter 4: Take responsibility for the face of the world.

The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so?

• How do we prevent ourselves from normalizing the abnormal when it comes to how our president and his administration are abusing their power or exhibiting unthinkable behavior?
• Snyder writes about how public signs of loyalty make resistance unthinkable. He mentions how the Nazis worked to implement a boycott of Jewish businesses? What’s a comparable scenario that’s happening today?

Chapter 5: Remember professional ethics.

When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor. 

• How do we hold people accountable who could claim that they’re currently “just following orders?” 
  • Video from members of Congress saying the military and members of the intelligence community can refuse illegal orders 

Chapter 6: Beware of paramilitaries.

When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching with torches and pictures of a leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come. 

• The SS began as an organization outside the law, became an organization that transcended the law, and ended up as an organization that undid the law. 
  • How do we prevent this from happening now?
• How did January 6th happen?

Chapter 7: Be reflective if you must be armed. 

If you carry a weapon in public service, may G-d bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no. 

• What was the responsibility of everyday Germans during the Holocaust?

Chapter 8: Stand out.

Someone has to. It is easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow. 

• Today what Churchill did seems normal, and right. But at the time he had to stand out.
  • Do you think if leaders today resisted and stood up to world powers like Churchill stood up and fought back against Germany, it would seem normal? Or would it stand out? 

Chapter 9: Be kind to our language.

Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books. 

• How should the media cover the current administration?
• What can we do to motivate people to swap out screens for books? 

Chapter 10: Believe in truth.

To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights. 

• Truth dies in four modes:
  • Open hostility to verifiable reality (presenting inventions and lies as if they were facts; e.g. The Big Lie) 
  • Shamanistic incantation (endless repetition to make fictional plausible) 
  • Magical thinking (open embrace of contradiction) 
  • Misplaced faith (“I alone can solve it”)

So, how do we restore truth? 

Chapter 11: Investigate.

Figure things out for yourself. Spend more time with long articles. Subsidize investigative journalism by subscribing to print media. Realize that some of what is on the internet is there to harm you. Learn about sites that investigate propaganda campaigns (some of which come from abroad). Take responsibility for what you communicate with others. 

• Generic cynicism makes us feel hip and alternative even as we slip along with our fellow citizens into a morass of indifference.
• We find it natural that we pay for a plumber or a mechanic, but demand our news for free…Why then should we form our political judgment on the basis of zero investment? We get what we pay for. 
• Since in the age of the internet we are all publishers, each of us bears some private responsibility for the public’s sense of truth. 

What are your thoughts on these excerpts from the chapter? 

Chapter 12: Make eye contact and small talk.

This is not just polite. It is part of being a citizen and a responsible member of society. It is also a way to stay in touch with your surroundings, break down social barriers, and understand whom you should and should not trust. If we enter a culture of denunciation, you will want to know the psychological landscape of your daily life. 

• People who were living in fear of repression remembered how their neighbors treated them. A smile, a handshake, or a word of greeting—banal gestures in a normal situation—took on great significance. When friends, colleagues, and acquaintances looked away or crossed the street to avoid contact, fear grew….In the most dangerous of times, those who escape and survive generally know people whom they can trust. 

           So, what steps are we each going to take to transform this climate of division into one

of compassion? 

Chapter 13: Practice corporeal politics.

Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them. 

• For resistance to succeed, two boundaries must be crossed. First, ideas about change must engage people of various backgrounds who do not agree about everything. Second, people must find themselves in places that are not their homes, and among groups who were not previously their friends.
  • How can we effectively engage people who don’t agree with us? 

Chapter 14: Establish a private life.

Nastier rulers will use what they know about you to push you around. Scrub your computer of malware on a regular basis. Remember that email is skywriting. Consider using alternative forms of the internet, or simply using it less. Have personal exchanges in person. For the same reason, resolve any legal trouble. Tyrants seek the hook on which to hang you. Try not to have hooks. 

• Totalitarianism removes the difference between private and public not just to make individuals unfree, but also to draw the whole society away from normal politics towards conspiracy theories. 
• When we take an active interest in matters of doubtful relevance at moments that are chosen by tyrants, oligarchs and spooks, we participate in the demolition of our own political order.To be sure, we might feel that we are doing nothing more than going along with everyone else. This is true—it is what [Hannah] Arendt described as the devolution of a society into a “mob.”We can try to solve this problem individually, by securing our own computers; we can also try to solve it collectively, by supporting, for example, organizations that are concerned with human rights.
  • What stories and topics should people be caring about right now but aren’t? How do we force a shift in priorities? 

Chapter 15: Contribute to good causes.

Be active in organizations, political or not, that express your own view of life. Pick a charity or two and set up autopay. Then you will have made a free choice that supports civil society and helps others to do good. 

• One element of freedom is the choice of associates, and one defense of freedom is the activity of groups to sustain their members. 
• The capacity for trust and learning can make life seem less chaotic and mysterious, and democratic politics more plausible and attractive. 

Chapter 16: Learn from peers in other countries.

Keep up your friendships abroad, or make new friends in other countries. The present difficulties in the United States are an element of a larger trend. And no country is going to find a solution by itself. Make sure you and your family have passports. 

• What lessons about defending democracy have you learned from other countries?

Chapter 17: Listen for dangerous words.

Be alert to the use of the words extremism and terrorism. Be alive to the fatal notions of emergency and exception. Be angry about the treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary. 

• What are the real threats we’re facing right now, versus the threats we’re being told exist?

Chapter 18: Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. 

Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order to consolidate power. The sudden disaster that requires the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of opposition parties, the suspension of freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Do not fall for it.

• For tyrants, the lessons of the Reichstag fire is that one moment of shock enables an eternity of submission. For us, the lesson is that our natural fear and grief must not enable the destruction of our institutions.
  • How do we combat the false narrative of “betrayal by internal enemies?” 

Chapter 19: Be a patriot.

Set a good example of what America means for the generations to come. They will need it. 

• How would you define what it means to be a patriot?

Chapter 20: Be as courageous as you can.

• What steps are you ready to take to protect our democracy? 

Epilogue:

• What can we do to make other Americans recognize the importance of studying history? How do we make these lessons more accessible?