One of the most important ideas in Timothy Snyder's warnings about tyranny is "don't 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 can do.
I found a chilling example of this in today's Times. From this A Pile of Rubble headline you'd never guess that the president has trashed a wing of the people's house not only without permissions and precautions but without even admitting he was doing so. He said his vanity ballroom would leave the existing structure untouched. Oops.
The formulation Critics are enraged (as critics always are) while Others say it was time for a change is what anticipatory obedience looks like. It frames a crime against history and tradition as fodder for "X was right about everything."
But there's even more anticipatory caving to abuse of power in the ratification of his crime. Just a day ago his $300 million ballroom, for which no formal plans have been publicized, let alone reviewed or approved, was a "$250 million ballroom" and just last week it was a "$200 million ballroom." This Makeover will be a temple to bribery!
