Protest

Today’s protest and march was organized by Refuse Fascism.

It started on the other side of the Washington Monument from April 5th’s Hands Off protest and then marched down 15th to Constitution around the White House.

It was peaceful and well attended — not huge, but enough folks to fill Constitution from 15th to 17th; I think that’s thousands.

I appreciated that march up Constitution Avenue; if our elected officials actually honored the oath that they took to the Constitution, we’d start to see things getting better.

Sadly, we’re not seeing that yet.

And a bit alarmingly, there were some posts this morning warning that there could be violence which would likely be met by a large law enforcement reaction.

There is a real concern that the administration is looking for an excuse to really clamp down much harder of our free speech and right to assemble.

Sarah got me reading Heather Cox Richardson and Heather got me reading Timothy Snyder

Timothy today posted a reminder of how that scenario has played out over time and reminded his readers of Lesson 18 of his book On Tyranny:

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.