Normalcy In A Time Of Terror

 Imagine having to worry that masked thugs could come to your home, your work place, your car and just drag you off in handcuffs, put you on a plane to prison, and possibly ship you to another country's prison.  

A growing number of people in the United States don't have to imagine this.  They're living it.  And it will get worse now that the US Congress approved 

". . . more than $160 billion that are going to immigration enforcement and the deportation operation. So when you break it down, that means $46.5 billion to building the rest of the border wall, $45 billion to immigration detention centers, nearly $30 billion to hiring and training ICE staff, and $3.3 billion to immigration court judges and attorneys." (from Laura Barron Lopez NPR)

But there are different amounts cited by different outlets:

The annual budget of Immigration and Customs Enforcement alone will spike from about $8 billion to roughly $28 billion, making it the highest funded law enforcement agency in the federal government.  (NYTimes July 13, 2025 - paywalled)

Since those numbers are way beyond what most people can comprehend, here are some comparisons:

• Senate appropriators tack on $22 billion to defense spending bill for $853 billion topline   
• USA Facts says the Department of Education spent $268B in 2024 and was 4% of the Federal budget
• While most of Social Security’s benefits are funded by the payroll taxes collected from today’s workers, the program has also accumulated $2.8 trillion in trust fund reserves over the past four decades.[3] During that period, Social Security’s income exceeded its costs, and the program invested the surplus in interest-bearing Treasury securities. Over the next nine years, those reserves will make up the difference between Social Security’s income and costs.

But don't trust these numbers too much.  It's hard to find consistent numbers online, and I don't really know how much of the money goes to contractors, particularly contractors who make significant campaign contributions.  Consider those just vague comparisons. 

If Donald Trump and the Republican Party in general have their way, they will use their government power to go after any and all who oppose them.  They've already begun.  All the people who were fired from the US government for example.  

The integrity of our institutions is disintegrating quickly (think about the Congressional and US Supreme Court roles in checking the power of the president), and our elections (See Texas remapping its election districts to eliminate five Democratic seats).  [Do I really need to put in links on the Supreme Court and the Congress?  Okay - here and here.]

Acting Normally

Meanwhile, most people in the US are going about their business as if things were normal.  They  assume that the worst violations of human rights will not affect them personally.  And for the time being they are probably right.  

But the government's shadow is getting closer.  Universities are being forced to pay protection money to Trump.   Media outlets that criticize Trump are being attacked.  Ask Stephen Colbert.  

But we do have to go about our lives.  Yesterday I went to the post office and mailed a package to my son for his birthday.  I dropped off some books at the library and looked at the new books section.  

People go to work.  They buy groceries, clean their houses, mow their lawns.  Walk their dogs, go to their kids' soccer games.  

In Nazi Germany people kept their lives as normal as possible under very abnormal circumstances.  But nearly every German family was impacted.  Hitler Youth sucked up most of the genetically suitable kids, included girls:

"The League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel [BDM]) was the female section of the Hitler Youth, its role was to indoctrinate girls into the beliefs and ideals of the Nazi regime.  The BDM focused on developing girls into women who were dedicated to Nazism, dutiful housewives, and whose role within in society was to become a mother. Girls were to grow-up with an unquestioning understanding of the intended role of women in the Third Reich. BDM members were required to have German parents, be in good health, and conform to Nazi racial ideals."  [From a British Holocaust Museum.]

Check out Victor Klemperer's book, I Will Bear Witness.  There are two volumes of his journal during the Nazi period and WW II.  (The link takes you to the Internet Archive where you can read Volume I online.) Of Jewish ancestry, but a Protestant since his family had converted when he was a child, and married to a gentile, this WW I veteran and university professor felt save.  

But as we go about our daily lives, we must also pay attention to what is happening and find ways to prepare and to resist.  All authoritarian regimes want you to obey.  To comply before they even tell you to.  The more that people resist, the harder the regime has to work.  The people protesting ICE raids across the country make a huge difference, especially people filming ICE agents acting like the Gestapo and breaking car windows and beating people up.  Sharing the video clips online helps people understand.  

For those, like myself, who are not darker skinned and whose citizenship is based on being born in the US to US citizens, we may be safe for now, unless we have a job that seeks to figure out truths - whether it's climate science, US history, female anatomy and health care, reporting the news, or even using social media to spread truths.  

All those camps the Immigration Mafia are building.  What do you think will happen to them once the first wave of immigrants have been shipped off to authoritarian regimes to be forgotten?  The next level of enemies of the state will fill them if Trump (and his evil advisor Stephen Miller) gets his way.  

I advise everyone who may be 'safe' now to start finding ways to resist.  

I've been taking letters every Monday to the downtown offices of my three US legislators offering them information and my thoughts about pending legislation.  The picture shows a day when the door was locked and people left their letters under the door at Senator Sullivan's office.

I've gone to demonstrations.  

I've attended forums where issues and legislation have been discussed. 

And I've donated money to organizations I think are most effectively fighting back.  

Sometimes I wonder if these things make a difference.  But I know they do.  Minimally they signal to other resisters that there is opposition they can join.  Even if my legislators don't do as I want, I know that their staffers are reading the letters and learning something.  

My one body protesting won't change the world. But hundreds of bodies in Anchorage, thousands in Alaska, and millions in the US will make a difference. Remember, Trump is obsessed by crowd size.  

I'm retired so I have more time than most.  But everyone can find ways to slow down the erosion of democracy, stick their fingers in the holes of the dam holding back fascism.  

Right now I'm thinking through two things:

1. How do we find the most effective actions to take within our time constraints and abilities?  I'll try to post those ideas when I thing through them.  At this point I can see three basic goals:
1. Gum up the works, slow down the destruction - law suits against all illegal actions helps here and ordinary people can help this by financially supporting those organizations on the forefront of suing the regime.  It doesn't have to be a lot.  But it has to be a lot of people giving $5 regularly.  Organizations like the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP, and attorneys like Marc Elias.  These folks were well prepared for the Trump regime and have been winning suits against the government.
2. Inspiring others to vote, to get politically active, to get folks stirred up.  Large rallies that get lots of publicity help.  But I'd like to see rally organizers do more than get people out.  They need to sign them up and get them committed to regular action.  
3. Getting those who didn't vote to vote.  The Environmental Voter Project identifies people with an environmental interests, but who don't vote.  Then they train volunteers to call them and get them to vote.  Their self reported evaluations suggest they are quite effective.  
2. Developing a score card for a person's activism.  It's easy to burn out on going to rallies and writing letters or post cards to legislators and voters.  I'd like to develop a weekly (monthly?) check sheet where people can check off things they've done.  I have a target of how many km I want to bike this summer and knowing I'm adding kliks gets me out more often and going further.  Apple watches get people to walk 10,000 steps. Something similar for activists would help inspire people to be regularly active.  

When I get this better thought out I'll post it.   

For now, everyone should try out some forms of resistance as often as possible.  Start with, maybe two kinds of action repeated once or twice  a week.  Some actions that are reasonably comfortable, and then slowly increasing the number of actions each week.  And then start stretching your comfort zone.  Below are some links to get you thinking about what you can do that fits your time constraints.

• Here's Ten Ways You Can Resist Now
• Don't Just Do Nothing. Here Are 20 Things You Can Do To Counter Fascism
• How to Legally Fight Fascism in Your Community
• Fighting Fascism in Italy
• 40 Ways to Fight Fascists:  Street Legal Tactics For Community Activists

I'd note that keeping one's life as normal as possible is good for everyone's mental health.  Do fun things when you can, but also resist when you can.      

Stay Alive In 2025

1.  Happy New Year seems inappropriate as we enter 2025.  Yes, enter, like we are going into a different space.  Where the traditional rules of engagement are ignored by the incoming president of the united states.  The rest of us can no longer depend on the rules to protect us.  And by taking the high road and simply following the rules, we will be buried.  

We're still in this place where people are going about their lives almost normally, when in 20 days we get a broken human as our new president and he's surrounded by similarly afflicted people.  That normality is going to change.  Rapidly for some, more slowly for others.  The unhoused have been living in that world already.  LGBTQ+ and immigrants and people of color have also been feeling it, and it will quickly get worse.  

The rest of us have to help protect them, because it's the right thing to do.  But for those who need a more personal reason, well, eventually it will be you with a target on your back.  

There are times when following the rules can get you killed.  Like packing your suitcase and quietly following the directions of the Nazis to get on the train.  Times where acts of resistance and sabotage are the morally correct actions.  It's time to reread Saul Alinsky. 

"In his theory of means and ends, Alinsky puts across a question, which states whether the ends justify the means. According to the theory, the ends entail what individuals want, or goal, while means entail the activities of how to get what they want or to achieve the goal. In his discussion, Alinsky thought that the morality of actions did not require to be judged in itself, but rather be weighed against the morality of inaction. In the chapter on the means and ends, Alinsky stated that the issue of means and ends is usually viewed in a strategic and pragmatic manner by the man of action. In his arguments, he pointed out that the man of action only gets to ask of ends when they can be achieved and of means whether they will work for his plans."

Morally balancing ends and means is not a simple task and many have and will do it poorly.  Start with actions whose ends are not major violations to practice before taking more consequential actions.  Remember, many of our incoming President's supporters are rabid supporters of their interpretation of the Second Amendment, and they have and intend to use their guns. 

Examine your values.  List them. Prioritize them.  Know which ones are most important.  Then use your values to actively guide your actions.  

2.  Small But Vocal

United Against Book Bans offers an important lesson:

A small but vocal group is driving the current flood of book bans in school and public libraries across the country.

 Every resistance group, almost by definition, comes from a very small group that is dedicated to their cause.  We don't all have to fight every battle.  We each need to focus on one or two issues (while also supporting people fighting other battles as we can).  Here's United Against Book Bans tools:

"It's important to counter those voices by uniting in support of the freedom to read in your local community. How can you and your community unite against book bans? We've put together this action toolkit to help you get started.

Are you part of an organization? You can find additional resources to amplify and support the Unite Against Book Bans campaign in the UABB Toolkit PDF.

Talking Points

Contact Decision Makers

Contact Media

Grassroots Organizing

Social Media Tools

Branded Materials"

3.  Focus 

We took the grandkids to Cirque du Soleil yesterday. (An example of how we are still living what seems like a normal life.) All the performers break the rules of what normal people can do.  This woman, wrapped in a long red cloth found ways to seemingly defy gravity.  They are able to do these amazing feats by focusing on their skills, building the appropriate body and mind muscles, and then, during their acts, focusing on perfection.  

I challenge my readers to keep this image in mind as you focus on keeping our democracy alive.  

4.  My New Years Resolution 

My resolution is to perform at least one act of resistance every day of 2025.  I realize 'resistance' seems to be 'against' and I want to also include acts of affirmation, of strengthening democracy, but haven't figured out the right word yet.  

This can be as basic as speaking up to racists, misogynists, homophobes. You don't have to save the world each day.  Just plugging a hole in the dyke is resistance.  in Reading Alinsky's books and other books that give you tools for your spirit and for action.  Reading the United Against Book Banning group's Tool Kit to take action and applying them to your most cherished causes is a first step.  Go to all the links in this post and read.  Those are acts of resistance and building your resources.  Find other good resources and prescriptions for action and leave them in the comments.