“Oh, that could never happen here.”
Friend… it’s already happening.

The Myth of American Immunity

One of America’s most dangerous illusions is the belief that we are somehow immune to the tides of history.
We imagine fascism, authoritarianism, and systemic collapse as things that happen over there, in places we pity or fear – not here, in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

But history isn’t picky about geography. Empires fall. Democracies rot from within. And the most chilling truth is this: almost every people who have lived through oppression once believed, It can’t happen here.

We’ve wrapped this myth in red, white, and blue, calling it American Exceptionalism. But exceptionalism doesn’t inoculate us against human nature — it makes us more vulnerable. Because when you believe you’re untouchable, you stop noticing the early warning signs.

The Authoritarian Playbook

Authoritarianism doesn’t arrive with goose-stepping soldiers and dramatic flags on day one. It seeps in. It tests the boundaries. It makes the unthinkable seem ordinary.

Here’s the playbook — one we’ve seen repeated across countries and centuries:

1. Manufacture chaos — Create fear, division, and distrust in the systems that hold a society together.
2. Vilify the “other” — Marginalized groups are painted as threats, enemies, or scapegoats so the masses will be too busy blaming victims to see what these evil leaders are doing.
3. Silence dissent — Journalists, activists, university workers, scientists, elected officials and critics are harassed, censored, accused of plots against the state, beaten/leveraged into submission or worse.
4. Declare an emergency — Real or imagined, the crisis justifies bending or breaking the rules.
5. Deploy force under the guise of safety — Military and police are framed as protectors against the “dangerous” other.
6. Rewrite the narrative — History is altered to fit the regime’s story, erasing uncomfortable truths.

If any of that feels familiar… it should. We are living somewhere between step four and step six.

The Church’s Historical Complicity

As someone who has spent decades in the church, I wish I could say faith communities were leading the resistance. But in America, too many churches have become amplifiers for authoritarian propaganda.

Bad theology paves the road for bad politics – a people group who no longer have “eyes to see or ears to hear,” Jesus called it. When you teach unquestioning obedience to authority, demonize dissent, and conflate God’s will with a political agenda, you create disciples who will cheer for oppression as long as it’s wrapped in their language of “order” and “morality,” you have groomed a people for authoritarian rule.

Jesus warned about wolves in sheep’s clothing, but we’ve been so busy looking for wolves out there that we missed the ones in our pulpits, Sunday Schools and charitable organizations.

The Cost of Silence

Silence is never neutral. It always benefits the oppressor.

It’s why they “flood the zone” with chaos – to get people to give up or shut up.

We don’t get to stand back and wait until it’s “bad enough” to speak — by the time it feels bad enough, the window for resistance has already closed.

History remembers those “alarmists” as those who warned too early, and those who warned too late as “cowards.” I’d rather live with the sting of being called dramatic than the shame of realizing I stayed quiet while the ground disappeared beneath us.

What Resistance Looks Like Now

It’s not all doom. Authoritarianism depends on apathy – which means that active, consistent, collective resistance is its kryptonite.

Resistance looks like:

• Protecting truthful journalism and supporting local reporters.
• Understanding our institutions have been degrading, but they are the only bulwark against a dictator. Let’s make them better, not destroy them.
• Refusing to allow hateful rhetoric and cruelty to be normalized. Speak against it in every conversation, every writing, in every way you can.
• Showing up for marginalized neighbors even when it costs you.
• Learning history deeply enough to recognize when it’s repeating.
• Building communities that care for one another so fear can’t take root.

You don’t need to be a full-time activist to make a difference. You just need to refuse to sleep through the alarms.

Blessing for the Watchful

To the ones with eyes open and hearts awake:
May your vision stay clear when others look away.
May you find courage in the small acts of defiance –
the spoken truth, the shared meal, the hand held in solidarity.

May you remember that resistance is holy work,
and that watching is not the same as waiting.
You are the threshold. You are the prophecy.
And the world still needs your voice.

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