Facist America

While I don’t have the credibility or knowledge like these professors, one thing I’ve learned in America is that the individual voice does not matter. Never has a singular voice, other than a president, had much authority to spark widespread change. But what does have power is the collective. 

BLM protests. American Civil Rights Movement. The Labor Movement. Historically in America, the collective has always trumped the individual, acquiring the influence to fight back against the government and sparking change for fellow Americans. 

The decision for the Yale professor’s to move out of America due to foresight of a fascist America is not one of fear, as they say, but of hearing: by creating the headline “We Study Fascism, and We’re Leaving the U.S.,” they catalyze dialogue that America might be turning fascist. And for their message to be in the New York Times, their message inherently gains a national audience. However, while radical action stimulates debate, using their authority and credibility for collective action is more effective than fleeing the country. 

In every argument they provide in seeking refuge in Canada, a hopefulness for others to step up and lead is in the background. They seek to “set up centers of resistance in places of relative safety.” This allows them, in the case of a grave emergency to make Americans “organized,” using their position away from power to organize and lead. However, why can’t they organize in America?

Their fleeting echoes symbolize a procrastination to change, the antithesis to what they want to achieve. By leaving the U.S., they relinquish all credibility and platform that is under their voice and prolong a new America for future victims to be threatened and future leaders to take charge. More and more people are being threatened by the Trump administration, increasing the volatility of the country and in turn, increasing the possibility for protests to emerge. The professors see this eventual result as the time for change, selfishly choosing to save themselves until America is liberated. 

Contradictions are further scattered throughout their story as they cite that democratic institutions like the courts, media, and universities need to stay moral for a country to be saved. By leaving the country for moral decisions, they subconsciously assert that they are moral; leaving the university, taking out “morally correct” people would just make the country more susceptible to Trump’s facism. 

If every person who cares about democracy leaves the US, there is no possibility of fighting for democracy, the constitution, or the basic freedoms that America ensures. The professors, despite having the most credibility and authority, choose to make America more vulnerable to weakness and facism.