hey friends –

I’m strongly recommending you read “ON TYRANNY: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century” by Timothy Snyder. He is a Professor of History at Yale University, a member of the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and hold a permanent position with the Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna, Austria.

It’s a quick read with a lot to absorb and ponder, especially given our current circumstances and leadership. In fact, it is deeply striking and concerning the similarities between our current situation and actions by leadership to that of authoritarianism in Germany, the Soviet Union, and others in the distant and not so distant past. For many of us, this has been apparent for some time, but reading it so starkly…well.

Our representative democracy is not a forgone conclusion. It is kept healthy and alive only insofar our populace is engaged and willing to participate.

We cannot say there have not been signs, that there have not been warnings.

A rise in authoritarianism power depends on us not caring or getting involved.

#VOTE and get involved. Hope is alive in the words and actions of those who care and are willing to get involved.

~j

#SitDownRiseUp #BeEngaged #tyranny #authoritarianism #democracy #EngagedBuddhism #JinpaLhaga

#OnTyranny

#ontyrannytwentylessonsfromthetwentiethcentury

#ontyrannybytimothysnyder