Defending Our Institutions

A lesson on resisting tyranny

Personal Note: The painting reproduced above is by San Francisco artist Andrea Polland,. Titled “Awakening”, it depicts the awakening of one stone lion from a long slumber as passive guardian of the institution it’s been entrusted to protect. At this moment we are likewise being called upon to awaken, to protect and defend our threatened institutions. —JW

Feathers of Hope is a network of ordinary citizens who joined together around a shared commitment to diminishing the power and influence of MAGA extremists in the House of Representatives.

Since January, we have been urging moderate Republicans and Democrats to form a bipartisan majority voting bloc, thereby isolating and marginalizing the MAGA minority.

• Republicans have so far made a different choice. Rejecting the idea of a cross-party alliance, they recently voted unanimously to elect a MAGA-affiliated Speaker.

• We remain committed to defending the institution of the House of Representatives.

• We remain committed to diminishing the power and influence of MAGA extremists in the People’s House.

Note: This site can also be accessed by entering FeathersOfHope.net in your browser window.

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“It is institutions that help us preserve decency.”

—-Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny

In announcing his retirement from Congress on Tuesday, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) ridiculed what he called “hand-wringing” over the future of the institution of the House of Representatives:

“Those concerns are exaggerated. I’ve seen a lot of change over twenty years. I truly feel this institution is on the verge of the next great turn. Whether it’s 1974, 1994, or 2010, we’ve seen the House evolve over time. Evolutions are often lumpy and disjointed, but at each stage, new leaders emerge. There are many smart and capable members who remain, and others are on their way. I’m confident the House is in good hands.”

The previously little-known representative had his brief moment of fame as Speaker Pro Tempore of the House this past October, when Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was removed from the Speakership by his colleagues. Apparently, having three weeks of actual responsibility for something has left Mr. McHenry with no appetite for more. Nonetheless, he’s sanguine about the future of the People’s House, despite the growing number of early retirements among its members, and the ongoing threat of MAGA extremism.

Also supremely unconcerned about the future, and the potential of a second Trump presidency, is the Republican governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu.

While Mr. Sununu is known as a prominent critic of Donald Trump, he’s consistently refused to rule out voting for him. Specifically asked in a recent interview if he’d vote for Mr. Trump, he replied “I’m a Republican.” He predicted instead that the election won’t be between Trump and Biden. But clearly his answer implies that he would indeed vote for the Republican in any case.

The rationale for Mr. Sununu’s indifference is summarized by what he told Jane Coasten of the New York Times, according to her story in the October 2nd edition:

“Now, the way I try to define is this: A single individual is rarely, if ever, a threat to democracy in this country. Because we have a system of foundational institutions that really, for lack of a better term, are unwavering in a very good way. And the example I gave in that discussion was, we had a Civil War for goodness sakes. As tough and as horrific as that was, at the end of the Civil War, we didn’t have to change Congress or change the presidency.”

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Our political institutions are not impregnable.

Both Mr. McHenry and Mr. Sununu are flaunting their failure as elected “leaders” in our democratic Republic. It is their duty to protect our institutions, not the other way around.

As discussed in the second part of Our November 13 post, In Search of Moderate Republicans, Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny provides a remarkably practical guide to preserving our freedoms. In the second of twenty lessons the eminent historian draws from the rise of authoritarianism in early 20th century Europe (“Defend Institutions”), Mr. Snyder explains:

“The mistake is to assume that leaders who came to power through institutions cannot change or destroy those very institutions. Sometimes institutions are deprived of vitality and function, turned into a simulacrum of what they once were, so that they gird the new order rather than resisting it.”

Most readers interpret this as an imperative to defend our political institutions. Indeed, here at Feathers of Hope, we have taken on the challenge of protecting and defending the political institution of the House of Representatives from MAGA extremism. But that is only one aspect of the threat posed by incipient tyranny.

Equally important are our cultural and social institutions.

Twentieth century authoritarians consolidated their power by taking control of all aspects of society. In 1933, Nazis implemented what they called Gleichschaltung, roughly translated as “coordination”.

More accurately, Gleichschaltung was total control of all political, cultural and social organizations to insure that they would operate according to Nazi ideology and policy. These included not only obvious competing power bases like trade unions and the press, but also schools, libraries, sports clubs, choirs, museums, theater groups, and the like.

The lesson is that virtually every institution in society needs to be protected and defended.

Support our artists and musicians, our athletes, actors and poets, our teachers and doctors, our parks, neighborhoods and libraries. Resisting tyranny is not the exclusive domain of political activism. It is within reach of us all to strengthen the institutions that unite our democracy.