Opinion: DC’s Dissent into Dystopia Didn’t Start with Trump 

et’s face it.  DC is becoming more and more dystopian by the minute.  Just like the frog in the pot of water that’s slowly coming to a boil, we District of Columbia residents are likely to get used to it.   In truth, the water’s been simmering for a long time, well before Trump took control of the stovetop.  Things are getting hotter though.  The question is will we survive or get out of the pot in the nick of time?

Dystopia:  A society where life is miserable, oppressive and dehumanizing.  Characteristics include a suppression of dissent, constant surveillance, arbitrary arrests and detention, environmental collapse, extreme inequality, etc.

Dystopias persist not only because we don’t realize we’re in them—’that’s happening to them, not to me’—but also because they’re not bad for everyone.  For a small few, dystopia is the foundation for their own personal utopias.  Those who benefit, even if only temporarily, will do whatever is necessary to keep them going.   Those not oblivious to the suffering, who also have enough time and resources, may choose to fight as allies alongside those clearly targeted by the regime in power.   Most will find ways to physically and/or emotionally insulate themselves.  Some will simply relocate to happier climates.  

So where does that leave the rest of us—the targeted, the soon to be targeted, the complicit?  In 1971, the revolutionary George Jackson made this strongly worded suggestion: 

“Settle your quarrels. Understand that fascism is already here, that people are already dying who could be saved, generations more will live poor butchered half-lives if we fail to act.”  

We’ve been dying and living poor butchered half lives for generations.  Sometimes it’s more of us, sometimes it’s less.  

What’s true for everyone is the need for security, shared resources, and the ability to cooperate on complex problems.  This is why societies come together.  Here on Turtle Island, most commonly known as the United States, we humans formed a representative democracy as the basis of our society.  We rely on elected officials to create and enforce laws that respect our rights and dignity, to use our tax dollars to meet our collective needs, and to achieve things that we couldn’t possibly achieve as individuals.