Fatalism and despair are objectively pro-fascist

Michelle Goldberg’s column reminds me of Orwell’s observation, published on the eve of Hitler’s invasion of Poland, that “we have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men [and women].”

Speaking of which:

Before we can fight authoritarianism, we have to fight fatalism. My great hope for 2024 is that anti-Trump Americans can transcend exhaustion, burnout and self-protective pessimism to mobilize once again for the latest most important election of our lifetimes. It’s perfectly understandable that many people galvanized by abhorrence of Trump would step back once his immediate threat to the Republic receded. The obsession with politics that took over the country during his administration was neither sustainable nor healthy. But if you don’t want an even uglier and more despairing replay of those years, the time to act is now.

One place to start is with donations to grass-roots organizations working on voter turnout, which are desperately underfunded. (The Movement Voter Project has a clickable map with links to such groups all over the country.) You can also get involved with the campaigns to put referendums protecting abortion rights on the ballot in states like Arizona and Florida, efforts that could both undo cruel abortion bans and drive voter turnout.

It’s going to be especially important next year to give people reasons to vote beyond the presidential election. I didn’t want Biden to run again and wish there had been a competitive Democratic primary, but it’s too late for a serious challenge now. Faced with an unenthusiastic electorate, Democrats will need down-ballot candidates who can motivate people to go the polls. Few are doing more to bring exciting new candidates into the political process than Run for Something, which recruits and trains young progressives to run for office.

“As we look to our strategy for ’24, we want to make sure especially that we’re prioritizing resources for local candidates whose races can have an impact at the top of the ticket,” said Amanda Litman, Run for Something’s co-founder. Young voters, she said, “are not particularly psyched about Joe Biden right now. But thanks to years of education and each of these special elections, they deeply understand the need to show up locally.”

Here’s hoping she’s right. Next year is going to be hard. It’s up to all of us whether it’s going to be disastrous.

The psychological attractions of fatalism, and its close cousin despair, is that they cater to our bottomless laziness and inertia. This is what makes doom junkies of so many people on the left, broadly defined: if the situation is so dire as to be practically hopeless, then why not check out that new Netflix series, instead of trying to do anything about it?

It’s difficult to be both clear-eyed about what Trump represents, and what his initial rise and evident political resurrection tell us about America, and to maintain the sufficient will to fight for the future of a country that has already sunk to our current level of political and cultural degradation.

But consider the alternative.