Lesson 2: Defend Institutions
When I was a kid, I thought institutions
were ever-present, indestructible, and run by responsible adults who knew what
they were doing. Turns out, it's just a bunch of people. Everything is fragile,
and anything can happen.
When Trump won the presidency, a
common refrain was that "they" weren't going to let him break too
much. The "they" here meant the smart people Trump would surround
himself with (ha!), the other branches of government, whatever. Fortunately,
some of those "they" (notably the judicial branch) are doing a great
job, but it is only because "we" are supporting "they."
I'm trying to be a part of this defense
of our best institutions in my small way. I'm also realizing how much
institutions can be eaten from the inside out. The so-called
"Alt-Right," a group of internet troll white supremacists and
woman-haters, have made their way into these institutions, so that we now have
to defend our home against these deadly insects. It's not as if these guys are
super-smart masterminds; they're just a group of assholes. But here they are,
and now we have to deal with them, else they'll just have their way.
This is what I mean by
"just a bunch of people." There's nothing magical about the
institutions themselves.
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