Monday, 12/1/25, I went to the Indiana Statehouse to stand in solidarity with fellow Hoosiers denouncing calls from the Republican Supermajority to Redistrict mid-decade. While House Democrats requested their Republican colleagues observe precedent and protocol, their requests fell on deaf ears. Today, in what for many became a snow day hindering travel, several Hoosiers still showed up for the 2nd reading in Committee to present testimony. Once again, Democratic legislators cautioned their Republican counterparts to observe the Civil Rights Voting Act rather than dilute Black and brown urban voices with predominantly white rural ones. Of course, this too was met with derision, as Republicans continuously claimed the maps, drawn by an out-of-state committee, were made purely for “political purposes” to counter “Obama-era gerrymandering” in other (Blue) states. All testimony presented by constituents was in opposition to the Redistricting bill. In a final Committee vote of 8 - 5 (one Republican voted “No” with the Democrats), the bill now goes to its third reading and House floor vote.
We live in strange times. The party that lauds itself as the party of “law and order” now routinely ignores the law and champions chaos instead of order. This week proved that “representative government” is all but dead when our representatives prioritize party and power over people. History will not be kind to them.
Several years ago I wrote a short essay called “Monster” on my personal blog Chasing Dragons | Hiding In Caves, where I personified a feeling I had while protesting for healthcare outside a government building in Washington DC. While the “monster” can represent a myriad of things depending on the moment, today, when I reread it, I thought of calling the monster “Authoritarianism.” Because that is what we are dealing with right now.
I visited the monster’s sanctuary once. It resides many places, but I think this place is, perhaps, its favorite. It feels at home here, enshrined amongst the statues and edifices of granite and stone. Temporary permanence. There’s a knowing that if it isn’t properly fed, it will simply move on. And that terrifies its “handlers”. But who’s fooling whom? It isn’t a dog walking at leash. More like the leviathan. But don’t look directly at it . . . you may be seduced by its power. It offers it like choice candy, whose addictive qualities are never quite revealed until too late.
- from "Monster" by Michelle Higgs
Lately, I’ve begun surveying folks on which political terms they remember being taught to fear when they were young. Most everyone names Communism or Fascism, with a few naming Socialism and even Capitalism as grave ills in society. We often talk about how people’s definitions of these words shift and change over time. But if I ask them if they recall ever discussing Authoritarianism as something to guard against, nobody remembers ever having that discussion. I know I never did. Not a single person warned me to look out for a rise in Authoritarianism. And yet, the recent signing of House Congressional Resolution 58 “Denouncing the Horrors of Socialism” by no less than 86 Democrats highlights regimes that adopted Authoritarianism as their means of controlling their constituents. In fact, I cannot think of any form of government that, without authoritarianism, would not inevitably lead to totalitarian regimes, famine, and mass killings. And yet Democrats are now on record to say that “socialism” does these things at the very time a Democratic Socialist is elected as Mayor of New York City on a platform that prioritizes childcare, transportation and housing - the very thing most Americans are struggling to afford.
I would like to suggest the things we fear in Communist societies or Socialist societies are largely Authoritarianism hidden in plain sight. Like “Monster”, we seem to only recognize it when we aren’t looking straight at it. We see the effects of it. For example, remove Authoritarianism from Communist China, and you would actually see China expand pluralism, innovation, civil liberties, and regional autonomy. Remove Authoritarianism from Communist Russia, and you would also see pluralism, civil liberties and long-term economic opportunity, but intense upheaval because their oligarchy depends upon authoritarianism to maintain control.
There are two other types of societies that Authoritarianism can claim. The first, and most harmful, is Fascism. Fascism cannot exist without Authoritarianism.
Every academic, historical, and political science definition of fascism includes these core ingredients:
- Authoritarian rule
- One-party dominance
- Suppression of opposition
- Centralized control of media and culture
- Militaristic nationalism
- Hierarchy and obedience over individual rights
If you remove authoritarianism, you remove the mechanism fascism uses to function. Or put another way, to defeat Fascism, you must remove Authoritarianism. By removing the structure fascism needs to operate, you are left with simply nationalist populism or illiberal rhetoric, which can be countered.
The second one, and the one becoming, sadly, too familiar, is Authoritarianism partnered with Capitalism (albeit either Crony Capitalism or Kleptocracy). In this environment, Capitalism thrives because authoritarian stability benefits investors — but at the cost of political rights. It was a Cold War assumption that Capitalism = Democracy and Socialism = Authoritarianism. The fact is, Capitalism does NOT guarantee Democracy, and if partnered with Authoritarianism, becomes the preferred regime for global corporations because it is predictable (whereas democracy is not).
When thinking about why our own federal government under Trump requires further consolidation of power, and how legislators opposing redistricting are being targeted with threats of primaries or personal violence, it would be foolish not to recognize the monster in our midst. Authoritarianism is here right now. It is here every time ICE shows up to disappear a person. It is here every time a Hoosier is told to accept harmful cuts to Medicaid or childcare, “whether they like it or not”. It is here when Black and brown Hoosiers are gerrymandered out of their political power. It is here when one party, and only one party, rules. It is most definitely here when State legislators disregard their own constituents to further consolidate power for the federal Executive branch so that federal funds will not be withheld from the state. It is a monster dangling a carrot far out of reach while wielding a very large stick.
“…It’s as if Pain and Suffering had sharpened my friends’ edges and intensified their resolve, whereas Comfort had simply weakened my knees and softened my spine. They were being trained for a marathon . . . I could barely manage a sprint. They seemed less afraid of the monster because they recognized it. They saw the monster every day. I only read about it in books and essays. I only saw evidence of its existence in the aftermath. Because no one ever taught me to look right at it. To call it by name. To declare, ‘There’s a monster RIGHT HERE!’”
Please join me in resisting Authoritarianism and defending Democracy.
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