Life in Activism: Defiance Can Take Many Valid Forms

Sometimes staying and fighting is the right thing to do. But sometimes, so is just getting up and leaving.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Two weeks ago, in response to one of my emails on Bowers News Media asking free subscribers to become paid subscribers (you can become a paid subscriber here, by the way, and have access to the entirety of this article), a reader replied by telling me that they would not give me one dollar until I publicly signed on to a resolution calling for the impeachment of Donald Trump. I replied that while I support the impeachment of Donald Trump, there was no way I was ever going to give in to a demand like that and sell my signature on a resolution in exchange for money. I then permanently unsubscribed him from Bowers News Media.

This weekend, instead of giving in to Trump's threats and supporting the Republican megabill, and instead of sticking around and trying to win a Republican primary against a Donald Trump-backed opponent, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced that he would not seek re-election. I thought his retirement announcement was quite excellent, filled with the joy of being able to spend time with his spouse, his children and his grandchildren. Personally, I wish he could go further and really stick it to Trump by resigning altogether, thus allowing Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to appoint his replacement!

Yesterday, Politico had a good article about several Democratic-appointed leaders of independent federal agencies who have persisted at their jobs despite Donald Trump's illegal attempts to fire them or otherwise force them out. A few, including officials at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board have actually managed to continue in their roles despite White House pressure.

Although the instance I faced involved a far, far lower level of outside pressure than that faced by either Tillis or the officials of independent federal agencies, I believe all three of these responses to be appropriate reactions when facing outside pressure to change your behavior against your will. The thread that unites them is the unwillingness to give in and perform actions or make statements that violate your beliefs. The key is to never bend over backwards and change your ways in order to make someone else happy with you—because if you do that, then you will never stand up straight again.

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