Dissent works if you're living in a democratic society. We have dissent in America. Opinion polls show the massive majority of people favor Medicare For All, and free college tuition at public universities. The way you know you're living in an authoritarian society is when dissent means nothing. When you have 2 million people showing up opposing a war, and it means nothing. When you have the ineffectiveness of dissent, that's when you need anti-authoritarians who are much more comfortable moving past dissent.

Psychologist Bruce E. Levine examines the return of authoritarianism to the minds, and politics, of Americans - from the fear-driven mass compliance of the neoliberal era, to the tragedy of pathologizing the dissenters and resisters pushing back against the illegitimate orders of the anti-democratic ruling elite class.

Bruce is author of the book Resisting Illegitimate Authority: A Thinking Person’s Guide to Being an Anti-Authoritarian - Strategies, Tools, and Models from AK Press.