These 80-something women are on a mission to warn Congress about the dangers of tyranny

Source: Washington Post

These 80-something women are on a mission to warn Congress about the dangers of tyranny

By Rhoda Isaacs and Judith Hochman December 14 at 6:00 AM

Judith Hochman and Rhoda Isaacs are two of the co-founders of the Present History Project. Hochman is a retired teacher and the former dean/director of several continuing education initiatives; Isaacs is a career executive and member of the board of directors for several nonprofits.

This year, many Americans have asked themselves what they can do, in a time of such great uncertainty, to make a difference. This week, we — a couple of women in our 80s who have been friends since high school — are walking the halls of Congress, delivering books on history to each office, as part of our own very personal answer to that question.

Our journey began last March. The previous evening, we sat white-knuckled through a talk by Yale historian Timothy Snyder about his powerful best-selling book, “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.” We were riveted by the idea that the threats leading to totalitarianism in Europe in the past century are eerily (or frighteningly) similar to dangers facing our own democracy today. This isn’t just about one personality. It’s about the seismic shifts underway in many aspects of our society. The opening line of the book — “History does not repeat, but it does instruct” — echoed in our minds.

We both have lived through a lot of history. We have perhaps naively believed that our institutions and our laws were immutable. We are troubled by the trend of short-sighted attacks on institutions for purely political motive. Snyder’s message — “Do not speak of our institutions unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves” — struck us as a fitting call to action in 2017.

So we sat and talked, reflecting on how easily other democracies have failed during our lifetimes. We were born in the late 1930s in Jewish families, and we were intensely aware that if we had not been born in the United States, we might never have been able to marry the men we loved, raise amazing children and grandchildren and pursue flourishing careers. That realization left us in awe of the freedoms we have enjoyed — and perhaps, taken too much for granted.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/12/14/these-80-something-ladies-are-on-a-mission-to-warn-congress-about-the-dangers-of-tyranny/