Citizens, not subjects
(And Presidents, NOT Kings)
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to live in a democracy — and why that idea feels more fragile than it should.
There’s a phrase that keeps returning to me:
Citizens, not subjects.
A citizen participates. A citizen questions. A citizen holds leaders accountable.
A subject obeys. A subject is expected to stay quiet, to follow orders, to treat a leader as untouchable.
And the truth is: authoritarianism does not care which side you’re on.
It doesn’t care if you call yourself conservative, liberal, independent, or anything else.
It simply wants you to stop thinking — and start obeying.
In today’s political climate, polarization is being fueled on purpose.
Some leaders — and yes, Trump and Vance are masters of this — thrive on dividing us. The more we fight each other, the less we notice the slow corrosion of democracy itself.
But here is what we must remember: democracy does not die in one loud moment.
It erodes piece by piece — through apathy, through fear, through the normalization of abuses of power.
If we allow ourselves to be reduced to subjects, we help that erosion.
If we remember that we are citizens — and act like it — we defend democracy.
That’s harder than it used to be.
Staying informed is increasingly difficult.
Corporate media often serves corporate and political interests.
Truth itself is being treated as subjective — and that is terrifying.
When truth is whatever the loudest voice says it is, democracy cannot survive.
We must seek out independent journalism — such as Democracy Now and other honest voices — and support it.
We must teach ourselves to verify, to think, to resist easy narratives.
And most of all, we must resist the lure of hate.
Authoritarianism wins when we give in to rage and division.
It wants us polarized, because polarization makes citizens easier to control.
Why it matters
Authoritarianism does not care about your party loyalty.
Once due process is gone, once habeas corpus is ignored, once a government decides it can make people “disappear” for dissent or deport people arbitrarily, no one is safe.
You may think: This wouldn’t happen to me.
But history shows again and again: when systems of justice are dismantled, anyone can be targeted.
It does not matter whether you supported this leader or that one.
It does not matter how loudly you wave a flag or pledge allegiance.
Once the machinery of repression is in motion, it grinds indiscriminately.
That is not freedom. That is not democracy.
And it is not a future that any of us — right, left, or center — should accept.
Common values
No matter what party we belong to, we should be able to agree:
✅ We do not want to be dehumanized.
✅ We do not want to live under a ruler who demands blind obedience.
✅ We want the right to think, to speak, to dissent.
✅ We want the right to due process, the right to justice — the rights of citizens, not subjects.
Those are universal human values.
And in this moment, defending them requires courage — and clarity.
A call to reflection
So I leave you with this:
Remember who you are.
You are a citizen — not a subject.
And this country needs citizens now more than ever.
If you or someone you know is struggling:
📞 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: Dial 988
📱 Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741
For independent journalism:
Stay strong. Stay informed. Stay human.
