How do we lead moral lives in an age of bullies? | Robert Reich

We are living in an age of bullies. Those with power are less constrained today than they have been in my lifetime, since the end of the second world war.

The question is: how do we lead moral lives in this era?

Vladimir Putin launches a horrendous war on Ukraine. After Hamas’s atrocity, Benjamin Netanyahu bombs Gaza to smithereens and is now starving to death its remaining occupants.

Trump abducts thousands of hardworking people within the US and puts them into detention camps – splitting their families, spreading fear. His immigration agents are accused of targeting people with brown skin.

He usurps the powers of Congress, defies the courts, and prosecutes his enemies.

He and his Republican lackeys cut Medicaid and food stamps – lifelines for poor people, including millions of children – so the wealthy can get a tax cut.

Hate-mongers on rightwing television and social media fuel bigotry against transgender people, immigrants, Muslims, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people.

Powerful men abuse women. Some of the abused are children.

Powerful male politicians make it impossible for women to obtain safe abortions.

CEOs rake in record profits and compensation while giving workers meager wages and firing them for unionizing.

Billionaires make large campaign donations – legalized bribes – so lawmakers will cut their taxes and repeal regulations.

Each such abuse of power encourages other abuses. Each undermines norms of civility.

Every time the stronger bully the weaker, the social fabric is tested. If bullying is not contained, the fabric unwinds. Those who are bullied – who feel powerless, vulnerable, bitter, and desperate – become fodder for “strongmen”, demagogues who lead them into violence, war and tyranny.

This is hardly new. Throughout history, the central struggle of civilization has been against brutality by the powerful. Civilization is the opposite of brutality. A civil society doesn’t allow the strong to brutally treat the weak.

Yet in my lifetime, I’ve witnessed a breakdown. I’ve seen a change occur – from support of decency and constraints on brutality, to tolerance of indecency and support for unconstrained cruelty.

Trump is not the cause. He’s the culmination.

So how do we lead moral lives in this age of bullies?

We do everything we can to stop the brutality, to hold the powerful accountable, and to protect the vulnerable.

Putin and Netanyahu are war criminals whose criminality must be stopped. Trump is a dictator who must be deposed.

Rightwing politicians who encourage white Christian nationalism must be condemned and voted out of office. Pundits who amplify racism and xenophobia must lose their megaphones.

Powerful men who sexually harass or abuse women or children must be prosecuted.

Women must have full control over their bodies, including access to safe abortions.

Police who kill innocent people of color must be brought to justice. Immigration agents must be prohibited from abducting people off the street or from their homes or court houses or places of work.

CEOs who treat their employees like manure must be exposed and penalized. Billionaires who bribe lawmakers to cut their taxes or exempt them from regulations must be sanctioned, as should lawmakers who accept such bribes.

This isn’t a matter of “left” or “right”. It’s a matter of what’s right.

Living a moral life in an age of bullies requires collective action; it cannot be done alone. Each of us must organize and participate in a vast network of moral resistance.

This is what civilization demands. It’s what the struggle for social justice requires. It’s why that struggle is so critical today, and why we all must be part of it.

• Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His next book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, will be out on 5 August