“A dictatorship cannot take hold in America today. This country, as yet, cannot be ruled—but it can explode. It can blow up into the helpless rage and blind violence of a civil war. It cannot be cowed into submission, passivity, malevolence, resignation. It cannot be “pushed around.” Defiance, not obedience, is the American’s answer to overbearing authority. The nation that ran an underground railroad to help human beings escape from slavery, or began drinking on principle in the face of Prohibition, will not say “Yes, sir,” to the enforcers of ration coupons and cereal prices. Not yet.” ~ Ayn Rand
Sometimes it feels like America is in the process of blowing up in rage and violence. Maybe not yet.
For better or worse, defiance is a part of our spirit. We will not be pushed around.
What determines the balance of better or worse? Long-sighted self-interest.
The individual acting from Long-sighted self-interest never sacrifices the long-term win to the short-term gain. He is not reactive... he responds. He never destroys the whole country in the name of spite or because "fuck the other team".
Yes, defiance. But we, the long-sighted whom love our lives, choose the battles that win the world in which we wish to live.