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Given certain events in recent years, Jim Bohland is worried about the fate of American democracy.

The professor emeritus at Virginia Tech founding director of its School of Public and International Affairs is focused on Novembers election and the unprecedented upheaval that followed the disputed presidential contest of 2020.

Hes gravely concerned the Jan. 6 insurrection and all the political scheming that preceded it were merely a warm-up for the mayhem that could occur after a Joe Biden-Donald Trump electoral rematch later this year.

Virginia Tech Professor Emeritus James R. Bohland is organizing a covocation on defending democracy Thursday afternoon at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Blacksburg.

We werent prepared then, Bohland told me in a Zoom interview with some others Thursday. I think we waited too long in 2020.

Bohland contacted me last week after the second of two columns about a little book by Yale history Professor Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.

Bohland suggested some additional reads. (A shortened list is attached to this column.)

He also dropped news about an event Thursday in Blacksburg. It hews to many concerns Snyder outlines in On Tyranny. The focus is preparing now to support democracy, whatever happens at the end of this year.

Bohland, who began at Tech in 1980 and is now retired, is still teaching courses through the universitys Lifelong Learning Institute. He recently wrapped up a four-week seminar that garnered about 50 students. The title was: Threats to Democracy Populism and Authoritarianism.

The event Thursday at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Blacksburg is kind of a next step. Its title is Defending Democracy: Convocation & Empowering Grassroots Action.

Its open to the public and begins at 1 p.m. at the church, 1301 Gladewood Drive in Blacksburg. Bohland and his co-organizers are hoping for a big turnout, with people from other churches, civic organizations, institutions, governments and any interested individuals.

Three books about defending democracy recommended by Virginia Tech Professor James R. Bohland. Through the university's Lifelong Learning Institute, he recently taught a four-week course:Threats to Democracy - Populism and Authoritarianism.

The assault on democracy in the United States by a political faction embracing authoritarianism necessitates urgent action to safeguard democratic principles, the invitation-flyer states.

We are inviting all concerned organizations and individuals to collaborate in devising strategies to fortify and extend our democratic ideals.

Co-organizer Bob Stimson, a retired public schoolteacher and principal, said Thursdays meeting is a logical follow-up to the Lifelong Learning Institute course Bohland just concluded.

My view is, a lot of people dont understand that democracy is threatened, and a lot of other people dont care that democracy is being threatened, Stimson said. The people that dont understand dont necessarily support the undermining of democracy. They just need to be educated on what the future might be.

Our goal is to widen the circle, get a lot of people involved . . . to engage the community, politicians, people, and churches, in defending democracy, Stimson said.

We want to leave that meeting with a plan, he added. We want to be able to go out and do something, not just meet and say, Isnt this bad?

Also involved in organizing Defending Democracy are Sara Dalton, a retired social worker, and the Rev. Pam Philips, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Blacksburg.

Every mature democracy possesses anti-democratic elements, Bohland told me.

Basically, a little under roughly 30% of the populace has authoritarian tendencies, Bohland said, citing The Authoritarian Dynamic, by political scientist Karen Stenner. Democracies always have that kind of latent tendency.

President Joe Biden says the threat to democracy has to be defended. He says you can't bury the truth about January 6. He speaks during the State of the Union address.

Though current anti-democratic pressures originate from Trump and other so-called conservatives, authoritarianism can also spring from the left. Its mirror image is populism. As examples, Bohland cited American politicians Huey Long, a governor and senator from Louisiana, and William Jennings Bryan, a congressman from Nebraska.

Both led left-populist mass movements and waged and lost campaigns for the White House. (Long was assassinated; Jennings ran twice as a Democrat and once for the Populist Party and lost each time.)

The strategy employed by both sides is divide and conquer, Bohland said. On the left, populists tend to see the world as a struggle between the rich and poor. On the right, authoritarians often frame it as a battle to preserve national culture from unchecked immigration.

Either way is us against them, he said.

That tactic isnt new; it dates at least to the Russian Revolution and probably before. From either side, the object is division.

Both push an Im right youre wrong kind of argument, Bohland said. Weve taken a kind of flamethrower approach to this thing, and that hurts unity. The goal of each side is to exploit the masses and take down democracy.

Objectives of the convocation include collaborative networking; supporting and safeguarding voting rights; advocating for elected officials committed to democratic governance; and empowering citizens to articulate democratic values.

The Jan. 6 insurrection was a wake-up call, said Dalton, a team leader for voting rights and reproductive freedom at the Blacksburg Unitarian church.

Im hoping well find people in the community who are interested in defending democracy and come up with actions we can take, she said. Were not going in with a set idea, this is what people should do. Were more interested in finding out what people are thinking in the community, and what theyd like to do.

Philips, whos led the Unitarian congregation since 2017, told me shes heard from pastoring peers whove related theyre reluctant to sermonize about supporting democracy.

Some of them feel like they cant speak from the pulpit about their concerns, she said. Part of it is, its just too political. They get a lot of grief from people in the pews for speaking out.

Philips told me that recently, shes been looking back on history when people didnt say something when they could or should have. Some of the parallel to 20th century Europe are hard to ignore.

During the rise of Nazism in Germany, some of the churches that did speak out were shut down. There were churches that aided and abetted when they should have spoken out about what was happening, she said.

But: If we dont address whats going on in the world on Sunday morning, were kind of burying our heads in the sand, Philips added.

Many good reasons to attend Thursday afternoons convocation in Blacksburg, if you can.

Former D.C. police officer Michael Fanone, who was at the Capitol on January 6, is is interviewed by Times-Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams.

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'The January 6 insurrection was a wake-up call' - Roanoke Times

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