Fears from the past are becoming facts

Discussing and debating political history is a cherished pastime that transcends cultural or geographic boundaries.

In America, we love to verbally joust in barbershops, basements and bars. We sit in the present, pontificating about what our course of action would have been during times of uncertainty in the past.

Some of us openly boast about how we would have reacted during a horrific historic event. American chattel slavery, the Holocaust or a mass shooting are examples.

Alternatively, it could be something that exceeded human design and control. A hurricane, earthquake or pandemic, for instance.

The circumstances might be radically diverse, but our claim is stubbornly common: “I would have done XYZ if I had been in that situation!”

Now is the time to challenge every attempt to cur