Democracy for Beginners: How to Resist the Coming Right Wing Autocracy in America

Democracy for Beginners is a handbook for how to resist a right-wing autocracy should it arise in the United States. The book will survey how we came to a point where that alarming scenario is increasingly possible, the range of methods available to push back against it, and what can be done to shore up representative democracy in the long term.

While not giving up on the preservation of our democracy, this book anticipates a Republican takeover of the US government that, statistically speaking, is all but inevitable in a two-party system. The ＂thermostatic＂ behavior of American politics--that is, the tendency of voters to eventually eject any ruling party in favor of the opposition--suggests that the GOP will, sooner or later, regain power. If it does, and if it continues to pursue a brazenly anti-democratic, proto-authoritarian agenda--which it shows every indication of doing--it is possible that it will never surrender that power again. That is an eventuality for which we must prepare well in advance, in hopes of delaying its arrival, girding ourselves to survive it, and laying the groundwork for ultimately defeating it and restoring the republic.

Democracy for Beginners fast forwards past the ebb and flow of daily politics to a long-range preview of life under such an autocracy. It is structured as a practical guide for how to resist such a regime, focusing on specific arenas such as political action, civil disobedience, economics, cyberspace, traditional media, social media, the arts, personal relationships, and others.

The book draws upon Edwards’ experiences as an intelligence officer and screenwriter to contemplate a range of possible outcomes, from the best--a vibrant democracy contending only with a minimal insurgency by reactionary elements--to the worst--a full-blown right-wing autocracy and the end of free and fair elections, and offer a program for action that covers them all.

Robert Edwards was an infantry and intelligence officer in the US Army, serving in Germany during the Cold War and in a parachute infantry regiment in Iraq during the first Gulf war. He holds an MA in communications from Stanford and a BA in history from Lafayette College. He has also been a nightclub doorman, a private eye, and a substandard guitar player in a rock band. A winner of the Nicholl Fellowship from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he has written numerous screenplays for all the major studios, directed the feature films Land of the Blind starring Ralph Fiennes and Donald Sutherland, and When I Live My Life Over Again (aka One More Time) starring Christopher Walken, and produced the documentaries Sumo East and West and The Last Laugh with his wife Ferne Pearlstein. He writes The King’s Necktie blog on politics.