Resistance Brief 12.18.25

Fear has always been one of the most powerful political tools.

It freezes people. It convinces them to stop acting. And eventually, it convinces them to stop participating.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt warned Americans about fear in 1933, not because danger wasn’t real, but because fear itself could finish the job. Nearly a century later, that warning still matters.

In this video, I talk about how fear is used to make people give up their power, why authoritarians depend on it, and why democracy doesn’t end when someone powerful decides it should, but when people decide it’s already gone.

Leadership isn’t pretending everything is fine.

It’s refusing to let fear make the decisions.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit resistorvic.substack.com/subscribe