Taking Up Space

Acting as if, to resist fear.

A couple of weeks ago I submitted a public comment to the EPA regarding the proposed repeal of the rule that allows regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. Do I think that Lee Zeldin and the fossil fuel industry goons appointed by Trump want to hear my opinion? Do I think they are interested in running an effective EPA? Of course not. An administration that has placed loyalty above competence and with a morally bankrupt set of values have pretty much guaranteed that for any high-level official.

So why do it? Partly, even those with anti-democratic goals are human beings and respond somewhat when they know we are watching. Even if they don’t care as self-reflective humans, public opposition can make it harder to achieve their goals. But, more importantly, I keep doing things like this because it is my right, and I’m not going to give up that right in response to cynicism or fear.

I hear a lot of fear this past week, and for good reason. The current Republican administration’s attacks on free speech and threats to persecute opponents have escalated in the wake of the Kirk murder. Many of us who didn’t previously feel targeted may be starting to. To succeed, those threats depend on us responding to fear. As much as the administration would like us to believe they can, they don’t yet have the capacity to arrest/fire/persecute everyone speaking out against this administration. There are too many of us, and there will be as long as the fear doesn’t take over.

There is a cognitive behavioral therapy intervention described with the short phrase Act As If. The idea is that we can sometimes attack problems from the behavioral side. To try this, you imagine how a person who didn’t have your problem (for example, depression or social anxiety) would act in a situation, and push yourself to behave that way, in turn gaining new experiences and shifting your mental and emotional experience. This phrase popped into my mind recently when thinking about resistance.

We’re witnessing an in-progress authoritarian expansion, an administration that aspires to be a dictatorship but hasn’t yet hardened its systems of oppression and its hold on the culture. In this moment, Act As If takes on new meaning. It’s the essence of not obeying in advance. It’s the way we continue to take up space as citizens, as active participants in the public sphere, knowing that as long as enough of us keep taking up enough space, we create power. Trump’s dictatorship is in the larval stage. It’s repulsive and frightening, but still vulnerable. If we stop taking up space, it will make it easier for it to expand and harden.

Many have pointed out that industrial consumer society wants to make us consumers rather than citizens, to the benefit of capitalists who would rather we stay out of collective decision-making. And the blurring of the public/private line also feeds into the “run government like a business” nonsense that has been used as a pretense to decimate public institutions and steal funds. So part of the essential occupying of space right now is to strengthen and celebrate the public sphere. That means interacting with elected officials at the national, state, and local levels, providing feedback to federal and state government agencies, but also participating in community events and programs. It also means going to protests and exercising free speech rights whenever you can, including supporting journalists.

Another test for Act As If right now—I ask myself if I would do what I’m about to do if I lived in Russia or another established authoritarian state. (Caveat—I have neither been to Russia nor become an expert on it and my perceptions might not be fully accurate.) If the answer is “probably not,” or “it would be pretty dangerous,” then that alone makes what I’m doing meaningful.

If you live in the U.S. in 2025, your rights are under attack, yes, but you haven’t lost them yet. And the more you use them, the less likely it will be that they will have the ability to take them away. Keep taking up space, keep acting as if, and you will avoid giving in to the fear and hopelessness that the authoritarians are counting on.