Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
In 2003-2004 I had the opportunity to live in a repressive regime, serving as a volunteer in the U.S. Peace Corps in Turkmenistan, a former satellite of the Soviet Union. I experienced what it is like to live in constant fear where it is dangerous to even mention the name of the cult of personality dictator for life unless you were praising or honoring him.
Where the only security is your family ties due to the constant chaos the dictator creates to hold power. Where the only news is propaganda. Where people were told where they would work and if they were allowed to travel. Where people could simply disappear, never to be heard from again.
I experienced living in an environment of oppression where I could not even trust the family I lived with. The only real joy I saw was on the faces of children before they became adults or parents celebrating an arranged marriage offering hope of economic gain, often through some illegal activity. People holding government jobs were required to work even when the government couldn’t pay them.
I could leave the country but my Turkmen friends could not.
This is what authoritarianism is like. This is apparently what many in this country welcome, even now that it’s clear where we are headed.
America, is this what you want? I can tell you, it isn’t pretty. Why not fix what we have versus destroying everything. Authoritarianism is just the easy default.
Lucy Leaf
Ellsworth
