Chapter 79

When Your Country Goes Wrong 

 

First, let’s describe what a “Going Wrong” country might look like – from the perspective of a Humanist. 

Twenty Signs of a Country Going Wrong

  •  When there is little or no meaningful separation of powers to constrain the leaders’ human nature tendency to amass and abuse that power
  • When there are no term limits (such as a pure monarchy)
  • When the Press and legitimate media are under attack or silenced or become propaganda tools.
  • When the courts are not independent
  • When decision-making by leaders is hidden
  • When there is no civilian oversight of the police and military
  • When national identity takes precedence over universal ethical principles
  • When minority groups are targeted as being the “other”, are seen as a threat, are abused or not treated fairly. Most dangerously, certain groups are seen as less than human and, so, not worthy of rights and respect.
  • When there is little tolerance for diversity.
  • When leaders regularly lie and attack those who fact-check them.
  • When conformity to the ideological beliefs of the leaders are demanded.
  • When relatively minor issues are blown up into national crises to justify extreme reactions
  • When international laws are ignored.
  • When the educational systems are seen as threats which must be controlled.
  • When belief systems are promoted and science is demoted.
  • When civil service positions are politicized
  • When leaders prioritize amassing personal wealth over the health and welfare of their country.
  • When there is insufficient safety nets for the disabled and disadvantaged
  • When your country fails to honor the international borders of other countries (except in an effort to stop genocide).
  • When Moral Drift becomes the new normal
  • When basic human rights are routinely violated by the government.

Human Rights

Human rights are not rewards for good behavior or loyalty; they are guardrails against what happens when power meets fear, identity, and moral drift. What follows are a list of basic human rights as articulated by philosophers, the United Nation and the U.S. Bill of Rights.

Rights of Personal Dignity and Bodily Integrity

  • Right to life
  • Right to bodily autonomy (freedom from assault, torture, forced medical procedures)
  • Freedom from cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment
  • Freedom from arbitrary detention or disappearance
  • Equal protection of the law regardless of identity

A government that violates these forfeits moral legitimacy at the most basic level.

Legal and Procedural Rights (Rule of Law)

These protect people from power used without restraint.

  • Due process of law
  • Presumption of innocence
  • Right to a fair and impartial trial
  • Right to legal representation
  • Protection from arbitrary arrest, punishment, or exile
  • Protection against retroactive laws
  • Equal application of laws

 Without these, rights exist only at the discretion of authority.

 Civil and Political Rights

These protect agency, voice, and participation.

  • Freedom of speech and expression
  • Freedom of thought, conscience, and belief
  • Freedom of the press
  • Freedom of peaceful assembly and association
  • Right to participate in government (directly or through representatives)
  • Right to vote in free and fair elections
  • Protection from political persecution or retribution

 These rights allow societies to self-correct without violence.

 Rights of Identity, Equality, and Non-Discrimination

These protect people from being reduced to categories or hierarchies.

  • Freedom from discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or origin
  • Equal civic status regardless of identity
  • Right to cultural, religious, and personal identity
  • Protection of minority rights

 A government that privileges one identity group over others erodes social trust and stability.

 Rights of Privacy and Personal Autonomy

These protect the inner life and personal boundaries.

  • Right to privacy
  • Protection from unwarranted surveillance
  • Freedom in personal relationships
  • Freedom in family life and parenting
  • Control over personal information

 When privacy collapses, fear replaces freedom.

Economic and Social Rights (Conditions for Human Flourishing)

These recognize that freedom without basic security is fragile.

  • Right to food, water, and shelter
  • Right to basic healthcare
  • Right to education
  • Right to work under fair conditions
  • Right to rest and leisure
  • Protection from extreme poverty and exploitation

These are not guarantees of equal outcomes - but protections against dehumanization.

Rights Related to Movement and Belonging

These protect freedom of place and safety from coercion.

  • Freedom of movement within a country
  • Right to leave one’s country and return
  • Right to seek asylum from persecution
  • Protection from forced displacement

How a government treats migrants and refugees is often a moral litmus test.

Rights of Truth, Memory, and Accountability

These protect moral continuity across generations.

  • Right to truthful public information
  • Protection of historical records
  • Right to access evidence of government action
  • Accountability for abuses of power


Self-Defense in a Country that has Gone Wrong

What happens when your government violates humanitarian ideals and denies basic human rights? How can you protect yourself and your loved ones from harm?

No country has a perfect humanitarian record. But if many of the above warning signs apply to your country, it may be time for you to develop an action plan. When a group or nation goes wrong, the ethical task of the individual is not to become a hero, but to remain a human being: clear-eyed, minimally complicit, and capable of saying ‘this is not normal’ - even if only to oneself at first. Here are five steps to consider:

First: Name the situation accurately

Where do things stand now? How serious is the situation? There are usually many small, incremental, almost unnoticeable going-wrong steps before matters are seriously wrong.  This is a characteristic of moral drift that can lead to normalization of the unacceptable.

Second: Understand the real constraints on individuals

Most people living in a country that is “going wrong” are constrained by an assortment of personal factors. These factors might include: family, livelihood, safety, fear of social exile, uncertainty about facts, and hope that “this will correct itself”. This matters because moral advice to others often ignores constraints. The question, then, is not “What should a hero do?” It is: “What can a normal person do, realistically, at different stages?” 

Third: A menu of responses (not all at once)

There is no single “right” action. There is a sequence of options, each with costs and risks.

  • Preserve your inner moral clarity. Name things accurately to yourself. Resist euphemisms and rationalizations. Keep language grounded in reality. Historically (Germany in the 1930s, Jonestown in the 1980s) language corruption preceded moral collapse. If you lose this, everything else follows.
  • Refuse active participation in harm. Even when open resistance feels impossible, there is often room for non-cooperation, foot-dragging, boundary-setting, refusing to amplify lies, and declining to inform, denounce, or enforce. This is not cowardice. It is ethical friction. History shows that systems rely on enthusiastic compliance far more than coercion.
  • Maintain alternative loyalties. Dangerous systems demand exclusive identity: “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” Healthy resistance preserves family bonds, friendships outside the ideology, independent institutions, and non-political sources of meaning. People who survive moral crises usually do so because something else still claimed them.
  • Speak selectively and strategically. Speaking up is important, but how and where matters. Private conversations often matter more than public declarations. Questions can be safer than accusations. Refusal to echo slogans can be powerful. Public dissent has value - but it also has costs, and timing matters.
  • Protect the vulnerable. Even when you cannot stop a system, you can often shield individuals, provide resources, create pockets of safety, and document what is happening. Many quiet acts of protection matter enormously in retrospect.
  • Exit—if and when possible. Leaving is not betrayal. Leaving a cult is not disloyalty. Leaving a corrupt institution is not cowardice. Emigration has historically been a moral act, not an abandonment. But exit is not always immediately available, and not everyone can do it.

Fourth: What NOT to expect of yourself

It is a mistake to believe you will know exactly when the line is crossed, you will act perfectly, you will be fearless, and you will be morally pure. Human beings act under ambiguity, fear, social pressure, and incomplete information. The ethical standard is not perfection—it is resistance to self-deception.

Fifth: The quiet truth history teaches

Most atrocities are not caused by monsters. They are caused by ordinary people protecting identity, belonging, and normalcy one small step at a time. Which means the most important individual acts are often small, boring, and invisible, such as refusing to laugh at cruelty, not repeating a lie, keeping records, and staying human (kind) when others don’t. These acts don’t stop history—but they preserve the possibility of repair.

Why Violence Fails as a Strategy for Political Correction

When a country goes wrong—when laws are bent, norms are violated, and power is exercised without restraint - it is natural to ask whether force is the only language left. History is full of revolutions, uprisings, and armed resistance, and it would be dishonest to claim violence has never changed political outcomes. But the more difficult and important question is not whether violence can change a system, but whether it can correct one. In most cases, it cannot. And when it does succeed in overthrowing a regime, it rarely produces the humane, lawful, and stable society its supporters hoped for.

Political correction requires broad legitimacy, not just momentum. Most societies contain true believers, opportunists, the fearful, the disengaged, and the morally conflicted. Violence collapses these distinctions. It forces people to choose sides prematurely, often pushing undecided or ambivalent individuals into the arms of authority - not because they approve, but because they fear disorder more than injustice. Sustainable change requires moral majorities, not tactical victories. Violence fractures those majorities before they can form.

Those who advocate violence often underestimate who will pay the cost. Violence disproportionately harms the poor, minorities, the young, the powerless, and bystanders. It rarely harms those most responsible for systemic failure. A strategy that sacrifices the vulnerable for speculative political gain is not a humanistic strategy - it is a tragic miscalculation.

Violence can overthrow a government. It cannot teach a society how to govern itself well. For a humanist who loves their country, the task is not to seize power at any cost - but to preserve the conditions under which law, dignity, and restraint can return when the moment allows. That work is quieter. It is slower. And it is far harder to dramatize. But it is the only path that does not guarantee a different version of the same failure.

Are there proactive steps that can reduce the likelihood of your country going wrong? Certainly.


Building Moral, Resilient Communities in a World Prone to Division 

While no society is immune from collective failure, history and social science offer clear lessons about how to build groups that resist hatred, authoritarianism, and dehumanization. 

Strengthening Moral Identity Rather Than Tribal Identity 

Groups often go wrong when identity becomes defined by exclusion (“we are not them”) rather than by shared values (“this is what we stand for”). Moral communities must ground identity in universal ethical principles rather than narrow tribal markers. To prevent harm, groups should emphasize the dignity of all people, fairness and justice, respect for diversity, and compassion as a core value. When a group defines itself by empathy rather than purity or superiority, it becomes more resistant to hatred. 

Encouraging Critical Thinking and Discouraging Blind Conformity

A major cause of group wrongdoing is unquestioning obedience to authority or group norms. Prevention requires teaching individuals to question orders, promoting open debate, normalizing dissent within the group, and rewarding integrity over conformity. Resilient groups create a culture where speaking up is seen not as disloyalty but as responsibility. 

Designing Institutions That Restrain Power 

History shows that unchecked power leads to abuses - from tyrants to extremist movements. Political theorists emphasize that well-designed institutions are essential to preventing collective wrongdoing. These structures do not rely solely on individual virtue; they prevent abuse even when individuals fail. 

Building Bridges Between Groups 

Conflict escalates when groups become isolated, fearful, or misinformed about one another. Meaningful interaction between groups reduces prejudice - especially when the contact is cooperative and equal in status. Effective bridge-building includes shared community projects, integrated schools, cultural exchanges, interfaith dialogues, and bipartisan or cross-group collaborations. Isolation breeds suspicion; cooperation builds trust. 

Teaching Historical Memory and Moral Awareness 

Groups go wrong when they forget the past - or when leaders manipulate collective memory. Historians argue that societies must teach accurate, unfiltered history to prevent moral collapse. Proactive measures include educating about past genocides, injustices, and abuses; confronting national or group wrongdoing honestly; using museums, memorials, and stories to preserve memory; and encouraging moral reflection, not nationalistic mythology. A society aware of its past is less likely to repeat it. 

Strengthening Emotional Intelligence in Leaders and Citizens 

Groups often descend into violence not through rational calculation but through emotion - fear, anger, humiliation, shame, and resentment. Developing emotional regulation and empathy helps communities withstand manipulative appeals to hatred. Practical measures include teaching emotional literacy in schools, promoting restorative justice practices, training public servants and leaders in conflict de-escalation, and rewarding cooperative and prosocial behavior. Emotionally literate societies are harder to inflame. 

Transparency and Accountability in Leadership 

Leaders who manipulate identity, fear, or resentment pose a grave risk to any group. To prevent this, robust systems of accountability are essential. Effective accountability includes free investigative journalism, whistleblower protections, independent anti-corruption bodies, public audits, and norms of transparency in government and organizations. Democracies degrade when leaders can operate without scrutiny. 

Cultivating a Culture That Respects Individual Dignity

Ultimately, the best defense against group cruelty is a moral culture that values each human being. Societies must intentionally cultivate compassion and recognition of human vulnerability. This requires rights that protect minorities, norms that reject dehumanizing language, social rituals (holidays, public events) that emphasize unity without exclusion, and leaders who appeal to shared humanity rather than fear. When individuals are taught to see others as “fully human,” groups are less likely to justify harm. 

Human beings are tribal by nature, but we are also capable of extraordinary compassion. The task of every society is to strengthen the forces of empathy, reason, and justice so that the darker tendencies of group behavior never gain the upper hand. 

Groups will always have the power to cause harm. But with vigilance and wisdom, they can instead become forces for human flourishing.

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