An Insurance Policy Against Would-Be Tyrants

integrity #2

Mayor Larcher, Hortense, stolen baby, little Gustave, and Inspector Marchetti.

Recently I was talking with a friend about what we learned growing up in dysfunctional/alcoholic families. While there are certainly a lot of downsides, one of the upshots, we agreed, is that we are uniquely prepared to deal with chaos, lawlessness, and manipulators.

One of these early lessons: beware of your leverage points. People who are intent on having power over you will use leverage to force you into compliance, in violation of your inner code.

This type of leverage is rampant in my latest TV obsession, A French Village. Early on in the series, we meet Hortense, the wife of Doctor Larcher. She’s a generous and helpful soul who willingly takes in a seemingly orphaned baby after the Nazi invasion.

Only once she has bonded with the baby, his father reappears.

Instead of returning the baby to his father, Hortense schemes with Inspector Marchetti to effectively steal him. In one fell swoop, Hortense betrays her own principals and allows Marchetti to gain leverage over her. Leverage, it’s hinted at, that he intends to use.

In times of lawlessness, some will choose to exert power over others. As we face a breakdown of our federal government, it’s wise to think about our own leverage points and try to minimize them, where possible.

Types of Leverage Points

• blackmail-able acts: things that are illegal or immoral, other secrets we may be ashamed of

• financial power: debts, promises of money, threats to livelihood, attachment to material things/a certain standard of living

• love: duty and affection towards one’s family and friends. Sense of belonging in a community

(Side note: these types of leverage are often used by high-control religions to force compliance.)

It’s not desirable to protect ourselves against all types of leverage—that would mean going to such extremes as isolating ourselves from all human relationships. But in other circumstances, minimizing leverage points can also align with our principals.

Insurance Against Unnecessary Leverage Points

• live as honestly as you can. Don’t do things you are ashamed of. Or if you’re ashamed of something innate, like your sexuality, deflate your shame by outing yourself and connecting with similar folks.

• reduce your debts and strive to have a good emergency fund (3-6 mo. of expenses, generally)

• value principals over material possessions. It’s better to live an honest life of poverty than get rich exploiting others.

• think carefully about moral gray areas. Accept that you might have to make decisions based on partial information. But beware of ethical slippery slopes, stealing something small makes it easier to justify stealing something big later.

• check any guilt against your moral code: is your guilt deserved, or are you taking something on that doesn’t belong to you?

• build up alternative support networks and community among like-minded people.

While Jesus gave us the example, again and again, of laying down one’s power in favor of connecting with those lower in status, our culture idolizes power and money (which is really just another way of saying power.)

Trump, with his gold obsession, is the apotheosis of this idolatry. Men like him and Musk will never be happy—they have billions of dollars but it isn’t (and won’t ever be) enough. They have imprisoned themselves on an endless treadmill, pursuing more and more, never understanding that true freedom comes from laying aside power to draw near to others.

Until the day comes that all people value community and care over domination, we have to insulate ourselves from these would-be tyrants as best we can.