“I am Spartacus”
This is an excerpt from the Breaking the News, Substack by James Fallows, a long-time journalist and former presidential speechwriter.
We’re not far enough into the current Trump era to know how this chapter ends. But more than 100 days in, we know these things:
That the only effective limits on Trump/Doge/Vought outrages and demands can come from people acting together.
But that before people can act together, someone needs to go first.
This is what academics call the Collective Action Problem. In pop-culture terms, it’s known as “I am Spartacus.” The first Spartacus needs to step up and speak up, being exposed alone to all potential risks, before knowing whether any others will join in and support him.
I’ve chronicled before examples of “Spartacus” declarations successfully turning into real movements—or sputtering out and leaving Spartacus on his own and vulnerable. The most visible and encouraging recent examples involve the American public showing up—at Congressional town halls, for special elections, at demonstrations, as citizens. The most discouraging involve the total collapse into subservience of one whole political party.
What seemed a Spartacus-style bit of bravado . . .has already become an unmistakable movement. It is changing practically by the hour. More people should be aware of it, support it, and spread its example.
In involves a “public statement,” or open letter from academic leaders, which appeared on the site of the American Association of Colleges and Universities, or AAC&U. . . .
Harvard’s leaders changed the landscape of Trump-era extortion by saying Hell, No! to his sweeping demands for subservience. No matter how this whole American chapter ends, Harvard’s declaration last week will be an important part of the narrative. The country’s oldest and most renowned university gave cover to others. It answered the question that its former president Larry Summers had asked: If an institution as rich and powerful as Harvard cannot stand up to Trump, then who can?