The recent events in Minnesota have exposed a troubling divide in American society. While ordinary citizens demonstrate remarkable courage in the face of federal overreach, the nation's business and institutional elites have largely remained silent, revealing a dangerous culture of conformism that threatens the very foundations of democracy.
A Stark Contrast in Responses
On January 24th, federal immigration agents killed Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who had been documenting alleged cases of federal overreach in Minneapolis. Within hours, Minnesotans gathered in their neighborhoods for vigils, mourning his death and demanding an end to the federal incursion on their state.
Meanwhile, on that same day, the CEOs of Apple, Amazon, Zoom and the New York Stock Exchange attended a glitzy screening of a new Melania documentary at the White House. They munched on popcorn from special commemorative black-and-white boxes and took home Melania-branded cookies, seemingly oblivious to the crisis unfolding in Minnesota.
The Courage Gap
This split-screen moment highlighted what many observers have noted: there is no shortage of courage in America today, but it is distributed unevenly. Pretti and his fellow Minnesotans decided to risk physical abuse and even death to defend their neighbors. People from coast to coast have spoken up, donated, and acted in solidarity with Minnesota's residents.
Yet in the wake of Pretti's death, US elites – those running major businesses, universities, law firms, media companies and other mainstream institutions – have continued on their course of compliance and complacency. Countless leaders have responded to the authoritarian actions of Donald Trump's second administration with silence.
Institutional Failure
Even amid the recent horrors in Minnesota, the state's major corporations could muster only a statement of lackluster both-sidesism after Pretti's death, "calling for an immediate deescalation of tensions and for state, local and federal officials to work together to find real solutions."
Nationally, while a handful of corporate leaders have issued mostly muted statements calling for ICE to stand down, these appeals have been few and far between, failing to match the gravity of the crisis America faces. If the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti aren't enough to jolt those leading major institutions out of their complacency, what will be?
The Conformism Problem
One answer lies in the values ingrained in elite institutions and their leaders. These individuals tend to have been raised to embrace a profound individualism paired with a heavy dose of conformism – a toxic combination that makes them less likely to speak up when they are needed most.
Having attended elite prep schools, wealthy liberal arts colleges, and graduate programs at institutions like Oxford, many of today's leaders learned to cultivate confidence in their individual talents while simultaneously learning to follow rules set forth by figures of authority. The result: many prize careerism and "going along to get along" above all else, including defending democratic values.
The Cost of Silence
Capitulation is not just shameful; it's dangerous. Scholars remind us that a strong and independent civil society is a crucial pillar for supporting democracy – and, when it is in jeopardy, curbing democratic decline. At their best, elite institutions and their leaders lend their reputations and resources to promote civic dialogue, provide a check on government misdeeds, and uphold fundamental rights.
At their worst, they create a permission structure for wanton abuses of power. As former treasury secretary Robert Rubin recently wrote: "Many [business] leaders harbor deep concerns about Mr Trump's lawlessness, weaponization of the government, and interference in markets. They refrain from public criticism not because they find nothing to criticize but because they're intimidated."
Examples of Principled Resistance
There are encouraging exceptions that demonstrate what is possible when elites do stand up:
- Hundreds of philanthropic leaders publicly committed to stand together to defend their constitutional rights to give, speak and act freely, slowing administration attacks on the sector
- Chicago business, faith and philanthropic leaders joined together to denounce the reckless deployment of ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers across their city
- The presidents of Harvard, Princeton and MIT stood up for the independence of their institutions at considerable risk to their funding – and won reprieves in court
- Those law firms that resisted executive orders against them have been winning their cases and notching new clients
Showing that principled resistance is not a question of political ideology, many Republican-appointed federal judges have blocked authoritarian policies that threaten the constitution, while longtime conservatives such as Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and Bill Kristol continue to voice opposition to the administration's authoritarian actions.
A Call for Courageous Leadership
For inspiration, today's elites would do well to look to the thousands of working-class people from Minnesota to Maine to Memphis who have risen bravely against violations of their neighbors' rights and violence by federal agents, with only cellphones and whistles to protect their communities.
The killings of Good and Pretti make it clearer than ever that America needs a new rulebook. The country desperately needs elites to stand up and take a risk – and to harness the power of solidarity. As we've seen in other countries and in too-rare cases here, when elites stand together, they can change the trajectory.
If the elites across this country can find the courage to speak up together for core democratic values, America can still prevent itself from descending into full-blown autocracy. What's needed is for those in positions of power to remember the confidence they learned in school – and move past the conformism that currently paralyzes them.
