Sooner or later, and my money’s on sooner rather than on later, we’re going to wake up some fine morning and discover that all our proud boasts have been drained empty of meaning, and that not even an effigy of what we were remains.The trans pride flag features the blue, pink and white stripes, with the blue and pink signifying the traditional colors for boys and girls, and white standing for those who don’t fit neatly into those classic gender signifiers. “And anytime I wanted to not answer a question, they kept pushing and made it seem like I had to answer the question.” “They’re just kind of questioning me: ‘Are you in the GSA?’ ‘Do you identify as LGBTQ?’ ‘Have you heard of the issues with any teachers?’ ‘Have you heard of the pride sticker issues?’ ‘How do you feel about the administration?’” said a transgender student, a sophomore whom NBC News is not identifying because they have not come out to their parents. And soon after Stonecipher and Shah were removed from their classrooms, two students who were GSA members said they were pulled into meetings with three officials from the district’s human resources department, without a parent, where they were “interrogated” about the GSA. If those institutions become too weak for the job, or if they abandon the job altogether, then people will seek shelter in the comfortable predictability of despotism, where they think they’ll be safe, until they discover to their horror that they’re not. Government in this country was designed at all levels to control that predilection through democratic institutions. Instead, like a poisonous weed in a garden, the natural human predilection toward authoritarian solutions has been allowed to sprout. Unlike as is the case in several other states, what’s going on in Texas is not the result of new laws or regulations. Two students said human resources officers with the district questioned them about their involvement with the GSA. Some said they’re discouraged by the Irving Independent School District’s response to the concerns they’ve raised through the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) and school board meetings, and they feel less safe at school than they did a year ago. Several students said that either they or their classmates have been called homophobic slurs and bullied, and school staff members have failed to intervene. Two teachers said that the school’s principal asked teachers to take down gay pride flags in their classrooms and offices. The student newspaper has functionally shut down. The alliance’s weekly meetings became monthly, and attendance dropped from about 40 students to fewer than 10. From NBC News: One faculty sponsor of the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance is facing having her contract terminated, another is preparing to resign, and a third has been removed from the classroom. We have a fine example unfolding in Texas. And one of those rules is that the people keep their heads down and not bother themselves with what’s going on around them. They work because, by and large, they require very little of the people they govern. Here’s the thing about authoritarian politics.