Want To Resist Authoritarianism? Start Listening.

By Tom Vatterott, Minnesota Reformer

March 19, 2026

The National Alliance on Mental Illness Minnesota reported that Operation Metro Surge intensified distress for Minnesotans experiencing serious mental illness. On Feb. 25, the Trump administration exacerbated the situation by pausing $259 million in funding for Minnesota Medicaid, which covers 1 in 5 Minnesotans. After enduring state aggression, Minnesotans will have fewer avenues to mental health treatment.

When resources like Medicaid are taken away, community offers respite. Laypeople can’t replace professionals, but Minnesotans can use listening to support their neighbors and build political infrastructure.

Active listening is the practice of attentive curiosity and non-judgmental interest in a conversational partner. Active listeners express curiosity with open-ended questions and emotional validation, and they avoid giving unsolicited advice. Attentive curiosity is so effective at calming distress that the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline was founded on listening.

An empathetic conversation cannot stop a deportation proceeding or replace professional treatment for mental illness. But active listeners create belonging, which can turn lonely individuals into a collective capable of organized political action.

Sometimes, the relationship between loneliness and politics starts in the body. Loneliness is associated with increased production of stress hormones, a survival response that prioritizes vigilance over trusting strangers. Constant vigilance redirects the brain’s resources from complex tasks to immediate problems like threats to physical safety.

Disconnected individuals may subsequently lack the mental capacity to pursue goals beyond survival, meaning they can be less likely to believe in their capacity to influence their circumstances. The loneliness epidemic catalyzes fatalism.

Fatalism is a public health issue that threatens participation in democracy. When the state creates fear, isolates civilians, and takes away health care, it isn’t just a power grab — it’s psychological aggression. State aggression stresses the relationships that keep Americans feeling confident in their capacity to resist.

Meanwhile, community nurtures democratic engagement.

Social scientists measure community cohesion through social capital, which describes the strength, number and effectiveness of relationships across communities and individual lives. A community’s social capital can indicate the strength of its democracy.

Minnesota’s social capital — which was judged the second highest in the United States by one study — may have been why 38% of Minneapolis and St. Paul residents participated in recent anti-ICE protests or mutual aid. When neighbors build community, they know who to trust during a crisis. Listening builds that trust.

Active listening can look like volunteering for a mental health crisis line; checking in on a relative; or having curious conversations with regulars at a neighborhood cafe or bar.

Regardless of context, active listening is more than a kindness — research demonstrates that having one conversation per day increases happiness.

Minnesotans: Reject authoritarianism by reminding your neighbors they aren’t alone.

Independent Journalism for All

As a nonprofit newsroom, our articles are free for everyone to access. Readers like you make that possible. Can you help sustain our watchdog reporting today?

SUPPORT

The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell..