The United States is experiencing a change that is causing many people concern. The President is a loose cannon, steered by a white supremacist “Assistant to the President.”
There have been a lot of radical changes in government policy and action in just the first two months of the Trump administration. There are distinct signs that we may be in for a much greater, unpleasant, and even frightening change. If the direction is not changed soon, we may be experiencing the last breaths of American Democracy. The path to dictatorship has been widened, straightened, and paved. It’s starting to look like a freeway.
Surely, it can’t happen here, can it? Dictators overthrow the government in a military coup, right? That can’t happen here. We have checks and balances. We have the Constitution. Military forces pledge loyalty to the constitution.
It can, and the warning signs are obvious, provided that one is aware of history. The limited knowledge of history and government that is provided by public schools in the US ensures that not many are aware of history. That is not a coincidence.
That dictators always arise from a military takeover is a misconception. Dictators also rise to power as a result of democratic elections.
- Hitler: Elected.
- Mussolini: Elected.
- Mugabe: Elected.
- Marcos: Elected.
- Chávez: Elected.
- Assad: Elected.
There is a pattern among such rises to power.
- Become popular by making promises to vastly improve the life of the citizens.
- Promise to make the nation great or return it to greatness.
- Increase military power at the expense of domestic spending.
- Pursue unending military conflict against enemies, being sure to continually develop a supply of enemies.
- Limit or take over the press (media in current terms).
- Consolidate political power by directly or indirectly merging opposing parties, parties that started to look alike and act alike until they were actually or virtually merged until there was a single party offering a single candidate in elections.
- Limit elections or those who could vote.
- Limit the effectiveness of education.
- Legislate by edict.
- Promote racial, ethnic, and ideological hatred.
What is happening now in the US extends before and beyond Trump and Bannon. The change has been insidious, and through complacency, ignorance, or laziness, we have allowed the conditions that have transformed the path to dictatorship into a freeway.