Dictators by
their nature will eventually go too far. They cannot help it. It is fixed in
their personalities.
They usually
come to power through a bloody revolution where part of the military sides with
the government and part sides with the rebel leader-become-dictator. By
whatever means the man ascends to the seat of power, he is destined to fail
unless he can refrain from brutal enforcement of his every command.
Many
dictators are revered by an adoring populace (at the beginning). Those who do
not question his authority and allow themselves to be ruled and forego their
own freedoms in order to allow the dictator to exorcize The Others will do well
under his thumb.
But even the
most benevolent of dictators use their unlimited power to squash dissent when
it ultimately arises. His promises to the people are withdrawn. He cannot
fulfill those promises and must blame someone because it is unthinkable (by himself)
that his perfect plan and implementation were in some way deficient.
Most of the
world's dictators do not last beyond a few years. Those who do become more
despotic by the day. They squash protests, imprison opponents, execute
resisters and journalists. In short, anyone who voices disapproval must go. The
purges start with deportations and exile but soon ramp up to prison and disappearances.
In countries
like North Korea and Saudi Arabia they have no compunction about summary
executions. They make no bones about their brutality in order to serve as a
deterrent to others. Several of the South American countries make the
resistance disappear while maintaining a smiling face toward the world. They
deny their brutality for as long as possible, but eventually that facade disintegrates
too.
Here in
America, we blindly elected a proto-dictator who immediately set to the task of
consolidating his position as the supreme leader who cannot be touched by the
law, the Congress or the Judiciary. His approach has been to foment chaos to a
level where nobody is capable of focusing on a single issue. Congress cannot
unify to act. The people cannot agree on whether he is or is not a dictator or whether
being one is a good thing or bad. The Judiciary is being stacked to rubber
stamp his authority to do whatever he thinks up to do.
Every vile
act and policy has a hint of good in it. A cursory view of his
"accomplishments" looks good at the surface, but look a bit deeper
and the malicious aspects are exposed. Tax cuts on the wealthy give them money
in their pockets to supposedly improve the economy, but all the cuts really are
are Revenue Reduction Acts designed to hamstring the government and give cause
to reducing the amount of money ordinary American have in their pockets. Cut
revenues and you cannot effectively regulate the pollution corporations create
in the absence of oversight and regulations.
Saving a few
millions on SNAP funding to reduce the reliance of poor people on the
government sounds good until you realize there are no opportunities for them to
make up for the lost funds with any job they can get.
Stopping
abortions sounds like a good and moral act until you see that the women who are
getting the abortions cannot afford the additional mouth to feed (even as the
dictator seeks to remove her SNAP funding for food.) Cutting through the
propaganda about who seeks abortions and why one can see that the abortion is
never entered into frivolously. It is not because the woman is promiscuous or
vain, immoral or careless. It is because she sees the reality of that mouth to
feed, the medical costs, the burden on her keeping a job and the effect on her
existing children.
Stopping the
killing of babies sounds noble but the tissue being aborted is far from being a
baby. While it might have the potential of becoming a child, there is a reason
it is called a fetus or embryo. Yeah, an egg could hatch into a chicken, but it
is still just an egg.
The dictator
cares not for the quality of the lives of the people but in controlling their
actions and behaviors in such a manner as to maintain his dictatorship. Women
with babies they cannot afford are controllable. The dictator finds it far
easier to outlaw the abortion than to eliminate the need for it.
Dictators
prescribing the permission for businesses to refuse services or employment to
same-sex couples, transgender persons, persons with disabilities and anyone who
is not like the business owners might please a few proprietors but ignores the
fact that such people still need those services. It is only a quantum step from
gender-discrimination back to racial and religious discrimination. The dictator
thrives on such adversity.
The level of
power and authority of dictators rises. Peaks and declines on a Bell-curve over time. The
dictator will eventually be overthrown, but he can do a lot of generational
damage before he is taken out.