During these days of escalating social and political change, I received the following note from someone I highly respect. I pass it on because it is simply damned important to remember.
If we learn nothing else from the study of world history, we should at least remember the following:
1.More despotic states have come into existence through a gradual elective process than through violent upheaval.
2. Virtually all totalitarian governments, regardless of the philosophy upon which they are based (fascism, communism, theism, etc.) have shared one element essential to their continued existence: the absence or elimination of an independent judicial system.
When discussing some of the most oppressive and evil regimes of history, we often hear such comments as "How could it happen?" or "It couldn't happen here." Several of history's most brutal dictators have left behind instructions as to "how": start with a largely apathetic and unthinking populace, motivate the disaffected by telling them who is to blame for their woes, and offer them a solution, usually at the expense of those to blame. Gradually usurp greater powers while also gradually restricting freedoms, always in the cause of protecting the people or the state. Bake slowly over several years or more, and where once there was a constitutional government you now have a dictatorship.
Of course, thank God, it can't happen here…..
There is an old election adage about getting the government we deserve. How very true, but I prefer the version from Plato: "The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
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