It’s kind of ironic to celebrate this holiday when so many people are out of work due to this horrible pandemic, but I still felt like it is a day worth acknowledging. We, the People, all over the world, are who make this planet run. Not the 1 percent. Not the dictators or the dictator wannabes. Not the politicians. Us.
Those people think they have the power, but it is a fragile illusion at best. If we stop supporting them, if we stop believing them, if we stop trusting them, if we stop freakin’ voting for them, they fall like a house of cards. If we employ critical thinking, arm ourselves with scientific facts, use our voices, and unite, they don’t stand a chance. And they know it.
Recently I read an article entitled, Most Dictators Self Destruct. Why? It gave me a lot of hope.
It described a study done by Daniel Treisman, a political scientist at UCLA. He looked at 218 incidences of democratization from 1800 to the present, and his conclusions were, basically, that when extreme power is concentrated in a single person, that person has ample opportunity to screw it up. He divided their mistakes into 5 categories: hubris, needless risk, slippery slope, trusting a traitor, and counterproductive violence.
In particular I liked the description of leaders failing when they actually believe that the people at their self-serving rallies reflect the mood of the general populous, and they become overconfident and let their arrogance show.
Hmmm…
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