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Stacey Abrams On The Ten Steps To Autocracy
a week ago
1) Use a free and fair election to gain power, then ensure it’s the last one. A leader wins through a democratic process, but has no intention of relinquishing power.
2) Exceed executive power. The leader issues a flurry of executive orders that claim authority far beyond constitutional limits.
3) Weaken competing powers. This step involves undermining or ignoring the legislative and judicial branches, either by making them complicit or irrelevant.
4) Gut the government. The leader dismantles agencies, fires experts, and removes those with opposing views, breaking public trust in institutions.
5) Install loyalists. Positions across the government are filled with individuals whose primary allegiance is to the leader, not the public or the Constitution.
6) Go after the media. The leader demonizes and discredits legitimate journalism to erode public trust in truth, replacing it with propaganda.
7) Create scapegoats. The regime targets certain marginalized groups, such as women, people of color, immigrants, or the disabled, to turn people against each other.
8) Target civil society. Organizations that defend rights, like non-profits and universities, are attacked to stifle dissent.
9) Incentivize private violence. The leader encourages violence, or uses militarized federal agents against citizens, to intimidate opponents.
10) Achieve the endgame. The authoritarian consolidates power, and civic participation, such as voting, is made to feel pointless, unsafe, or simply ceases.
She's spot on.
Personally, I think that she should have used the word fascism instead of Authoritarianism, but hey, she IS a politician...
2) Exceed executive power. The leader issues a flurry of executive orders that claim authority far beyond constitutional limits.
3) Weaken competing powers. This step involves undermining or ignoring the legislative and judicial branches, either by making them complicit or irrelevant.
4) Gut the government. The leader dismantles agencies, fires experts, and removes those with opposing views, breaking public trust in institutions.
5) Install loyalists. Positions across the government are filled with individuals whose primary allegiance is to the leader, not the public or the Constitution.
6) Go after the media. The leader demonizes and discredits legitimate journalism to erode public trust in truth, replacing it with propaganda.
7) Create scapegoats. The regime targets certain marginalized groups, such as women, people of color, immigrants, or the disabled, to turn people against each other.
8) Target civil society. Organizations that defend rights, like non-profits and universities, are attacked to stifle dissent.
9) Incentivize private violence. The leader encourages violence, or uses militarized federal agents against citizens, to intimidate opponents.
10) Achieve the endgame. The authoritarian consolidates power, and civic participation, such as voting, is made to feel pointless, unsafe, or simply ceases.
She's spot on.
Personally, I think that she should have used the word fascism instead of Authoritarianism, but hey, she IS a politician...
And "dropsies" is so cute...
Actually horrifying.