DESPOTISM IS THE ABROGATION OF GOVERNMENT
Yes, I’m a very broken record, to once again write about this, in fact I’m shattered.
So although I really need nothing substantial to argue that despotism is our choice this fall, here are some posts from Truth Social indicative of the garden variety authoritarian followers who are salivating at the prospect of a dictatorship in Trump.
Let’s take time to remember where dictatorship and authoritarianism have brought us, particularly during the Twentieth Century. Totalitarianism in the form of communism can also be heaped in the authoritarian category. For some reason right wingers have a hard time understanding this nuance. And I suspect it won’t change any time soon.
Democide
Democide refers to "the intentional killing of an unarmed or disarmed person by government agents acting in their authoritative capacity and pursuant to government policy or high command." The term was first coined by Holocaust historian and statistics expert, R.J. Rummel in his book Death by Government, but has also been described as a better term than genocide to refer to certain types of mass killings, by renowned Holocaust historian Yehuda Bauer. According to Rummel, this definition covers a wide range of deaths, including forced labor and concentration camp victims, extrajudicial summary killings, and mass deaths due to governmental acts of criminal omission and neglect, such as in deliberate famines like the Holodomor, as well as killings by de facto governments, for example, killings during a civil war. This definition covers any murder of any number of persons by any government.
It might seem that a large country like the United States with its 330,000,000 people and of vast land area might be prone to massive democide if the wrong leader somehow gets into place and with a large body of fanaticism backing him. One can not predict what a Trump might do going forward if he regains power. He has proven to never follow any ethics, rules or laws. His capacity for such might be limited due to his health and mental state but he certainly would find close followers willing to act on his behalf. One cannot possibly entertain the idea of him back in power where an oddball ruling allows him free rein to wreck havoc while acting as president.
166th Posting, February 8, 2024.