Dakota Beacon

Ask any American what they value most about the US and they would likely reply with one word: “freedom.” This would be the freedom to live as one pleases without being monitored, persecuted, or manipulated. It is the freedom to express oneself without fear of retaliation and the freedom to earn a living based on one’s own merits.

This brings to mind the antithesis of freedom, namely totalitarianism. How does American culture today measure up to freedom versus totalitarianism? Here are a few instances to think about.

            -- Manipulated Elections. A person sanctioned by the state oligarchy always wins with a guaranteed majority. To achieve this victory, ballot boxes are stuffed, counting is rigged, electronic voting machines are altered, voting rules manipulated, and neutral observers are banned. North Korea typifies manipulated voting. Voting is mandatory, but the paper ballot has just one name on it. Just drop the ballot into the ballot box.

            -- Media Control. Media becomes the propaganda wing of an authoritarian state. Every media utterance must be sanctioned by the state. News outlets follow groupthink diligently. Violators are “cancelled.” Have you heard? The Biden Administration just dismissed over 400 journalists from the White House press pool by not renewing reporters’ credentials.

            -- Harassment of Dissidents. Any contradictory new idea must be quashed. Authoritarians are constantly on the lookout for any hint of dissent. Dissenters are punished before they can cause damage thus deterring new dissenters. In the Soviet system under communism, it was common for the secret police to detain dissenters without a warrant. Some dissenters were sent to ‘camps’ and even died in prison. Consider the incarcerations of “January 6th” persons in Washington, DC.

            -- Serious Topics Treated as Entertainment. Authoritarians understand the need to distract the population from discussing serious topics. Therefore, serious topics are treated lightly and served up as entertainment to dumb down the population. Entertainment generates content to ridicule dissenters and glorify the regime. Most Nazi and communist regimes drew upon this principle.

            -- Education Equals Brainwashing and Indoctrination. Authoritarians understand they can stave off a rebellion by targeting the young. Train the youth to glorify the government and degrade her opponents. Done right, when the young grow up they become regime supporters. In China, this effort forever champions the achievements of the Communist Party with good effect.

            -- Profusion of Hoaxes. Nothing controls the mind better than fear. Therefore, the state spreads hoaxes, even making them up. Fear drives people into the state for their protection. Nazis set fire to the Reichstag and blamed it on their opponents. They used the fire as an excuse to suspend civil liberties.

            -- Targeting the Opposition. Authoritarians always fear grassroots movements and typically target their leaders for destruction. Authoritarian Pakistan routinely jails and sometimes executes opponents of the ruling class.

            -- Fake Opposition. Statists ensure the existence of opposition groups loyal to the regime. These groups give cover as fronts allowing the regime the appearance of tolerance. However, these groups are no threat to the regime. As an example, there are eight minor political parties in China but they are all subservient to the Communist Party with no freedom of action.

            -- Targeting Christians. Authoritarians know that faith in God can motivate and unite people against state rulers replacing them with God as their highest authority. Additionally, religion provides moral guidance justifying the citizens’ acts of dissent. The USSR suppressed and persecuted Christians based on the intents of the state.

            -- Permanent Dependence on the State. Financial independence leads to independent thinking potentially resulting in rebellion. Statists ensure that the population ties its wellbeing to the government by fulfilling their needs (“needs” as determined by the state). People subsist on subsidies. In this way many authoritarian regimes keep their population pacified and in check.

            -- State Monitoring. Statists ensure that they can monitor every aspect of their peoples’ lives. Typically, a terrorist threat justifies the monitoring of communications, financial transactions, and more. As a result, citizens resort to self-censorship relieving the state of this burden. Authoritarian regimes of Iran, Singapore, China, the UAE, Vietnam, and Yemen employ invasive surveillance policies.

            -- Executive Actions. Citizens are subjected to orders that they must comply with. These dictates take the form of Executive Orders and Executive Actions imposed with no legislative oversight and enforced by the state bureaucracy. Medical and financial directives come to mind. Hitler created the first German compulsory sterilization law six months after he became chancellor.

We usually think of authoritarian regimes arising after a bloody coup. This is not necessarily so. Over the past decades changes in America have been subtle and gradual

Americans would do well to put on their thinking caps and pay attention. One way or the other, citizens will decide what kind of country they choose to live in.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).