Dictator 101

Yes, it can happen here.

From time-to-time, for some inexplicable reason, entire societies allow themselves to fall under the iron fist spell of subjugation from a single individual, the dictator, the strongman. One measly person. It’s virtually always a ‘him’ though there may be exceptions. Why does the citizenry allow such a thing? No matter how I try to understand this phenomenon I keep coming up empty. Though I can’t comprehend the why of it, that millions of people slavishly yield their souls to a bad actor, I think I do see the how, markers the mind can recognize.

The raw material: A proven unpredictable psychopath, a wannabe demagogue, someone, who outside his captive audience, by universal acclaim is completely nuts. This is usually expressed through an explosive, potentially violent nature, then breathless manipulation and in-your-face deceit and lies right on the surface for anyone to see, and lots of intimidation. Add hypocrisy that will leave any sane person scratching their head. They promise everything but deliver carnage. Magnetic charisma is a must, as though that equates to rightness.

The concentration of power surrounding a dictator is always a pyramid scheme. The dictator stands on the throats of others whose hunger for power is also insatiable, those who are biding their time with groveling in the hope that they will get their turn — the “Et tu Brute” crowd. More fun than divide and conquer.

Next down the line of bewildering passive acceptance is garden variety greed to the nth degree, as though more and more money will save supplicants from the inevitable end that is the mortal destiny we all share in common. (In spite of their efforts, greedy people still drop dead. Some may even be rich for all the good it does them then.) The never-enough crowd will do anything to gain proximity to the seat of power that births favors that can be turned into cash. Money is the golden calf they worship and the dictator knows this. Dictators dole out money or access to it by proxy; their hands remain clean, rarely a paper trail.

After wealth, highly visible and vocal blind loyalty earns a seat at the table. All dictators demand unyielding loyalty and pander to extremist views and the grievances of have-nots whose dissatisfactions he justifies and magnifies. He sympathizes and banks the resulting devotion.

Inside jokes are funny though dictators rarely find anything amusing; their countenance stern and opinions undisputed facts. His minions’ allegiance to race and religious extremism are the enabling pillars upon which power rests. They are the mob, without which there is no dictator. Divide and conquer everyone else.

Most important is the enemy(s), the unifying authoritarian foundation. The dictator tells us who it/they will be. If none exists when he takes over, he’ll make one or more up. Differences in religion, race, culture, political philosophy, geographical borders all work. If you want to explore literary satire, even which side of an egg is eaten first could be a cause for war (see Jonathan Swifts’ “Gulliver’s Travels”). All dictators have enemies and paranoia, with good reason; ambitious underlings more than willing to take his place are legion.

Dictators attain and remain in power through implicit and/or explicit violence or the threat of such. They are terrorists. Enforcers are the mob, an army of the fringes, the well-armed disaffected who have been convinced they are receiving the short end of things and the ‘other’ is to blame. Elites as well as minorities can serve as ‘others:’ intellects, artists, teachers and writers. Easy targets, those few in number.

A bully thing.

With that said, I still can’t understand why some of us give anyone that much power over their mind, their life. What I do know is that dictators are bad for the soul. Their promises are illusions.

Jay Buckner
Warren County, Virginia