this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Dictatorship_to_Democracy
TL;DR A livable society needs an active, engaged citizenry fighting for good things to happen. When a dictatorship arrives, that society has a lot of tools they can use to resist, for the simple fact that any dictatorship is basically just a handful of people at the top who are dependent on everyone else doing what they say. They're a lot more fragile than they seem.
Read the link. Pretty much every example where FDTD was used as a guidebook, the ruling regime had even more of an open violence policy even than the modern US (although, we're catching up fast).
The idea that the secret police might be shooting people in the streets or throwing them in prison for trying to change the system isn't new for fascist systems or a sudden and unique problem we're facing.