How the internet is setting the table for tyranny

The word “authoritarian” is based on the root “authority.” (It also has the word “author” in there, but we’ll ignore that unpleasantness for now.)

As Donald Trump and others seek to transform the United States from a republic into an authoritarian nation, it’s worth asking whether our cultural views of authority set the stage for it. And, if so, how.

Our reliance on authority in making decisions isn’t new. Voting a straight ticket — Republican or Democrat — was a common practice in ages past. But today, more people than ever have made up their minds on who should be president, regardless of that person’s performance or character.

Trump has exploited this as a free pass to do whatever he wants, regardless of which norms are shattered, which treaties are tossed aside, and which laws may be broken. Honestly, he’s always done this, but could he have gotten away with it as president before now? It seems unlikely.

Something has changed. Something has shifted to create an opening for authoritarianism.

Certainly, Trump tapped into a pent-up frustration with Washington gridlock that had been simmering for years. He gave racists permission to be openly racist, without fear of any consequences. And he played evangelical Christians’ fears of their own declining influence by offering them a way back to the top of the heap.

All that explains a lot. But Trump hasn’t been the only one claiming authority. At the other end of the spectrum, Democrats have adopted more litmus tests and made it harder for anyone on their side to disagree with party “orthodoxy” without being denounced or even snubbed. In fact, Trump exploited a backlash against this “political correctness” in his rise to power.

Giving up our power

But perhaps the most important change has been neither political nor religious. It’s been societal. The rise of cable television and social media have created so many disparate voices that it’s hard to make sense of it all. Whom should we believe? Rather than trying to follow all the competing arguments, it’s easier to simply “pick a side,” play follow the leader, and nod in agreement at whatever that leader might say.

Even if it’s a baseless conspiracy theory, or if it contradicts common sense.

For example, it’s just common sense that wearing a face mask would reduce the risk of transmitting a virus. Barriers work, and I don’t need an authority figure to tell me that. If they didn’t, there’d be no point in covering your mouth when you cough or wearing a condom when you have sex.

Yet medical experts initially opposed the use of masks, and only recently admitted — nine months into a pandemic — that, oh yeah, they protect the wearer, not just people on the other side. And a lot of other people are also acting like it doesn’t matter, largely because the president is telling them it doesn’t.

Turning democracy upside down

That’s how follow the leader works. In a democracy or a republic, the power rests with the people: They tell their leaders what’s important to them, and elect people who share their values. Under authoritarian rule, leaders tell their supporters what’s important, and threaten to punish them if they don’t get in line.

There’s an old saying that “all politics is local,” but that’s less and less true these days. With local news outlets in decline, voters hear more about national issues than anything else. Lawmakers in “safe” districts, meanwhile, are motivated more by party power plays than the desire for clean water or better roads. (Why do you think “infrastructure week” became a joke that never went anywhere?)

Autocrats don’t care about those things. All they care about is holding power by demonizing the other side... which is where we are today. We’ve retained the structure of a republic, for now, but the dynamics of top-down governance means we’re headed in the wrong direction. So does the trend away from thinking for ourselves and toward deferring to authority figures.

If we give up our power to an authoritarian ruler by letting the internet or cable talking heads tell us what (or how) to think, it will be next to impossible to get it back.

The United States has been compared to Rome as the apex of civilization at a given point in time. As great as Rome was, it’s easy to forget that it began as a republic. Once Julius and Augustus Caesar turned it into an empire, that’s the way it stayed for half a millennium. When things finally changed, it didn’t become a republic again. It simply...

Fell.