Human beings are not livestock, to be forcibly herded, corralled, inoculated, and used. They are free autonomous beings.
A population is in danger when its leaders “bait-and-switch”, installing themselves with grandiose powers, instituting their own personal agendas and abusing the funds of the hard-working taxpayer. Taxpayers generally have no opposition to paying taxes and expect to pay their share for their country’s infrastructure. But when tax dollars are syphoned off by the billions and used for a leader’s external ambitions, or extraneous pet projects, citizens are justifiably outraged. This citizenry-affront arises because of a leader’s failure to remember that taxes are not government money; taxes are monies entrusted by taxpayers to the government to work on their behalf.
A population is also in danger when its leaders try to stifle or psychologically muzzle them. When people are coerced into a new governmentally subscribed vocabulary, to the point of some words and phrases being prohibited by law, a population is in peril of losing one of its most basic and treasured liberties – free speech. When mandated indoctrination replaces free expression, all forms of discourse; humour, debate, opinion, and even simple conversations are jeopardized. This is authoritarianism at work.
The question arises, as to what level does a society sink before it completely succumbs to full-fledged authoritarianism? How far does neo-despotism have to go before it is widely noticed and challenged by a majority? What has history demonstrated? What is the tipping point between a population’s begrudging-acquiescence and open societal conflict? These are just a few of the issues and questions people in the free western world are now having serious conversations about.