What are the characteristics of today’s dictators, and would-be dictators?
1. Most importantly, they privilege one group of a country’s residents over others. In the United States, the privileged group is “White” (as defined by whatever conventional wisdom of the time says). In Hungary it is those descended from the Magyars, the people who won independence centuries ago. In India, it is the Hindu majority. In China, it is the Han Chinese majority.
The reason is that the dictator retains the fealty of the privileged group to help in retaining power.
2. They or their political party restrict voting rights, for example:
a. Not allowing mailed ballots which restricts participation by elderly or infirm persons or people who can’t have time off from work on election day
b. Requiring new proof of citizenship, which may be difficult for native-born citizens who need to hunt for a birth certificate, or naturalized citizens who need to hunt for their documents
c. Lack of polling places in crowded cities, which results in long lines and may discourage voters
3. The dictators generally demonize gay and trans people.
4. They often restrict women’s rights, especially the right to abortion.
5. They restrict immigration for anyone not in the preferred group.
It’s amazing how similar these people are to each other. Perhaps they have some model that they share.
It is interesting that there have been no woman dictators since the era of royal rulers, when a woman would inherit the crown if a suitable man was not available. This may change, since there are a couple of woman-led political parties in Europe whose party wants to follow the Hungarian model of “illiberal democracy”, where the ruling party is guaranteed to win all the elections.
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