The threat of tyranny is something Americans should always be wary of. Our nation’s laws, the Bill of Rights and organization is designed to prevent the subversion of freedom. The founding fathers knew that tyrants are very good at playing the game, moving up the rungs of institutions and getting to the top before their true nature is revealed. For Idi Amin, Manuel Noriega and Adolf Hitle; the modus operandi is the same.

Tyrants will exploit crisis situations, often artificially created. to gain a foothold in a society. Sometimes this foothold is no more that a slight change in social norms or morays, not necessarily noticed by the public. Sometimes the change is more dramatic. The nature of the politics, the laws and the economic system of our nation have been threatened since the 60′. No one likes to hear it, but the guys doing this believe in reincarnation. In their way of thinking a small step now facilitates a large step later.

The US has been on a path towards becoming a surveillance state, with limits and “special conditions” for habeus corpus, and a shift toward socialism. This has been facilitated by parties from both sides of the political spectrum. Each alteration has come after a crisis. The current pandemic is a crisis.

Viktor Orban of Hungary has managed to exploit the current crisis. Parliament has granted him indefinite rule by decree (from the New York Times). From president to autocrat instantly, just add legislative signatures. One might wonder what kind of dirt they have on those legislators. Maybe they are all related.

This threat is noted in an op/ed article by Paul Krugman in the New York Times. He points out the state of Wisconsin’s plan to carry on with the election process even though most of the urban poling stations are closed. Combined with the delays and “inefficiencies” of absentee ballots, most of the votes will be coming from rural, and therefore Republican, voters. Pretty slick huh? He goes on to say the same thing could happen at the national level. He’s correct; citizens need to especially vigilant now.