Can It Happen Here?: Authoritarianism in America

Could the United States of America become an authoritarian state? The answer in this collection of essays is "probably not, but we need to be careful" The framers of the constitution put in many checks that help prevent the rising up of a dictator. However, many of those protections are being gradually chipped away. Indirect elections of presidents and senators provided a protection from populist appeals. The division of powers had created a weak executive that lacked some of the strength the modern president has.

One essay identified "Identitarian" and "Nativist" as the two prevailing viewpoints. These do not line up with the left/right alignment. Another talked about "common sense" in politics. What all these have in common is a conviction that a core set of beliefs is self-evident. People that do not hold appropriate beliefs are seen as irrational. The points are so basic that there is not even a point of debating. It would be like debating whether or not the sun would come up. Unfortunately, not everybody holds these same beliefs.

The essays do look at some other countries that have slipped into authoritarianism. There is no standard model. Sometimes it is in response to aa perceived external threat. Other times it is internal populism. Hungary and Poland had a short history of democracy and moved towards authoritarianism. Taiwan also has a short democratic history, yet seems entrenched with democracy. China and Singapore seem to be doing fine with centralized control. Venezuela has been a basket case.

American institutions can both be means of hurting and helping democracy. The "deep state" intelligence agencies can use their knowledge to influence political outcomes. They can also prevent excesses and stop unlawful actions (like Watergate.) Active judiciaries can come up with logic to justify anything they want. Sometimes the results are on the "right side" of history, like in civil rights rulings. Other times, they are the "wrong side" (such as Japanese Internments.) 

It is not very likely that a figure such as Trump would became a dictator of the country. However, shocks (such as terrorist attacks) can result in the executive having greater power. Gradual changes could whittle away at limitations in power. Elections can turn on minor events, with well placed media use influencing election outcomes. If enough things fell in line, we could see the President gaining huge amounts of power. Luckily, the probably is small, but not zero.