Are you excited about being ruled by a dictator?

Sure, why not? Or Hell No!

Benefits of being ruled by a dictator:

  • Swift Decision making and implementation of policy:
    • Dictatorships bypass the need for extensive debate and votes, allowing the leader to make decisions and implement policies rapidly, potentially benefiting crises or situations demanding urgent attention.
  • Political Stability and reduced gridlock:
    • Dictatorships may offer greater policy stability by reducing the chances of pollical infighting and frequent changes in leadership that can be common in democracies. This theoretically could facilitate long-term planning and attract foreign investment.
  • Unified National direction and agenda:
    • With power centralized in the hands of a single leader or a small group dictatorship can pursue a unified and coherent national agenda. There are fewer bureaucratic hurdles and less political opposition to implementing policies, which can lead to significant achievements in areas like infrastructure development, military strength, and national projects.
  • Efficiency in Governance
    • Dictatorship can be more efficient in terms of governance. The lack of a need for extensive debate and legislative procedures allows for faster implementation of polices. This efficiency can be beneficial in economic planning and development as seen in some rapidly developing nations.
  • Enhanced National Security (potentially)
    • Dictatorships often prioritize national security and maintain a strong centralized control over the military and security forces. This tight grip can effectively deter internal and external threats, as the regime can swiftly mobilize resources and implement measures to protect the nation.
  • Rapid Implementation of Reforms
    • In a dictatorship the leader can introduce and implement significant reforms without delays commonly associated with democratic processes. This ability allows for the rapid transformation of various sectors, including healthcare, education, and infrastructure.
  • Reduced bureaucratic Red Tape
    • Dictatorships can minimize bureaucratic red tape and streamline the administrative process. The concentration of power allows for the bypassing of cumbersome bureaucratic procedures that often hinder progress in democratic systems. This efficiency can facilitate quicker project approvals, reduced administrative costs and more straightforward policy implementation.

Note: These potential benefits are theoretical and can come with significant downsides. History demonstrates that dictatorship frequently led to:

  • Abuse of power and corruption
    • A significant drawback of dictatorships is the potential for abuse of power. With unchecked authority, dictators can engage in corrupt practices, suppress dissent, and violate human rights. The absence of accountability mechanisms often leads to the exploitation of power for personal gain and the suppression of freedoms.
  • Lack of political freedom and human right violations
    • Dictatorships inherently limit political freedom and participation. Citizens often have little to no role in the political process, and opposition parties are usually banned or heavily restricted. This lack of political plurality stifles innovation and prevents the representation of diverse interests within society.
  • Suppression of Dissent
    • In a bid to maintain control, dictatorships frequently suppress dissent and opposition. This suppression can take various forms, including censorship, imprisonment of political opponents, and even extrajudicial killings. Such practices create an atmosphere of fear and inhibit free expression and democratic engagement.
  • Economic Mismanagement
    • While some dictatorships have achieved economic success, many suffer from economic mismanagement. The concentration of power can lead to inefficient economic policies, cronyism, and the neglect of important economic sectors. The lack of transparency and accountability further exacerbates these issues, leading to economic stagnation or decline.
  • Social unrest and potential for revolution
    • The authoritarian nature of dictatorships often leads to social unrest and revolt. The suppression of freedoms and the absence of legitimate channels for expressing grievances can cause pent-up frustrations, eventually erupting into protests, uprisings, or even revolutions. This instability can negate any perceived benefits of the regime.
  • Human Rights Violations
    • Dictatorships are frequently associated with severe human rights violations. The lack of checks and balances allows dictators to implement draconian measures against perceived threats, often targeting minority groups, activists, and ordinary citizens. These violations can lead to international condemnation and isolation, further exacerbating the regime’s weaknesses.
  • Limited innovation and creativity
    • Dictatorships often create an environment of fear and conformity, where dissenting voices and unconventional ideas are suppressed. This stifling atmosphere can hinder innovation and creativity, as individuals are less likely to take risks or propose new ideas that might challenge the status quo. The lack of open debate and intellectual freedom can lead to stagnation in scientific, technological, and cultural development.

      Dictatorship, as a form of governance, presents a mixed bag of strengths and weaknesses. While the centralized power structure can result in several benefits, it also leads to many drawbacks such as social unrest, economic mismanagement and human rights violations. Therefore, while dictatorships can achieve certain short-term gains, their long-term sustainability and ethical implications are questionable.

While a theoretical case can be made for certain efficiencies in a dictatorship the historical evidence and the numerous documented drawbacks strongly indicate that such a system would be detrimental to individual freedoms, human rights, and long-term societal well-being in the United States, given its established democratic framework and constitutional principles. Sadly, the framework is collapsing. The evidence that the United States is being ruled by a dictatorial form of government is based on recent factors that are the blueprint or definition of being ruled by a dictator.

A dictatorship is a form of authoritarian government, characterized by a single leader or group of leaders where there is little or no tolerance for political pluralism, independent programs, or media,” this is the definition of Dictatorship according to Merriam Webster, the most widely used online dictionary in America.

According to Robert Reich, an American economist and a political analyst who served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton as well as Barack Obama, these are the 10 steps how a democracy can turn into a dictatorship.

  1. First, destroy every trace of the Trade Unions so that people do not have the opportunity to demand higher wages and are unable to organize politically
  2. Break any hope students have for a better future (tip: burden them so much with student debt and make it so difficult for them to find well-paying jobs that it doesn’t occur to them to oppose it).
  3. Undermine public education to prevent people from thinking critically.
  4. Make deals with rich businessmen and other millionaires so that they support you and in return promise and reduce taxes. (It increases the tax burden on the poor and regulates the legal framework so that the rich do not risk their profits.)
  5. Make most people economically insecure, frustrated, angry, and hopeless.
  6. Convince people that their problems come from ‘others’ – foreigners, immigrants, racial or ethnic or religious minorities, intellectuals.
  7. Make people think cynically against democracy
  8. Convince them that they need a savior, someone strong who alone will fix everything.
  9. Publish propaganda filled with lies
  10. Win the election to get the power.

As we move into this phase of our history the burden to help the lower classes is going to fall on the churches, individuals and charities.

Most charities will hire staff to manage the overwhelming applications for help and as a 501c3 those charities donors get tax exemptions. If charities could get a part of those exemptions, and if the staff to manage those charities won’t take most of the donations, then there can be sufficient help for the poor. However, history suggest that overhead takes up so much of the donations that funds to help the poor, money runs out very quickly. Secondly, donations are being used as investments for charities to buy and sell at a profit such things as old houses and empty plots. New homes are built which improves the area but does not profit the poor.

HPLA Charities has never had a paid staff, and no donations go to pay for anything that does not benefit the clients we serve. We are an all-volunteers organization that works at street level and has no ulterior motive to build wealth. Please help us by donating at www.hplacharities.org/donate

When it looks like a duck, It’s probably a duck.

If this is your first time reading this post, I encourage you to check out others as well.  My motive is to gain followers and earn contributions for my charity. Our mission is simple and our motive noticeably clear. As a charity we need your support for HPLA (Habitaciones Para Latinos Association) and we need volunteers to help accomplish our mission. What we do not need or do not have is a paid staff. I try to make it noticeably clear that we are not about creating paying jobs but instead helping folks with other folks who want to help their community. It is important to have money to buy the building supplies and equipment necessary to do the things needed to help but that is it. If you cannot help in person, your support still matters.   Donate at http://www.hplacharities.org/donate. Visit the same site for our history.

If you follow my posts, you will note that I get into what is happening in our politics. I talk about local state and national stuff. With that in mind the global scene must enter in. I have observed, and continue to receive confirmation, that individuals perceive the countries president as increasingly adopting a more authoritarian role. I look to the internet to seek other folks’ opinion who think like, I think. There is evidence available that addresses and potentially disproves these claims.  From my charitable mind I see a movement dismissing the need to care for the poor from our country. I’ve noticed some states are cutting aid to low-income people.   For the sake of conversation, I need to define my idea of who I define as poor. http://www.huduser.gov is a good place to start categorizing wealth. Please do not hesitate to review that document in detail. But let us make one thing truly clear. There is abuse in everything you can think of. I googled “Is there anything that doesn’t have abuse involved?” One response that surprised me is “Basic Needs (when freely available) (I.e. access to clean water, clean air, and fundamental human rights, when freely accessible and not subject to control or manipulation, could be argued as things that are not inherently abused. However, the denial of these things to others often occurs due to power imbalances and is a form of abuse or injustice. At HPLA, we encounter discrimination in public services run by government employees. Getting potable water is not free and if someone cannot pay for it someone else will have to. Is it abusive for a water company to turn off water to someone that cannot afford to pay for it? Is shutting off gas or electricity due to nonpayment considered abusive? There should be a compromise. Essential resources are controlled by certain entities and are usually obtained through exchange. So far clean air is free. Pure CO2 is not. Air is abundant for some but scarce for others. Is that abuse, I think so, yes. Try living with COPD and acquire CO2 that you cannot get since essential resources are controlled by specific entities, and everything requires an exchange. Is the problem your own mismanagement?

Our freedoms in this country are shrinking and becoming very costly. A story for another time is what is freedom to you? For the clients we serve the freedom to live requires basic physiological needs that are no longer free. Grandpa dug a well to get free water. Built a tent to stay out of the weather. Lived off the land if they were allowed. Think of our Native American tribes who were self-sufficient until they were abused. But to cut to the chase the minimum requirement for our help is our client must fall below the HUD established low-income level for poverty and all whom we serve are below that level or worse. You have seen what it is to be without the bare basics in the news reels of war-torn Ukraine or Gaza. Thank GOD we are not facing that, but we are getting close when you hear and read about the victims of the recent floods and fires. HLA is being asked for food and utility support. For us that is an easy repair. It is just money and stuff. The food pantries are plentiful in our areas of support and money to help with utilities available. We are grateful for those who contribute to HPLA monthly because we can provide help with these needs. Is the request greater than the resources, yes? But every little bit of help from you and together we can answer the call. Thank you. So recently we are seeing trends that resemble the trends of Hitlers Germany. I have worked hard to understand the reasons Germany allowed Hitler to raise to power and the cultures that were targeted in those days. Folks, if you don’t see the trend happening in America than you are blind. Truthfully, you are either OK with it or do not understand the devastation that is going to come from it. It is discrimination period. I have a family we have been helping for years, and they have done everything to stay within the law to become US citizens. One child was born to them already other dreamers they brought with them from Central America. They continue to get permission to stay legally by staying in contact with immigration but their hurtle is to come up with 10 thousand dollars for a lawyer to help them get to citizenship for all the family. Is that a little abusive? Yes, it most certainly is and after years of working and adding to profit of the folks they work for, they could easily be deported and all they have worked so hard for lost. All the saving they have gathered for legal help are gone. Why certain cultures are being targeted while others are overlooked is discrimination and abuse of power. That power being abused by a system that is trying to eliminate illegal activities, with abuse of the law. What is the difference between the government breaking the law and an individual within our borders? For the benefit of our country? That is the big question but no, I believe it is for one supposedly superior race and although one culture is being isolated now another will be included later and then another. The poor that HPLA tries to help are already in the sites of a dictator regime. If it looks like a duck, quakes like a duck and flies like a duck it is a duck. We are under a dictator. Those that can stop it are expendable, and they know it. We still have one chance and that is to be sure our vote is honored. Otherwise, democracy is dead and so are the weakest links. Help us sustain all who we can, while we can. http://www.hplacharites.org/donate.