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"What I found is that approximately 18 percent of Americans are highly disposed to authoritarianism, according to their answers to four simple survey questions

"What I found is that approximately 18 percent of Americans are highly disposed to authoritarianism, according to their answers to four simple survey questions used by social scientists to estimate this disposition. A further 23 percent or so are just one step below them on the authoritarian scale. This roughly 40 percent of Americans tend to favor authority, obedience and uniformity over freedom, independence and diversity." https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/23/trump-america-authoritarianism-420681 https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/23/trump-amer... That also aligns with around 20% of voters supporting Nixon after Watergate. I think we should do our best to make sure that number stays at around 20% and does not grow; for if it does it imperils the whole democratic system of government that we take for granted.

depressedpanda 6y ago
Unfortunately, that article entirely glosses over the uncomfortable truth that the Democrat left is also rife with their own breed authoritarians. I wholeheartedly agree that authoritarianism is a threat to democracy, though.
- xnx 6y ago
  I'm not familiar with this truth. Who are the authoritarians from the Democratic left?
  - depressedpanda 6y ago
    If the general zetigeist does not make it obvious to you, please look to history for excellent examples of authoritarianism being orthogonal to left/right political bias. Pretending that it's exclusive to the political right is not favorable to democracy.
rwcarlsen 6y ago
I agree authoritarianism is dangerous. I also agree that authoritarian dystopias can be driven not just by governments, but also by powerful corporations. I don't really see too much of an important distinction between either. This banning is effectively authoritarianism - just not perpetrated by a government (directly - but possibly indirectly to appease the new administration/govt by a large corp). I think we should be just as concerned about this as if it were perpetrated by a govt.

depressedpanda 6y ago

Unfortunately, that article entirely glosses over the uncomfortable truth that the Democrat left is also rife with their own breed authoritarians. I wholeheartedly agree that authoritarianism is a threat to democracy, though.

xnx 6y ago
I'm not familiar with this truth. Who are the authoritarians from the Democratic left?
- depressedpanda 6y ago
  If the general zetigeist does not make it obvious to you, please look to history for excellent examples of authoritarianism being orthogonal to left/right political bias. Pretending that it's exclusive to the political right is not favorable to democracy.

rwcarlsen 6y ago

I agree authoritarianism is dangerous. I also agree that authoritarian dystopias can be driven not just by governments, but also by powerful corporations. I don't really see too much of an important distinction between either. This banning is effectively authoritarianism - just not perpetrated by a government (directly - but possibly indirectly to appease the new administration/govt by a large corp). I think we should be just as concerned about this as if it were perpetrated by a govt.