I wonder what the split would be for a dictator doing what I want vs going against what I want
this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
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Everyone assumes the dictator would be doing what they want.
My last Suzerain playthrough I was a dictator. I managed to change the constitution to give me a bunch of power, with that I got rid of all the corruption either politically or..."discreetly". Nationalised all the corporations, reformed workers and women's rights, balanced taxation of the rich and poor, removed racism from the government, crippled the nationalists, improved free healthcare, gave higher education opportunity to the poor, aligned with the communist superpower, and brought peace to the region by exposing aggressors diplomatically, which in turn boosted trade with other nations and improved the economy.
Everyone was happy.
All this took was a heap of shady shit until I was in control and a whole lot of, "It'll get better. Trust me." with the citizens.
In the real world the benevolence lasts until the next leader takes over and uses that consolidated power to turn it into an authoritarian hellhole.
Or it ends even sooner, as when you stop doing the shady shit the people benefiting from the shady shit will overthrow you and have someone else double down on the shady shit.
Yeah, they say power corrupts, but it is because the corrupt seek power and will use corruption to get and keep power.
You can't fight corruption with bare-knuckled honesty and a plucky devotion to fair-play. There are two ways to fight corruption, with overwhelming force and zero tolerance, or with more crafty corruption.
But the line between zero tolerance and despotism is thin and wavy.
Yeah, I figured post-game and at the end of my reign, I either have to install another like me or dissolve all powers I used for good, return to democracy, and hope it all kept working out peachy.
A return to democracy won't work because they already associate authoritarianism with benevolence. Trying to hand it to someone else rarely worked out for the few nobility that were better than average.
Honestly people will ruin whatever after a few generations when they don't see the negstives anymore.
Honestly people will ruin whatever after a few generations when they don't see the negstives anymore.
Why am I still paying those IT security folk? We haven't had any data leaks in years!
Well, my character at least had a finger snap moment in history where everyone on that empire of dirt was happy and well-looked after.
Maybe he did the right thing and launched the nukes on his death bed so everyone else got to die happy as well. One last authoritarian action of goodwill.
Exactly,
I never thought the leopards would eat my face
It's no secret that some people crave being ordered around. It's just sad that there are so many of them.
They crave non-responsibility
So do I but I don't go around bootlicking
There is no freedom of choice without responsibility. Authoritarian power structures take the extreme opposite stance: you are free from responsibility so long as you fulfill the letter of the law/your orders (and therefore have very few real choices).
It's a black and white system of morality. As long as you do what you're told, there's no need to ask difficult, confusing philosophical questions.
So, to those allergic to deep thought, it's quite appealing because suddenly the world makes sense. Even if it can be cruel, everything is neatly, cleanly delineated.
To those of us who prefer to think in detail and see shades of gray, it's horrifying.
I'm just trying to understand my enemies.
I wonder if this is some religious predisposition. A lot of people around the world are primed to accept the authority from "The One True God." I bet that aligns with a lot of authoritarian ideals.
Between the housing crisis, economical hardships, ecological collapse and whatever else I'm forgetting about, it's a bit strange to be surprised at people's faith being shaken in democracy. Since none of those issues have been seriously addressed pretty much anywhere.
What country has a 90% home ownership rate (in fact, many people are buying second home due to oversupply), 80% without mortgages or liens?
What country net 0.1% CPI recently with 5% GDP growth? (A single RMB can buy 0.1% less goods, but the economy is worth 5% more RMB).
What country is "flooding the world with cheap solar panels" for renewable energy? Leading global reforestation (with, thankfully, no more monoculture plantations).
Different countries have fundamentally different challenges. Let's not pretend like everyone's challenges are the same.
That's one of the things why I do not like direct democracy!
Constitution and the system of checks and balances is intended to limit the possibility of a politician gaining enough power to become a dictator.
democracy failing because leaders selling out so hard to corporations that the people consider other alternatives should be what the headline is
citizens should not be blamed for why the leaders and the country sucks
the bought and paid politicians should be blamed