We like to pretend we're inculcated against this shit.

We look at authoritarians and despots in other countries who, with the help of huge numbers of willing supporters, are blatantly abusing power and running fraudulent elections and fighting against their own citizens, but that always seems distant, like something that is fundamentally isolated by their borders.

Except people are the same everywhere.

We have the exact same types of power hungry immoral assholes here who would be perfectly comfortable giving up "American ideals" if it got them what they desire. We are not magically protected from this because of "freedom" or some nonsense about American exceptionalism.

Honestly the parallel I draw was watching the news about China struggling with Covid. For some naive reason, even as I saw them quarantining cities, I never dreamed it would show up our doorstep and we might have to do the same. Yet here are.

Clearly we are not special. Everything that happens elsewhere can happen here. We forget that at our own peril.