For Those Who Want A Strong Leader

Read The New Republic's Why Some Americans Really Do Want an Authoritarian in Charge:

Why would people want to live under an authoritarian’s thumb? It’s rooted, experts say, in a psychological need for security—real or perceived—and a desire for conformity, a goal that becomes even more acute as the country undergoes dramatic demographic and social changes. People also like to obey a strong leader who will protect the group—especially if it is the “right” group whose interests will be protected. Recall the Trump supporter who, during the 2019 government shutdown, complained, “He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”

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“Authoritarianism and a ‘strongman’ leader who’s willing to trample over civil rights can sound like a very appealing solution,” Pierre said. “In turn, democracy—which tells us that our ideological opposites deserve to be heard or should be given equal voice—can sound like the root of the problem.” People who favor an authoritarian regime, notably, don’t think it will be used against them, he noted, but “to subjugate others and have their freedoms taken away.”

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Conformity, another element of authoritarian appeal, seems antithetical to the American idea of individualism. But it’s a powerful psychological force, experts say, with people nostalgic for a “simpler,” idealized time—a theme embodied by Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

A few things to remember:

1. Of course, you are paying for permanent safety, aren't you? Just like the guy in Iraq, so what Benjamin Franklin can be saefly ignored ("Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety").
2. Americans have always been conformists. (I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America. Alexis de Tocqueville)
3. England is not the only place where they would vote for Adolf Hitler:

So, Americans Wanting A Strongman, do not feel lonely.

Americans who believe in self-reliance, in freedom, who know there is no permanent safety except in the grave, who know that taking freedom from others means freedom can be taken from them, may want to not vote for Trump.

sch 7/20