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On Tyranny

Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century
Apr 18, 2021wyenotgo rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I recently happened to read about a somewhat informal survey that had been taken in a dozen "emerging nations" asking people at random whether they preferred the "western' model of democracy or the Chinese "people's republic" model as one for their governments to emulate. A majority spoke in favor of the Chinese model, which at first seemed surprising until I read a bit more, offering a sampling of interviewees' comments. People's reasons were often vague or not given at all but a couple of themes did emerge. Some alluded to the rapid economic development of China and the Chinese ability to make decisions quickly and get things done, even very large projects, without a lot of argument or protest. Others noted that western democracies seem to be suffering a lot of internal upheaval, with noisy demonstrations and frequent regime changes where multiple political parties have difficulty forming a government and remaining in power. There are a lot of arguments about policy, rights, accountability; democracy seems to be an unstable system. And I noted that all of this is true. Democracy is messy. Reading this book helped me to understand why those people responded in the way they did. Tyranny is simple. One has no need to reason things out, take responsibility, consider alternatives, seek nuanced solutions to complex problems. Tyranny replaces facts with slogans, replaces debate with commands. The twenty lessons in this small book all have one thing in common: they require citizens to act like responsible members of society, think independently, take control of their destiny, act courageously in defense of liberty, value truth whether that truth be rosy or grim. These behaviors are not for the faint of heart, the lazy of mind or the weak of values. Some readers have declared that this little book should be required reading for everyone who aspires to political office or civic leadership. The question in my mind is whether those who ought to read it and take it to heart today have the stomach for it.