{"id":40609,"date":"2025-03-27T12:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T19:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=40609"},"modified":"2025-03-27T12:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T19:49:11","slug":"20-signs-of-tyranny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/03\/27\/20-signs-of-tyranny\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Signs of Tyranny"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
ROBERT REICH<\/a> MAR 26, 2025<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote the following more than seven years ago, on February 8, 2018. It pains me to read it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I were to write it today I\u2019d change the title from \u201c20 Signs of Impending Tyranny\u201d to \u201c20 Signs of Tyranny.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are in a deepening national emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20 Signs of Impending Tyranny<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As tyrants take control of democracies, they typically:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Demand personal loyalty from all appointees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Organize military parades and other choreographed shows of force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Threaten to fire independent prosecutors who get too close to the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Spread conspiracy theories about “deep state” forces seeking to oust the tyrant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Refer to top-ranking military leaders as “my” generals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Threaten to jail political opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Claim to have won an election by a landslide even after losing the popular vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Stoke tensions abroad, even the specter of nuclear war, to distract from the tyrant’s efforts to consolidate power at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Circumvent the independent press and communicate directly with followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Vilify legislators and judges who are critical of the regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Repeatedly claim massive voter fraud in the absence of any evidence, in order to restrict voting in subsequent elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Turn the public against journalists or media outlets that criticize the regime, calling them \u201cdeceitful\u201d and \u201cscum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. Repeatedly tell big lies, causing the public to doubt the truth and to believe fictions that support the tyrants\u2019 goals<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. Blame economic stresses on immigrants or racial or religious minorities, and foment public bias and hatred against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. Threaten mass deportations, registries of religious minorities, and the banning of refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16. Attribute acts of domestic violence to \u201cenemies within,\u201d and use such events as excuses to beef up internal security and limit civil liberties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17. Appoint family members to high positions of authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18. Draw no distinction between personal property and public property, profiteering from public office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19. Make personal alliances with foreign dictators, but express indifference if not defiance toward leaders of democracies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20. Maintain a powerful propaganda arm that claims to be “fair and balanced” but only amplifies the tyrant’s lies and accusations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROBERT REICH MAR 26, 2025 Friends, I wrote the following more than seven years ago, on February 8, 2018. It pains me to read it. If I were to write it today I\u2019d change the title from \u201c20 Signs of Impending Tyranny\u201d to \u201c20 Signs of Tyranny.\u201d We are in… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40609"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40610,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40609\/revisions\/40610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}