There is a knock at the door. The local government has received advice that you have broken a code of ethics — a new set of laws banning your once-accepted way of life. You are being called for questioning and it is not clear when you will return home.
In an authoritarian state, the trust of neighbors is a thing of the past. Citizens are generally encouraged to report any misconduct noticed in their community to the government. There are countless examples of this in history — and around the world today. It happened in Russiaand even have an application for it in Saudi Arabia.
In the United States, we seem to be moving toward this culture of community surveillance. Texas ‘SB 8’ have names Every day Americans sue anyone who has had an abortion or assisted with an abortion. Texans are Report Parents of transgender children to the authorities. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin established a tipping line and mobilize parents to report teachers teaching “divisive” subjects. Florida’s “No Gay Saying” Law Encourages Parents screen teacher. With the Republican Party increasingly authoritarian, this may just be the beginning.
Tom Ginsburg, a professor of international law at the University of Chicago, says these kinds of policies are the American version of what you might see in authoritarian countries.
“It encourages the private sector to enforce ethical standards,” says Ginsburg. “It is very corrosive. It is a process that is undermining the ability of society to function in the traditional way that societies do. “
Ginsburg says he’s worried we’re losing democracy in states where Republican candidates for office seem poised. overthrow future elections, which means that people’s ability to reject authoritarian leaders may be lost. He said he didn’t think our conservative Supreme Court had any interest in helping to prevent a democratic slide.
“The Supreme Court can facilitate the subversion of democracy from below through the general stance of ‘Well, that’s not our problem,’” Ginsburg said.
Consuelo Amat, assistant professor of political science at John Hopkins University, says that when a state becomes authoritarian, whatever people in your community knew about you during the democratic years will matter. can be used against you when the new regime takes power. She has thoroughly researched Chile under dictator Augusto Pinochet and says that’s what happened there. Amat says supporters of the new regime can essentially become its informants.
“When that started happening, the dynamics for the communities and neighborhoods were awful,” Amat said. “The distrust that people had was huge, so people started not sharing information at all. One of the cores of democracy is neighborhood trust. You need to trust others in your society and community for democracy to work. Stage = Stage. When there is a very high level of mistrust, you see the community fractured.”
If the US moves further towards authoritarianism, you can imagine states passing more laws to disenfranchise, criminalize, or otherwise exclude certain groups. Anyone you meet who regularly disagrees politically may be encouraged to report a violation of these laws to you as an act of civic duty. They will have more ways to do that than ever before, as modern technology allows us to monitor people’s social media feeds, view them through Ring the camerareport them through community clock app like Citizen, and more.
