"Says what he believes, does what he says": The Hope for an American Dictator

How many times have you heard this as the primary virtue of President Bush? Usually, it is said not by his financial backers, but by normal folks, who would otherwise be natural Democrats.

This statement, as a reason to vote for someone, should scare the freaking bejeezus out of us all. It reveals more about the voter, and where they would let our country be led, than it does about the candidate.

A voter to whom veracity is a primary virtue is someone who is mired in uncertainty and chaos -- whose life is so disrupted by unpredictables, misrepresentations, and resulting confusion that they want only a leader who will give them stable ground. This is a voter so jostled in life they want only someone to stop the jostling -- they don't have the time or luxury of thinking through the issues, extrapolating from past polices into future debacles, working out where they will take us. They want only: certainty, certainty, certainty.

This is exactly how democratic dictators are elected -- a population beset by crippling financial uncertainties and national psychological setbacks screams for a strong leader to put them on firm ground. The reason those elected become dictators is not only because they are inclined that way --- and yes, here, I'm implying that Bush is inclined to democratic dictatorship -- but because those who elect him to power are willing to sacrafice their rights (habeous corpus, for example) to someone who they think can restore certainty to their world.

This voter should scare the bejeezus out of us all, because they are asking for an American Dictator.