At what point would you consider a government tyrannical?

When the people have no say in what occurs – not even perceived “say”.

I bet Kevbo would have an awesome opinion on something like this… so I will follow it for now…

When a government has too much control over the general population and suppresses their rights and freedoms and takes away someones ability to have a positive and productive way of life. Here are some examples and this is in no way a complete list either.

- Nazi Germany in World War II
– North Korea,
– Several countries in Africa
– Haiti when it was under the dictatorship of Papa Doc Duvalier
– Cambodia under Pol Pot
– Russia under Stalin
– Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
– China
– The United States under George W. Bush (I’m probably going to get bashed for this one)

When the people are too afraid to say anything contrary to it.

The warning signs:

Leaders who will not step down (Castro, Stalin, Mao, and more contemporarily, Chavez). This is probably the biggie.

The country has a constitution, but it’s amended at the will of the government or the judiciary is weak and not obeyed.

The media are controlled or intimidated by the state.

The borders are closed.

People must carry papers.

@Bluefreedom Nah George Bush took a lot of measures to strip away the freedoms of Americans in the pursuit of terrorist. He would have suspended the congress if he could have found a way. Though I wouldn’t say it was as tyrannical as the other countries on that list.

Where there is no democracy. Where elections are fixed. Where people believe they are powerless to make a difference.

Don’t forget King George III

When the current government is horrible and the new government promises a big turnaround. The new leader is loved by all and is “the cult of the people”. Whenever this new favored leader does something, it’s always petcieved as a good thing.

Mousolini, Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Duvalier. And now it seemslile Obama is fitting in here (bracing myself for bashing)

@Mtl_zack – Do you perceive Obama being similar to that list in any other way? (Not bashing! Just asking.)

Democratic control—democrat house, senate, (most of ) cabinet and supreme court, and president.

He was elected when the people were willing to accept almost anything—horrible 8 years, recent tragedy, 2 wars, recession, unemployment, threats in the middle east, nuclear threats, invasion of privacy, the list goes on…

The black jackets, brown jackets, etc… Were all very proud of their dictator “gear” (weapons, uniforms, flags, etc…). Now, everyone Is proud of their Obama hats, buttons, banners, plates, t shirts, etc…

Obama has an approach that’s too straight forward. He uses simple Mottos like “hope”, “change” “believe” etc…—similar to lenin’s “bread land peace” or Hitler’s ”(something involving purity, I forget the words)”.

Infrastructure—it can be building roads and bridges or it can be building weapons and military transport systems.

Stalin put himself in pictures of Lenin, who was adored. Then the people associated Stalin with Lenin. Obama did the opositr because he does not want to be associated with bush.

He has extremely tight security for fear that he will be assassinated by a white supremicist.

He controls the media. He’s using technology to get through to people. Internet is used A LOT more often than tv or radio. He was also endorsed my many role models for kids, like singers, bands, actors, etc…

He has the youth on his side. The children are the future.

I brt there are more.

And no, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I just notice situations in their contexts. I love history and ok aware of the patterns. Also, living on Canada, it’s good to have an outside perspective looking in.

I would say that Obama is much more powerful than Bush was. He has all of the powerful tools(laws) that Bush had, but also has the trust of the people.

@Mtl_zack:

Republican control: Bush had Republican control of the congress for a while there, unil people were fed up and voted Democrat. We’ll see what happens to Obama’s Democratic control in the midterm elections.

Bush affected the passing of the US PATRIOT Act when his support was at an all-time high, just after the 9/11 attacks. he could have done pretty much anything he wanted, and he did.

People were proud of their Bush bumper stickers, and I saw no end to the “support our troops” stickers, magnets, and ribbons.

Bush’s mottos were “weapons of mass destruction” and “terrorists” and “attack.” Don’t forget “shock and awe!”

Bush had extremely tight security both because he feared terrorists and because he was eventually very unpopular. Also, he rolled back important provisions like the “freedom of information act” so that information that used to be available was put on a more “need to know” basis. Obama is restoring transparency to this same information.

Bush “controlled” the media as much as Obama does. Anyone can put out YouTube videos and blog posts. Bush could have done so, but declined, or didn’t know enough, but that doesn’t mean Obama has “control” of them.

Bush had the older citizens and corporations on his side. Children are the future, but the old and the businesses have much more funding.

Infrastructure might be building transport systems, but Bush directly sent the military around (while cutting their budget, true). If anything, Obama is bringing troops home, seeking non-military solutions.

So, everything you have on Obama, Bush had something similar. However, neither of these guys is what I would call a Hitler, a Stalin or a Pol Pot. You have to get far more down and dirty to qualify for that club. (Again, not bashing, just discussing.)

@laureth

Obama is bringing troops home from one country. What about the troops in the over 100 other countries we have them stationed.
Plus, just because he is pulling some troops back from Iraq doesn’t mean the occupation is over. We have an embassy the size of the Vatican, so don’t expect them all home anytime soon.

I think that pulling combat troops and leaving some kind of token force is a whole hill of beans different from invading your neighbors, plotting global conquest, and attacking your own people.