The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Here's how you turn a democracy into an autocracy. Follow these steps:

--Identify a group of citizens to vilify as The Enemy; it can be an ethnic group, immigrants, a political group/party, or other, such as the LGBTQ+ community. Identify them as threats to the nation and stir up anger against them so that the public will support you as the protector of the nation. Invoke religion to set the standards men and women must meet to be considered legitimate citizens and not part of The Enemy.

--Take control of the media so that only your messages reach your citizens.

--Take control of your courts; appoint judges who will make rulings that accomplish your goals.

--Take control of your elections. Everybody has the right to vote, but when the votes are counted, you always have a comfortable majority, the bigger, the better.

--Modify your constitution so that you can control society and make sure that you or your partners continue as national and regional leaders for years and years. If you're lucky, your courts or legislative leaders can simply interpret your constitution and laws as you desire so that there's no need for public input.

It works! See Victor Orban in Hungary, Rencip Erdogan in Turkey, and Vladimir Putin in Russia for examples of elected leaders who have turned their countries into autocracies by using these techniques.

Thank goodness we don't see this occurring in these United States. If we did, it would be great cause for alarm, especially for our nation's younger generations. Imagine what kind of future they would face.

Wait a minute . . .