TYRANTS AND TYRANNY

Walter R. Newell, Tyrants: A History of Power, Injustice, and Terror (New York: Cambridge U. Press, 2016) ("[T]his is a book about how and why tyranny is a permanent feature on the human landscape. It's about the kind of tyrannical governments that have existed throughout history and sill do today--some since ancient times, some specifically connected to the modern age. It follows the strange career of tyranny form its origins in ancient Greece and Rome to the state-building despots who brought Europe out of feudalism into the modern age. Finally, it explains the totalitarian tyrannies that began with the Jacobin Terror of 1793 and continued through the Bolsheviks, Nazis Chairman Mao, the Khmer Rouge, and today's Jihadists." "This book is also about the often twisted psychological makeup of tyrants, including those who aspire to become tyrants . . . Finally, it's about the ways in which tyrants can attract rapt and devoted followers to carry out their murderous agenda." "If you find these topics interesting--and above all, necessary for informed citizens who want to protect and promote democracy--then this book is for you. . . . {The book is based on the belief that tyranny is a permanent alternative in human affairs and in explaining political action." Id. at v-vi. Query: Is America immune form tyranny? I don't think so. "I have said that liberal democracy of the Western kind is not natural in the sense of being spontaneous. The mere removal of a tyrant does not guarantee that people will automatically embrace their inner Jeffersonian democrat. They may only want revenge, and triumph for their own clan, tribe, or sect. But liberal democracy definitely is natural in the ancient Platonic and Aristotelian meaning of human nature--not mere survival, but the cultivation of out greatest potential for moral virtue as free citizens of a self-governing republic, including tolerance, freedom of thought and expression, liberal education, and cultural excellence Tyrannies at their best an sometimes protect people's lives against a greater threat posed by civil strife, or promote material prosperity. But they can never enable people to pursue happiness and self-fulfillment. As long as we remain vigilant against the wolves who prowl the perimeter, democracy is bound t defeat tyranny because it's simply a better idea." Id. at 231-232. Query: Is Donald J. Trump, the Alt-Right, the out-sized fear of terrorism, etc., ushering in a period of right-winged, law-and-order, religious tyranny in America?).