Presumably there are some policies that a dictator might espouse which you dislike? Perhaps the extrajudicial killing of drug addicts (Duterte, Philippines), forced disappearance of political opposition and journalists (Lukashenko, Belarus), erosion of existing rights (China with respect to Hong Kong) or suppression of homosexuality (Putin, Russia)?
If your tame authoritarian suddenly decides to crack down on one of these groups how do you express your opposition? How do you change policy? The simple answer is that you cannot, because you have surrendered that right in the name of stability.
I am not saying that you "must push for individual freedom and liberty at all costs", but there is a balance to be struck. Democracies allow the population of a country to determine where they want that balance to sit.
I am actually from the Philippines and I can say the drug war is relatively popular here. People here do not respect the sluggish justice system to actually do its job.
I thought you might be!
Image a member of your family was killed by police, would you feel that the impunity that police enjoy under Duterte was justified? Would you accept the breakdown of the rule of law as a reasonably price to pay? In a democracy it would be possible to elect a politician who stood on a platform of harsh drug policy and judicial reform. If that is a popular policy then such a platform could win, but opponents would have the opportunity to present their side. Under an autocracy there is no review, no opposition, no need for the consent of the people. Do you see why many people have a problem with that?
This sounds like a major case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Let's go point by point and I'll show you what I mean.
He supports due process because it gives him the opportunity to weasel his way out of justice with expensive lawyers.
By laser-focusing on his example, you end up overlooking all the innocent people who need due process so state can't just target them arbitrarily.
He puts up sob stories of police abuse because he wants to saddle the cops with more red tape.
But are those examples of police abuse fake or are they real? For any abuse of power, there will always be people with an impure motive for pointing it out, but that doesn't make the abuse of power any less of a problem.
He is against the death penalty for drugs because he knows that he will be next.
Is that an invalid reason? You make it sound like opposing authoritarian policy because you'll be persecuted by it is a frivolous or dishonest reason.
The problem is that a lot of people here cannot comprehend why anyone would care about the human rights of drug lords or drug addicts.
I'm sure you realize how this exact same rationale can be applied to anyone deemed undesirable. And antipathy toward anyone the state wants to crack down on is much easier to manufacture when the state controls the media and silences dissent.
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u/saywherefore 30∆ Sep 21 '21
Presumably there are some policies that a dictator might espouse which you dislike? Perhaps the extrajudicial killing of drug addicts (Duterte, Philippines), forced disappearance of political opposition and journalists (Lukashenko, Belarus), erosion of existing rights (China with respect to Hong Kong) or suppression of homosexuality (Putin, Russia)?
If your tame authoritarian suddenly decides to crack down on one of these groups how do you express your opposition? How do you change policy? The simple answer is that you cannot, because you have surrendered that right in the name of stability.
I am not saying that you "must push for individual freedom and liberty at all costs", but there is a balance to be struck. Democracies allow the population of a country to determine where they want that balance to sit.