An unlovely truth of human nature revealed once again by this pandemic: most people don't seek power and don't think about it often, so they are unprepared for how intoxicating it is when they get some. That's why we suddenly have so many busybodies and volunteer lockdown police.
This is one of the answers to why people tolerate the imposition of authoritarian or fascist governments. It's why so many normally polite people become screaming control freaks online and eagerly join social media rage mobs. They're instantly addicted by a little taste of power.
For many people, that taste of power is like a lifelong non-drinker who gets his first sip of finely aged whiskey and can't believe what he's been missing. They never really thought about power before. They told themselves they had no interest in it and laugh at those who do.
That little bitty taste of power - reporting someone for violations, telling them what to do, participating in a mob that ruins them for violating a speech code - hits the unprepared psyche like a jolt of electricity. The appetite for more awakens with surprising speed.
It helps when power is laced with moral superiority, to erase the lingering sense of guilt that comes with using coercive force on others. People intoxicated by a taste of power will aggressively seek moralistic cover. The righteous scoff at being called out as tyrants.
In the Information Age, cheap virtual power is available to a wider range of people. Even if they don't have any real individual power, they FEEL like they do, because they participated in a movement that coerced others. They are exhilarated to be part of a pack that drew blood.
The language employed to recruit people to such movements CONSTANTLY stresses how powerful it will make them feel, usually mixed with assurances of moral superiority. The deep satisfaction of conquest is promised to keyboard warriors, as it was promised to warriors of old.
And even a little sip of power gets people started on embracing the hypocrisies and cheats that people with serious, permanent power indulge in every day. It's amazing how fast the HOA bully starts sounding like a 30-year Beltway veteran. Even a crumb of power can be corrupting.
Like all addictions, the addiction to power constantly seeks to justify itself. The addict denies he has a problem while craving his next fix. He lashes out with fury at those who challenge his excuses and thunders that he can stop any time he wants. He gravitates to enablers.
Why do people allow authoritarians to take over? Because the tyrants promise to take them along for the ride. They get the taste of power from being an informer, an enforcer, a good Party member, and they fall in love with how it makes them feel. Then they fall in line /end
