The Dangers of Authoritarianism: Lessons from History
The mouse smiled brightly
It outfoxed the cat!
Then down came the claw,
And that, Love, was that
-Lyrics to a lullaby recited by the devil Raphael
Commenting on a recent post by Scott Sumner, Mactoul argued “Authoritarianism is useful when you are trying to downsize the federal bureaucracy.” This sort of love affair with arbitrary power is common when the authoritarian does what you want. It’s why authoritarianism is so seductive, even to those who abhor power. Many days and nights I have spent dreaming of the utopia that would exist if only I, and I alone, wielded absolute power. Even Adam Smith discusses how certain evils, like slavery, are more likely to be abolished or mitigated under an arbitrary government as opposed to a more limited government (WN, pages 586-588 of the Liberty Fund Edition. Common citation: Book IV, Chapter 7, Part b, paragraphs 54-55).
But lest we be seduced by this ability for authoritarianism to do good, we must remember that it is arbitrary. What can be undone by an authoritarian government can once again be done. For the past four years, the Biden Administration expanded its arbitrary power via executive order. The Trump Administration is using that same power for its own end goals.
Those who promote arbitrary power tend to imagine they are the only ones who will wield it. But authoritarians are human, too. They will die. Either they die peacefully in their bed like Stalin, at the end of a figurative rope like Robespierre or Ceaușescu, or by their own hand like Hitler. Then the arbitrary powers pass along to someone else; someone who may very well undo everything they worked toward.
History is littered with examples of authoritarians using arbitrary power for some seemingly noble goal only for it to backfire. A notable example is Weimar Germany. Weimar Germany, while more liberal than its predecessor, was still quite illiberal. Indeed, the government often brutally suppressed dissent, most notably the Nazis. Many German officials of the 20s and 30s saw the Nazis as a unique threat and employed the full legal (and many illegal) powers of the Weimar government to suppress the movement. When the Nazis eventually triumphed, they simply took control of an already-authoritarian state. The Enabling Act of 1933 was not the beginning of authoritarianism in Germany. Rather, it was the final nail in the coffin of freedom.
Authoritarianism is, ultimately, a deal with the devil; it is a Faustian bargain. Even if the terms of the bargain are made to advance goodness, the Devil always wins. I do not celebrate authoritarian power when it is accomplishing what I want for that simple reason. If the law is laid low, if power becomes arbitrary rather than constrained, then what is to protect me when the reins of power fall to the Devil? Am I truly to rely on his mercy?
All those who argue authoritarian powers can be useful ought to think very long and hard about the lyric above: are they the cat…or the mouse?
