

Ask HN: Red Team - resdirector

Over the last few months I&#x27;ve read a large amount of disturbing articles on US surveillance. Although it&#x27;s debatable whether the US has already started a descent into totalitarianism, it now possesses tools which put it at the top of a slippery slope. I now find myself wondering how likely it is that America will remain a democracy in my lifetime.<p>Instead of asking what we can do to avert a such a slide, maybe it&#x27;s better to first ask a Red Team style question (http:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Red_team):<p>&quot; If you had the means and motivation to turn the US into a dictatorship, how would you go about doing it? &quot;<p>I&#x27;m keen to hear HN&#x27;s thoughts (obviously not because I have such means nor motivation!). Rather, if the US was to descend into dictatorship it could quite possibly come from a strategy that many have not even considered. Being keenly aware of the ways in which the US could become a dictatorship, may better prepare us to prevent such a horror from happening.
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tobylane
Is the (de facto) dictator a politician, or a group of businesses?

Regardless of where we are on the slope, or how noticeable the slope is, being
told to be aware of it is a damaging step. If you're told you're capable of
affecting something that has a bad outcome you'll be so alert and worried over
it you'll be stressed. If that happens over a few decades as the democracy
slips away you'll be too weak from stress ulcers and so on.

Yes, I am basically saying you can't healthily fight this. I don't look much
into political history but I guess it's easier to get public support once the
evils are laid bare. Maybe someone who knows history could point out when and
where this has and hasn't worked.

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quantumpotato_
I'd wage false flag operations on local soil and insist that Oceania did it,
and Oceania is bad so we have to invade them to spread democracy and
"freedom".

Rinse and repeat.

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kefs
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism)

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Spoom
As a lawful permanent resident, even talking about such things hypothetically
could get me into hot water with USCIS.

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contingencies
Don't brainstorm on this subject.

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unimpressive
Why exactly? The potential harm of the information being used by somebody for
nefarious purposes?

