How to Build a Despot

The following are exerpts from Despots for Dummies by I. Ken Kill. Once you embark on the effort, you should consult with Vladimir Putin and other experts to refine your plan.
 

1. First you must search for the perfect person to be your despot. This is the most important task and there is no room for error. This person does not have to be well-known or even hold an important position. However, he must possess many necessary traits (we assume this person is a male although more and more we are seeing women who can assume the role).  First and foremost, he must be devoid of a moral center The ability to lie with sincerity is essential, and it is even better if he believes the lies. He must be a smooth speaker who can sway masses of people to believe in him.
2. Among his first tasks is to concentrate all power in himself so he can receive a rubber stamp of all his policies and successfully thwart any attempt to challenge him. This may require the help of others, at least until full control is established.
3. He must find groups of citizens who would make easy targets and use them to unify the greater majority of citizens. This is more easily accomplished if these groups have been marginalized in the past. Keeping anger focused on these groups draws it away from the despot.
4. He should control education so that children can be indoctrinated at an early age and be denied access to unwanted views at any age.
5. He should ban unapproved books.
6. It is essential that he control the press and other media.
7. It is wise for him to select a religion many subscribe to and turn it into an instrument to divide believers and non-believers.
8. He should control the reproductive process, exerting control over one of the most personal areas of people’s lives. If he can accomplish this, people will know they have no hope.

 
 
The following is what is happening in Florida under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis.
 
 

1. Before he ran for governor, DeSantis was a little known and little respected minor congressman from Florida. He, through excellent oratorial skills, has shown an amazing ability to sway citizens into believing exorbitant lies, including that we live in the “free” state of Florida, made free by reducing the freedom of many.
2. Florida no longer has a functional check and balance government. Both houses of the legislature have super majority Republican control whose members kowtow to the governor. He and his predecessor have stacked the courts with friendly jurists who rule favorably on any issue of importance to him. In short, Ron DeSantis is the government of Florida. He maintains control by dictating redistricting, giving tax breaks to wealthy power sources, and bribing law enforcement with words and money. We have no legislative or judicial branch in the typical sense.
3. DeSantis has singled out the LGBTQ+ community in many attacks against discussions in schools and the attendance of children accompanied by approving adults at various gay shows. His people have consistently linked gays with “groomers.” He has denied public schools and universities certain courses and subjects on the Black experience.
4. Discussions of sexual orientation and Black history are being eliminated and instructors are voluntarily removing such references out of fear. He has taken over one of the state colleges with the goal of eliminating its acclaimed liberal arts program and transforming it into a public conservative university with a restricted curriculum. There is talk of firing every president in the state university system.
5. A large number of books are banned from public school libraries, many by well-known and respected authors. They number several that deal with teen sexuality, LGBTQ+ issues, and Black history. And even worse, some that combine these two issues and involve gay Blacks.
6. There is a push to make it easier for public officials to sue newspapers, and certain public functions involving the governor limit press attendance to friendly conservative outlets only.
7. State efforts are being made to place God, that is, a Christian white god, back into the classroom. If this doesn’t fit with your own religious view, well, that’s tough. You’ll just have to learn to adapt and accept the “right” teaching.
8. DeSantis just announced he wants a six-week limit on abortions. There is a push to forbid access to an abortion pill and talk of a ban on contraceptives. 

 
Does anyone see any concern here?