Political Apocalypse

Belief Without Thought
Endangers Freedom

   Ambition, Distraction, Vexation, Derision.
 
   These are the Four Horsemen of a political apocalypse. It starts with the overweening Ambition of someone who will use any tactic to achieve success.
   One tactic is Distraction, to lead opponents away from the real issues.
   The leader also encounters Vexation -- his own and that of opponents -- when neither side will listen to the issues, arguments and debates raised by the other.
   The leader then resorts to Derision, dismissing the views of opponents as, at best, not worth considering or, at worst, unpatriotic.
   Opponents are thus forced into silence, ignored or persecuted as loonies, interfering with the perceived worthy goals of a hyper-vocal majority.

   To hold strongly to a belief is good. To do so without thinking through the implications of the basic premises and their conclusions, but to accept them as Great Truths, accepted solely on the advocacy of another, is fraught with hazard.
   Result: Blind, unthinking followers of demagogues, and violence against those who disagree.