Perils of Authoritarian Govt

This tweet touches on something I'd had a passing thought on -

https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/1231226188288471040?s=19

I remember reading The Sword and the Shield (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10756.The_Sword_and_the_Shield), about the KGB...

And here's the thing. Our covert ops seemed awful, in comparison. Our networks penetrated, our spies found out. And yet we 'won'.

I put that in quotes because of our current situation, but when the Soviet Union fell that's what most thought. 

And, it seemed to me, most of that was because of the flaws inherent in authoritarian systems. People afraid to stand out or draw attention, pressure to be 'yes-men' - or 'yes-people'. Reluctance to speak out when higher ups clearly don't want to hear it.

I used to think this was why, ultimately, democracy was better. There was a better chance of critical information being acted on in a timely fashion, better decision-making, better responsiveness.

I say 'used to', again, because of current events. We have some really foolish people (with more money than sense, and a really screwed up sense of what God wants) who seem bound and determined to destroy all that.

I struggle with feeling like it's worth saying anything more on that matter, though. I don't feel like preaching to the choir, and the rest seem too out of touch (and impervious to the thoughts of people like me) to bother with.