“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” (H.L. Mencken)
When people are afraid, they are more likely to accept control and be ruled. This is true in a marriage, a family or a small business; it’s the same on the level of a whole society.
When the fear is rational and real, a plan of action is possible and much of the fear can be converted to changing the situation. But most of the fear peddled by today’s politicians and their media is unfounded — climate change; Trump as a dictator (rather than the Communist Democrats); lack of affordability (as if government, the cause of the problem, could ever do anything to resolve it other than reduce or eliminate regulations and taxes).
Pair today’s one-sided politicians and propaganda media with an increasing number of people trained not to think objectively and critically, and you get a perfect storm for dictatorship–by default. It’s happening right before our eyes.