The vehicle to dictatorship is often a political party

   Look at the dictators of the world, and consider how some of them came to power. Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela? Elected. Vladimir Lenin in the Soviet Union? He rode in on the Bolshevik Party.
   The vehicle to dictatorship is often a political party. Those who think it could never happen here, in America, should consider we might already be on the way, with President Trump. The signs are there. Purge your opponents. Get rid of the enemies of the state. Exonerate those of your own party.
   Control the press. Many in America will no longer take their news from the standard media. We must consider Fox News and wonder if Pravda in the Soviet Union was ever so biased. In retrospect, we must wonder if the founding of Fox News was a monumental step towards providing an environment where a dictator might step in.
   Political parties -- they engender undivided, blind loyalty. A would-be dictator needs but to plug into the loyalty they provide, and a dictator he can become. Look at the vote in the impeachment, and how Republicans refused to allow witnesses or to even have a real trial, and how they voted almost by acclimation -- not so different than elections in some lands where there are dictators and the party leaders vote for the dictator with all votes cast one way, and none in opposition.
   Political parties whip up blind support for their standard-bearer. Look at the democracies that have fallen, and notice how often the dictator comes to power not by crushing democracy, but through democracy. Sometimes, even, they are elected, then they take power.