Why would one want to contorl the populace: Answered by my dear old dad.

To me there are two reasons someone would want control over others.  The first is the power to provide for yourself at the expense of others.  People spend great deals of money to gain political power in the belief that they will then be able to live off of and take advantage of those around them.  Let's look at the US government (not quite a dictatorship yet) as an example.  Why would a politician spend millions of dollars and all of that work and effort to obtain some office?  Because once they have been successful, they are set for life.  They no longer have to rely on working hard and saving for their retirement.  They no longer have to worry about providing medical care and paying those expenses.  They no longer have to worry about taking care of their spouses.  They and the ones before them have created a system where they are set for life.  And let's face it, we all want some sense of security in our lives.  If I can just sit back and have all of my needs taken care of for the rest of my life, I would be willing to spend a great of effort and money in the short term to obtain that long term security.  Once I am in a position of power over others, I can just take from them to provide for myself.  Our government officials don't pay into the Social Security system.  They have their own separate retirement plan.  They have their own separate health care plan.  They get other special perks like free travel, free offices, free security personnel, expense accounts, and other perks that go with their offices.  You can far richer much easier by just taking from others rather than working hard.  Other countries that have monarchies or royal families do the same.  the only difference there is that they not only provide for themselves, but they also guarantee their children's futures as subsequent generations simply inherit the office and power.

 

The second reason is age old pride.  "I think I know best."  Most people believe that they are smart and know how best to do things.  So they want the power and authority to boss others around and force everyone else to conform to their way of thinking.  look at countries run by Muslim extremists (Iran, Iraq, etc).  The local religious leaders believe their interpretations of religious writings and ancient law are correct and they want the political power to enforce their religious views.  Knowing that most people disagree with them means they can not simply run for office in a fair election and win.  They must use dictator type powers and threats of force such as imprisonment, torture, and death to scare people into giving in to them.  In our country, Obama is doing the same thing.  He has instructed the Department of Justice to begin profiling people as threats to him by outlining certain beliefs or behaviors that he disagrees with.  They recently published a document and sent it to their various field offices in different states warning them to be on the lookout for "domestic terrorists".  These were defined as people who oppose certain beliefs such as abortion, gay rights, and gun control.  It even went so far as to include returning vets who traditionally support more conservative or Republican views and would oppose gun control measures.  Now in many cases such people seeking power for this reason may actually think they are doing good.  I don't believe the majority of such people plan in advance to become evil dictators.  I believe that they think their ideas are the best and they want to force people to adopt them.  The problem of course is that when your views are in the minority, you must use force to enact them.  And as time goes on, you make more and more enemies and therefore require more and more force until you reach a point where you are suppressing dissent by arresting people, executing people, torturing people to find out who is out to stop you, etc.  It slowly builds as you find it harder and harder to keep your grip on power and as more and more people get fed up with your actions toward them.

 

You posed the question as to why would someone want to do this and make all those enemies.  In the beginning, most evil leaders started out very popular.  Obama was freely elected by a majority of those that voted.  Castro in Cuba led a very popular revolt against a previous dictator.  Napoleon led the very popular revolt against the evil French royal family at the time.  So these leaders were very popular with the people at the time based on promises of making things better.  Of course the problem is that people like Napoleon and Castro then eventually became worse rulers than the ones they had ousted.  They also failed to keep all the promises they had made earlier when they first got into power.  Castro promised free elections after a short time to stabilize the government following the ouster of the previous leader.  Then he later failed to keep that promise and just stayed in power himself all these years.  Napoleon did the same thing and had to later be ousted by another revolt of the people.  Look how many US politicians make promises to get into power and then don't keep them later.  Many people wondered about George Washington.  He led the revolt against King George of England to make America free based on promises of free elections and a government with no king.  When George Washington first got elected president, a military leader now rising to political power, King George of England predicted that America had simply traded one "King George" for another.  King George of England was so used to the way countries in Europe had changed leaders through revolt over and over again that he figured America would fall into the same cycle.  But George Washington set the proper example by voluntarily giving up power after two terms in office and keeping his promise to have free elections by the people.  But remember that leaders never get into power by themselves.  They build a following based on promises of benefits, power, money, etc.  Castro was the leader of an army.  He promised his military leaders positions of power in the new government if they would help him win the revolt.  His brother has now taken control of the government as Castro is older and in bad health.  So even though they know they will make some enemies, they believe that their "inner circle" of friends and supporters they have promised privileges to will keep them safe.  Look at Obama.  He can piss of almost anyone as long as he keeps certain military leaders and his Secret Service folks happy.  It would be extremely difficult for someone to try and do something to him.  And government threats of imprisonment and death sentences do keep people in check.  In the American Revolution, only 10% of the population supported the idea of rebellion.  Most were afraid of having their lands taken away, getting arrested, or being executed for treason.  It was the few that stood ready to make such sacrifices that won independence.  In many countries today with evil rulers, they routinely violate human rights with acts like imprisonment for opposing political views (political prisoners), executions without trials, etc.  And any country today run by an evil ruler has very strict laws about weapons.  If a ruler can disarm the people and only give weapons to his trusted military rulers, then it doesn't matter how many enemies they make.  What can they do about it?  People that are disarmed, poor, hungry, and have very little resources to work with are in no way in a position to rise up against an evil ruler.

Scott Taylor