Itâs easy to imagine authoritarianism as a distant threat, something that happens in broken states or under military regimes. But its logic is already visible, in our neighborhoods, in our campaigns, and in the digital spaces where civic life now unfolds.
Across the country, and yes, in our own town we are witnessing a troubling political pattern: harassment and intimidation as tools of enforcement. What was once disagreement has become discipline. Candidates arenât just being opposed. Theyâre being punished, not only for who they are, but for refusing to toe the party line.
This is no longer about policy differences. Itâs about ideological control.
When Dissent Is Betrayal
While candidates from marginalized backgrounds including Muslim, Jewish, queer, immigrant, and Black, often face attacks based on identity, the culture of harassment has grown far beyond those boundaries.
Increasingly, even candidates within a political party are targeted for straying from strict orthodoxy. One wrong vote. One gesture of bipartisanship. One public statement that isnât perfectly in sync, and suddenly, the party machinery turns on them.
Theyâre branded as traitors. Mocked on social media. Disavowed by former allies. Harassed by anonymous accounts and sometimes by their own partyâs infrastructure.
These behaviors and tactics immediately bring to mind what Ray Bradbury warned in Fahrenheit 451 (1953):
âWe must all be alike. Not everyone born free and equal, as the Constitution says, but everyone made equal. Each man the image of every otherâŚâ
In Bradburyâs dystopia, the goal wasnât liberty â it was sameness, safety through conformity. Thatâs the same pressure weâre seeing now: a demand for ideological uniformity, enforced not by firemen, but by digital mobs, party loyalists, and weaponized shame.
When fear becomes the cost of public service, and harassment becomes normalized as âfree speechâ and âdebate,â weâre not just drifting, weâre actively participating in the erosion of our civic life.
This is not debate. Itâs enforcement.
A System That Disciplines All Difference
This kind of political culture doesnât just marginalize outsiders, it polices insiders. It trains candidates to think twice before speaking freely, to self-censor, to vote not based on conscience or constituency but on fear.
It creates a civic environment where dissent is betrayal, and loyalty means silence.
This is a hallmark of totalitarian thinking, not just the exclusion of those who âdonât belong,â but the punishment of anyone who refuses to conform completely.
Totalitarianism, Localized
Hannah Arendtâs warning in The Origins of Totalitarianism was not that tyranny always starts from above, but that it often grows from below, in the ways we begin to expect purity from our peers, in the ways we turn against each other for thinking differently, and in the ways fear replaces freedom in public discourse.
What we see in our town elections is not isolated toxicity. Itâs the early architecture of authoritarianism:
A culture of compliance, where deviation is dangerous.
A playbook of harassment, where shame and threat do the work of censorship.
A shrinking public square, where participation feels costly, not empowering.
The Price of Belonging
In this climate, public service becomes conditional.
You can run for office, but only if you donât upset the base.
You can serve, but only if you vote the ârightâ way.
You can speak, but only if youâre willing to risk being targeted.
Thatâs not democratic pluralism. Thatâs managed participation under threat.
And we must recognize it for what it is: anti-democratic, anti-human, and incompatible with a healthy society.
A Community Worth Defending
Democracy is not just about counting votes. Itâs about valuing difference. Itâs about protecting the space where disagreement doesnât mean danger.
If we want to live in a community where people can run for office without fear, where diversity of thought is seen as strength, not sabotage, we have to reject the politics of harassment in every form. Not just when it targets âthe other,â but when it comes for one of our own.
Because once fear becomes the price of participating in public life, the game is already rigged. And the people will lose everything.
Tom Baker IV is the publisher of Wake Forest Matters, Wake Forest’s only independent local newsroom. A Wake Forest native, Navy veteran, and intelligence professional, Tom launched Wake Forest Matters to bring serious accountability journalism to his hometown. Tips and story ideas: publisher@wakeforestmatters.com