The fundamental difference between 20th-century dictatorships and our own today is ideology. Back then, aspiring despots could camouflage their thirst for power with ideals—nationalism, racialism, communism—that plausibly addressed the chief anxieties of the age. That has been replaced by a pseudo-ideology, designed by the people in power to keep them in power. It is blatantly self-serving and artificial, and it doesn’t just characterize dictatorships but democracies as well.
