The most dangerous element of the modern authoritarians is completely consistent with authoritarians throughout history. Those wielding power do not have broad popular support. They never do; they don't need it. What they do have is political support within the subgroup of "those seeking power". There is a personality type who desperately craves power and influence. Because they do not form the majority of the population, most of us find them distasteful and avoid them. But go to Washington, and inside the beltway the world inverts. In this insular world of the power-hungry, here yes, the authoritarians wield influence. And they wield it with all the brutality that has been true for thousands of years of human history. This article is putting its finger on the fact that the strategies designed for success in this power-center crowd are precisely those which the broader population finds repulsive.

Representation is no longer the goal. They intend to rule, and they do exactly that. These are now rulers. Keep that distinction in mind. The institutions they have taken control over are now so massive, they wield crazy amounts of power. But in order to excise this group of power-mad lunatics at this point, it's beginning to look like the institutions themselves will have to be dismantled.

This terrifies all of us, because how will the world look without these organizations around which we have built our society?

This cost is increasingly worth considering, however, as the suffering being caused by allowing these sociopaths to use these social structures against we (individual, "un-connected" humans) the people is becoming insanely cruel.