There are really only 2 states of society: liberty or authoritarian. Liberty is a relatively new concept in history; it’s personal autonomy: people making decisions for themselves and reaping the rewards or suffering the consequences of their actions. Authoritarianism has existed since the beginning: he with the biggest stick wins. Because of that, subservience to authorities is probably encoded in our DNA; most people would rather be told what to do & think; that’s why liberty is such a novel & delicate thing.

Authoritarianism comes down to those that are told and those that do the telling. In a Capitalist democracy, this eventually ends up with those who have the most money are the biggest authorities; not in an intellectual or competence sense, but in the practical fact that they can buy the people who are: media, education, politics, entertainment, Tech; and censor any other voices that might disagree. Even with all that influence & power, the authoritarians would be ineffectual if people valued their liberty over their comfort but they don’t: almost everyone lives to be happy, and comfort equals happiness. Authoritarians can deliver comfort, as long as they get to define what “comfort” is.