Ask HN: Red Team

8 points

13 years ago

Over the last few months I've read a large amount of disturbing articles on US surveillance. Although it's debatable whether the US has already started a descent into totalitarianism, it now possesses tools which put it at the top of a slippery slope. I now find myself wondering how likely it is that America will remain a democracy in my lifetime.

Instead of asking what we can do to avert a such a slide, maybe it's better to first ask a Red Team style question (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_team):

" If you had the means and motivation to turn the US into a dictatorship, how would you go about doing it? "

I'm keen to hear HN's thoughts (obviously not because I have such means nor motivation!). Rather, if the US was to descend into dictatorship it could quite possibly come from a strategy that many have not even considered. Being keenly aware of the ways in which the US could become a dictatorship, may better prepare us to prevent such a horror from happening.

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