I have two very measurable gauges I use to measure despotic attitudes in people and to measure my own personal freedom. They are simple, fair, and measurable.
1. Do they hate someone for voting their personal choice in an election? Do they hate 63 million people for voting their personal choice in an election? The numbers do not matter. They are despotic if they hate the fact people voted differently than them. They hate them personally. This is clearly evident since 2016 with all the vitriol directed a those like myself that merely thought Trump was a better choice than Hillary. Voting my choice is all it took for them to hate me with a viciousness i have not seen in any election before.
Voting your choice is a constitutional right in the USA.
If you hate this process then you are a despot.
If you hate me for exercising this right, then you are a despot.
Don't sugar coat your fascism with high moral ideals. You hate the freedom others have and want to take it away from them so you can dictate your will over them. This is why you hate personal choice in elections and those who exercise that choice.
Lately I have seen several members with this attitude of, " how dare they vote their choice ". " I hate them now ".
******************************************
2. Personal freedom....for me...is when I can order a 500 round case of military rifle caliber ammunition on-line and have it delivered to my front door. THIS is freedom. As long as i can do this, then I am free. Only despots and control freaks hate this kind of freedom. It tells me my local government sees me as a citizen with rights to be respected and not someone to be feared.
If you do not have this kind of freedom, then your local government does not see you in this light.
(closeup of me with hat off, staring off into the distance with "Texas, Our Texas" playing in the background as the Texas flag is flapping in the breeze over my shoulder...then doing a sharp military about face and stepping off....walking into a cactus with my shinbone...(^*%^*%*%)...CUT!...CUT!