Was thinking (dangerous hobby of mine) about how Putin's Russia is basically a politically disengaged dictatorship, which makes sure it's people have "just enough" to survive, as long as they don't break any of the dictator's rules (or at least hide it really well).

This gives the majority of the population a sense of "freedom" to do what they want, as long as they don't visibly break any of the dictator's decrees (won't call them laws). As long as you keep your head down in your "free" life, you're "free" to do many things.

Now, I understand better why Republicans align themselves so well with Russians. Republicans have been pushing a dictator-style dream for at least 30 years (as long as Russia's existence, just a coincidence, I'm sure).

Republicans, like Russians, have also pushed the idea of the people staying politically neutral from whatever their leader says, as long as he let's them be "free" to do whatever bad behavior they want. It's almost anarchist in form, if you think about it.

So, Republican & Russian leaders would prefer a populace that lets them run the country however they want & in exchange they will let the people MOSTLY do whatever they want. Except for whatever ideological or religious rules that are put in place by the leaders.

And, of course, those rules can be broken, as long as you're not caught breaking them. That's part of life in Russia & very much how Republicans would have the USA become. Pollute as much as you want, just get products made. Rape as much as you want, but don't abort the fetus...

Follow my arbitrary rules created from my whim & my bias, & you can do whatever you want within those constraints, as long as I don't catch you doing it, because if I do, I might decide to make that something that can be punished as well. And stay out of my political business.

Meanwhile, democratic & rules based government is a HUGE threat to dictatorships, because it rests power away from a few & gives it in a larger part to the politically engaged many. Unfortunately, in the USA, political disengagement has been rather successful.

Until 2015-16, most Americans had spent the better part of 2 decades just voting out of habit, if they even voted at all. Like a dictatorship, as long as the "status quo" of most Americans survivability was being maintained, politics was something most people didn't care about.

Unfortunately, at the same time, some Republicans & RW news were weaponizing politics in a tried & true way, by using hatreds & fears to drive voters to the polls. The defeated former guy used this tactic very well, bringing out record numbers, unfortunately for us for 4 years.