"What good fortune for governments that the people do not think"

Dictatorships and authoritarian regimes often rely not on the strength of their ideology, but on the unquestioning passivity or ignorance of the general populace. The well-being of such governments depends significantly on the people's lack of critical scrutiny, their reluctance or inability to question official narratives, and their disengagement from political processes. When individuals fail to analyze information presented to them, blindly accept propaganda, or remain apathetic toward the mechanisms of state power, those in control can more easily manipulate, exploit, and suppress dissent.

Propaganda, censorship, and the curtailment of education serve as tools to maintain this environment. Leaders intent on consolidating power benefit immensely when citizens do not possess the tools or motivation to challenge authority. Critical thinking, public debate, and political engagement become obstacles to autocracy, so regimes actively work to discourage and undermine these qualities. Instead, they encourage conformity, obedience, and the acceptance of simplified, emotionally charged narratives that deflect blame, foster unity against perceived enemies, or glorify the state and its leaders.

A population that abstains from independent thinking becomes malleable, less likely to resist injustices, and susceptible to manipulation. The preservation of governmental domination is not simply a matter of enforcing laws or deploying police; it is intimately tied to the psychological landscape of the masses. When people do not engage with the truth, fail to scrutinize motives, or merely hope for security and stability, unethical leadership finds room to operate unchecked.

History reveals that most egregious abuses of power occur under conditions where citizens have stopped questioning, where critical voices are silenced, and where intellectual lethargy prevails. The warning embedded in this notion is timeless: the health of any government is dependent on the vigilance and awareness of its people. Absent thought, tyranny flourishes.