Javier Corrales, a political science professor at Amherst (Mass.) College, warns about rising autocracies. He said it is not about left or right; it is about how power is divided. When the president dominates the courts and the Congress, then autocracy rears its ugly head.

So, how do autocracies work? They find a leader who says, “I am going to help my people and be cruel to my adversaries.” Sound familiar?

Courts ignore due process and sentence before a trial. Many American-born citizens and migrants were rounded up and sent to detention centers without a trial.

Businesses are given support if they follow the mandates of the president in order to skirt laws that protect workers; so, the rich get richer and … well, you know, the workers are stepped on.

Autocracies fire those who have been true to their democratic institutions and hire people who serve the demands of the president. Thank you, Elon Musk.

The president in an autocracy uses social media as a weapon for lying and distorting fact, taking control over what information gets out. Goodbye, PBS.

It doesn’t take much of a leap to see how these characteristics are evident in the way our government is being run today. However, it can get worse. Corrales warns that if the leader cannot persuade through manipulation, he will use terror. Paramilitary groups will wear masks and round up protesters (think ICE) in the name of law and order.

Corrales’ warnings make one want to say, “I surrender,” until he reminds us that resistance to autocracies requires unity. What matters most happens during elections. Often, people’s anger over their plight in life gives a false sense that democracy isn’t working for them; the autocrat falsely claims, “I can make it better.”

So, now is the time for all of us to unify. We must be informed voters, we must resist false claims that defy logic, and we must be true patriots who won’t allow a government by the people and for the people to perish. Let’s make our voices heard.