&gt;  our country is becoming a dictatorship.<p>Our country will never become a dictatorship, and our country is already a dictatorship. To be more precise it is an oligarchy or what was that word... plutocracy? Anyone has a link to that paper?<p>It is basically ruled by the very few powerful interests.<p>There are multiple methods of how it is done:<p>One of the most effective is regulatory capture -- look at heads of FCC, FDA, USDA, Military and corresponding industries: communications, pharma, military industrial complex companies. There is a giant revolving door between them.<p>Senators and legislature in general (state and federal) can be easily bought as well.<p>Judicial can be subverted as well. This happens easier on the state level were judges are elected. I found &quot;Hot Coffee&quot; movie pretty interesting and accessible in understanding how the process works: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt1445203&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.imdb.com&#x2F;title&#x2F;tt1445203&#x2F;</a><p>Election campaigns are basically a big theater where future political favors are sold for campaign funds.<p>And finally the PR involved in polarizing the population and manipulating their opinions. On paper the country will never be a dictatorship so this just means spending extra on manipulating public opinion. Bush did a good job mobilizing Evangelical voters. Obama capitalized on liberal votes and sold a story of hope, change, plus added the racial card in there as well. It really was a very well run campaign, not unlike what Coke or Pepsi would have. This is not just a random internet person talking, AdAge -- one of the main marketing interest groups gave Obama an award in 2008 
<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;adage.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;moy-2008&#x2F;obama-wins-ad-age-s-marketer-year&#x2F;131810&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;adage.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;moy-2008&#x2F;obama-wins-ad-age-s-market...</a> for the best marketing campaign. Other usual winners are Coke, Nike, Apple.<p>The other thing that helps out is that various segments of the population, which would benefit from having a unified voice and position, are divided. It happens naturally in society, but it is of course helped a bit by media: Fox News vs liberal news etc. The division lines are multiple: conservative vs liberal; racial: Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, immigrants; regional: North, South, East vs West; by religion: non-religious, vs Christians vs whatever. It is a bit like the sports fans, the hate the other fans, but in fact they are closer to the other fans in terms of interests, income status, and general life outlook, than they are they with the players they are rooting for, who could be all driving sports cars, and hang out in exclusive expensive downtown bars together.<p>So minus some PR juggling and the need for some extra rhetoric about &quot;Freedom, democracy, and exceptionalism, mixed with a bit of God and manifest destiny&quot; you are not too far off treating the country like a well run dictatorship.