The Benevolent Dictator Lie

Nov 30, 2025

Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of our 50501 CO newsletter!

In this newsletter, we discuss why dictatorship can never truly be benevolent. In addition, you’ll find information on upcoming activities from the 50501 calendar, actions you can take outside of protesting, and also find out about additional ways to connect with us.

See you on the streets! ✊✊✊

Actions and Activities

(The below list contains details on all actions this week and next week which have been submitted to our 50501 CO calendar; click the link above for more details and the full calendar)

Arvada

11/30: 11:00am - 12:00pm - Pop Up Rally (Safeway at 80th and Wadsworth in Arvada)
12/2: 3:00 - 4:30pm - Visibility Brigade (26th St Pedpass over I-70, GPS: 2650 Alkire St.)
12/7: 11:00am - 12:00pm - Pop Up Rally (Safeway at 80th and Wadsworth in Arvada)

Denver

12/13: 10:00 - 11:00am - SPEAK NOW Taylor’s Friends (Wynkoop St and 19th St, Denver, Colorado, 80202)

Littleton

12/6: 11:00 - 1:00pm - Protest Against Tyranny (5700 South Broadway)
12/13: 11:00 - 1:00pm - Protest Against Tyranny (5700 South Broadway)

Loveland

12/6: 12:00 - 2:00pm - Hands Off (US 287 from US34/Sprouts to Tesla)
12/13: 12:00 - 2:00pm - Hands Off (US 287 from US34/Sprouts to Tesla)

Parker

12/7: 11:00am - 1:00pm - SPEAK NOW RALLY NOW/SPEAK NOW DEFY FASCISM (Lincoln Ave and Parker Road intersection)

Superior

12/6: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Weekly Rally in Superior (2 S Marshall Rd)
12/13: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Weekly Rally in Superior (2 S Marshall Rd)

The Benevolent Dictator Lie

I’ve been thinking lately about a story from the world of comics—Injustice: Gods Among Us. It begins with a tragedy: the Joker tricks Superman into killing a pregnant Lois Lane and detonating a bomb in Metropolis. In his grief, Superman decides the world can’t be trusted with its own freedom. He imposes peace by force. Wars end. Crime drops. Humanity is safe—at least in the way a museum exhibit is safe, sealed behind glass.

It’s a fascinating thought experiment because Superman isn’t written as a villain at first. He’s convinced he’s doing the right thing. In his mind, every act of control saves a life. Every limit on liberty prevents chaos. The planet finally quiets down, but at the cost of something essential. The debate, the disagreement, the messy argument over how we live together—all of it disappears. The world survives, but it stops being free.

I don’t believe our current leaders are acting from noble intent; this administration has made cruelty a strategy, not a side effect. But Injustice keeps circling back in my mind because it captures a truth that goes beyond any one government: authoritarianism always begins with a justification. Sometimes it’s fear. Sometimes grief. Sometimes the conviction that people can’t be trusted to choose well. It often claims to protect the innocent, to restore order, to make things efficient again. The slogans vary, but the logic is the same—trust us, not yourselves.

That logic never works, no matter who wields it. Even a fictional Superman can’t make absolute power benevolent. The problem isn’t whether a leader starts with good intentions; it’s that the act of deciding alone changes the decision-maker. Once you remove dissent, the feedback loop dies. Reality narrows to what the ruler believes it to be. There are no arguments left to correct the course.

The other thing about Injustice is how ordinary people vanish from the story. The world becomes a stage for superpowered conflicts, while citizens fade into the background—protected, silent, irrelevant. That’s what unchecked authority always does: it promises to protect you while turning you into scenery. Safety becomes something done to you instead of with you. And when safety depends on fear, it isn’t safety at all. It’s captivity with clean streets.

Democracy, by contrast, is intentionally inefficient. It argues with itself. It hesitates, corrects, stumbles. It drives us crazy with its delays and compromises. But that noise—the press conferences, the protests, the late-night debates in statehouses—is the sound of self-government working. The argument is the mechanism. Silence isn’t peace; it’s the absence of participation.

That’s the bigger picture Injustice made me think about: not just how tyranny rises, but why we still crave the illusion of control. There’s a certain comfort in believing someone else could fix it all if we just handed them the keys. But every shortcut to order ends at the same place—a locked door. Real freedom is noisy, and it’s supposed to be.

When I look at our own moment, I see leaders who use chaos as pretext for control, and others who use fear as currency. None of them are Supermen, and none of them are saving us. But the lesson still applies. Once power stops listening, the story always ends the same way—an empty world, quiet and obedient, mistaking silence for peace.

We don’t need perfect order. We need accountable argument. We need institutions that outlast personalities, and citizens who keep showing up even when the process feels broken. The work of democracy isn’t to eliminate disagreement; it’s to make sure no one gets to end the conversation.

That’s the lie of the benevolent dictator—fictional or real. The world doesn’t need more control. It needs more courage to live in the mess together.

Non-Protest Actions Bingo

The below bingo card contains a list of actions you can take (other than protesting) to help further the cause. If you get a bingo, tag us on social media to let us know!