We dropped our absentee ballots off at City Hall.

A great many humans, across the globe and throughout time, have been susceptible to the blandishments of totalitarianism, authoritarianism, dictatorship.

This being the case, a demagog can easily stoke the somewhat natural fear of “the other”—be it ethnic minority, religious group, alternative culture, or immigrant group. This demagog claims that these “others” are causing all the problems, and that by marginalizing or eliminating them the once dominant “majority” can get back to its rightful place at the top of the dogpile. This demagog promises to restore the perfect past.

The totalitarian urge flares up a various times and in various places. Right now the world is experiencing a serious flareup—Russia. China, Turkey, among others, and in the U.S.

The U.S. has narrowly escaped at least two totalitarian insurrections, one in the 1940s and one on January 6. Thanks to the efforts of a slim majority of citizens who believe in democracy, these attempts were foiled. But the urge toward dictatorship remains strong, and there are plenty of demagogs willing to exploit it.

This mid-term election is therefore extremely important. If enough authoritarian election deniers get into office, democracy will be seriously, perhaps unrecoverably, threatened.

Those of us who are glad we don’t live in Russia or China need to vote in this election, and we have to get every other reasonable person we know to do so, too.