Did you notice how Trump and Musk, in several weeks time, managed to convert pretty much every single punitive government system and structure into something oppressive that furthers their personal agenda?

If you are not in the US, please learn from this for your local politics. This is why you want to avoid having punitive systems (and systems that otherwise control or restrict people) as much as possible. They are like catnip to authoritarians; they're a big cannon that they can point at anyone they don't like.

That includes prisons, border control (yes, even tourist visas), intelligence agencies, cops, and so on.

A healthy governance system is built out of systems and structures that *lift people up*, that take care of them, that encourage positive contributions to society. Those systems cannot be as easily subverted, and they also produce consistently better outcomes (just look at basically any research on this topic).

Build systems that support and inspire, not systems that restrict and control, and then your government won't be so vulnerable to the first ambitious authoritarian that happens to pass by.

It's really only a single small step from "keeping out illegal immigrants" to "deporting all Jewish/Black/trans/disabled/etc. people". You've already built all the infrastructure for them.