History rarely returns wearing the same uniforms. It does not always make noise. It does not always enter with tanks. More often it slips in behind words that sound familiar. Behind phrases that, at first, pass as common sense. A little “order.” A little “security.” A little “respect for values.” Somewhere a scapegoat. Somewhere a law that sounds reasonable, until you see who it will fall on.

And then, almost before you realize it, you wake up in a place where the lines between democracy and decay have started to melt.