THE BRAZILIAN NOSTALGIA FOR DICTATORSHIP

[sandensea]

1. A lot of it, sadly, has to do with rising crime rates - and perceived inaction by civilian regimes

Murder rates, as you can see from the graph below, have nearly tripled since 1980 (when they were already fairly high).

They've doubled since democracy returned in 1985; note that the trend slowed after Lula took office in '03:



People, as you know, tend to want to lash out in anger when they're going through trends like those - which make for fertile ground for fascist carnival barkers like Bolsonaro.

"Elect me, and I'll kill'em all!" is unfortunately what many want to hear most (especially white voters). A kind of tropical Archie Bunker phenomenon - but full of rage.

Thanks for finding and posting this, Judi. A real insight into what makes Brazil's right-wing voters tick.