Comments by "SmallSpoonBrigade" (@SmallSpoonBrigade) on "Triggernometry" channel.

I used to live over there and the party isn't anywhere near as popular as people think. Only a small fraction of the country has actual membership for reasons that I didn't bother to inquire about. Everybody keeps quiet about it because there are significant penalties for doing or saying things that call into question the party line. Unlike in the US, they do still have political correctness as in an officially "correct" answer. If people started to think too much about the situation, it could come tumbling down relatively quickly, as the party has more tacit support by a failure to revolt and minimal protests than active support. And while they don't seem to talk with each other about their positions, that doesn't mean that they won't tell foreigners that they don't like the government. And the foreigners are allowed to say basically nothing, as interfering with the country's political system is grounds for deportation.
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@1milliondogs Possibly, when I was over there, it looked more like it was dependent on apathy or indifference of the people being ruled to the ruling party. As long as things are getting somewhat better than they were, the people don't have much of an incentive to ask too many questions or even know what's happening at the nationwide level of governance. But, if there's a prolonged downturn, or too much awareness of what things could be like with a government that represents a larger slice of the population, it could turn ugly for the party rather quickly as the members are outnumber by dozens to one and I have no idea which way the military would break in that situation.
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