Non-US Citizens living in former democracies--What was the tipping point when you knew your country's democracy was on the path to dying?

For me, it was when they started chipping away at the judiciary. The courts were always a bit slow, but you generally trusted them. Then the new government began to appoint judges based on loyalty rather than merit. They would create new laws that gave them the power to fire or transfer judges they didn't like. It's a slow process, but once the system of checks and balances is gone and the government can do whatever it wants without fear of legal challenge, it's over. That's the real end of the rule of law.

For me, it was seeing the erosion of the university system. They started cutting funding to independent departments and putting political appointees in charge of schools. Academic freedom disappeared and professors who weren't aligned with the government were fired. Education became a tool for the state, not a way to promote critical thinking.

When my country's leader started calling all his opponents "traitors" and "enemies of the people" on a regular basis, I knew it was a bad sign. It was no longer about political disagreement; it became about painting a huge portion of the population as disloyal. It was an excuse to demonize them and justify any actions taken against them. It really polarized the country, and people who had been friends for decades would stop talking to each other because of politics.