Women in Kabul, Afghanistan 1972 and now.

[Token Republican]

69. The point being

if you were living in the Soviet Union or Nazi German, in the 1930s to 1940s and openly opposed the leaders, you would have been shot, liquidated, missing, and your family would have paid a price too, to teach others not to disobey.

Voting meant nothing.

You would have the right to confess of course. Soviets were very good at getting to the truth they wanted.

The Great Purge of the 1930s is a classic example of a government just slightly out of control.

If you were an enemy of the state, you had the absolute right to confess your guilt. Occasionally people tried to say they were tortured into pleading guilty, but often they changed their mind, as illustrated by this example.

Bukharin's confession

On the first day of trial, Krestinsky caused a sensation when he repudiated his written confession and pled not guilty to all the charges. However, he changed his plea the next day after "special measures", which dislocated his left shoulder among other things.

Voting and opposing your government is not always an option and is something we should never take for granted here.