I’m not scared of the Maos and the Stalins and the Hitlers. I’m scared of the thousands of millions of people that hallucinate them to be “authority”, and so do their bidding, and pay for their empires, and carry out their orders. I don’t care if there’s one looney with a stupid moustache. He’s not a threat if the people do not believe in “authority”.
~Larken Rose, Most Dangerous Superstition

If you google DuckDuckGo the word democide, you may come across this old article that tallies the number of people killed by their own governments in the 20th century alone.
The final figure is 260 million people - and that does not include those who died in wars.

Statistically speaking, the greatest chance of you dying a violent death doesn’t come from your neighbor, not even from some gang shooting in downtown Chicago, but from your own government.

260 million! Enough bodies to surround the Earth at the Equator 11 times. Or to stack them 1/3 the distance to the Moon.

And that does not include the countless other people who made it alive, after being imprisoned and tortured in the government concentration camps and gulags.

“But my government is not like that! My government loves me!” - you’ll hear the statists cry in disbelief.

Well, your government likely contributed to the killing of about 200,000 civilians in Iraq. Various branches of the US government burned alive 25 children because their parents defied the government.
Do you really think they will hesitate when it comes to their own citizens?

Given enough power, every government becomes tyrannical. And from tyranny to mass murder, there’s just one tiny step.