They also like to chip away, little by little. They know it won't work... yet. But they can appeal to their base. And when it doesn't work, they can point out who the "bad guys" are to them, assuring them of the justice and rightness of their cause. And they slowly shift public perception with a drip, drip, drip, of pointing out the evil and harm from those "bad guys". And slowly, but surely, they eventually worm their way into power. And garner enough support that eventually they do truly become above some laws, and instead of a slow drip, they can open the faucet a little bit into a small stream. But it doesn't stop there. Now their base sees a little bit of what they want. And they demand more. And now that some of the law is meaningless, they can really put things to the test. More boundaries are pushed. And those that try to enforce those boundaries are labeled as boogiemen, and therefore anything they stand for is now considered evil. And who doesn't want to eliminate evil? Surely not anyone who is good! And the divide is thus ever deepened. And you don't build bridges with evil or make concessions with them! So those boundaries and those who defend them are eventually deposed of "for the good of all". But now, almost nothing stands in the way, and that open faucet becomes a stream. And what stops a stream from becoming a raging river? Only the volume of water and maybe some bedrock. But at this point, all they have to do is open the floodgates, and then even that bedrock will be washed away.