Two recent incidents occurring during the run-up to the Nov. 27 special municipality elections very much deserve our attention. One is a plan by a Taichung prosecutor to investigate if an Internet user has violated election laws by creating a parody video based on a campaign ad of Mayor Jason Hu. The other one is a request by the Ministry of Education for National Taiwan University to manage political discussions prevailing in the gossip section of the university's bulletin board system. These two cases appear to be 'isolated incidents, ' but they both involve restrictions on the freedom of speech and indicate a rise in the government's 'authoritarianism index.' Although a democratic system has existed in Taiwan for years, alleged infringements on democracy keep recurring. Residents of the five special municipalities should use their votes to tell the government that it is doing wrong by breaching its commitment to democracy. (Editorial abstract -- Nov. 4, 2010) 