The Tide of Fascism
The Pakistani parliament ousted Imran Khan with a no-confidence vote. Pro-Kremlin Orban, in Hungary, was re-elected in a landslide and it wasn’t even close. France’s leader is up for a vote in a crowded field with Marie LePen, fascist descendant, in the mix. The outcome of this election will test Europe’s solidarity with Ukraine. Meanwhile, in the United States, we have our own midterm elections, the consequences of which will test the same thing.
Since 2016, the entire United States has become somewhat more educated. We now all know that there is an undeniable extreme-right fascist movement underway in our country that might cost us our very nation, and we know who the perpetrators are of the insurrection plot and the attempted coup. These facts are very clear, regardless about how we feel about anything else (including the veracity of an election that was called the fairest in decades.
Knowing what we know, and with the French people knowing what they know, and with Putin at this very moment attempting to overthrow a sovereign nation — the outcome of the various elections is a trial to determine whether or not we’re worthy of democracy. Hungary, with the re-election of Orban, sent an undeniable signal that they are not. Democracy doesn’t come with a strong-man leader who rubs elbows with other strong-man leaders because democracy is guided by the will of the people and not of any one person. But as Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying when asked what sort of government we have: “a democracy, if we can keep it.”
The world’s current bend toward authoritarianism tests whether the longest-running democracy in history (in case you didn’t know, that’s the United States representative democracy) will survive. Recall that the Middle Ages lasted for about a thousand years. Fascist governments are difficult to dislodge once they’re installed — and historically, have been the dominant form of government. Whether we can keep our democracy has everything to do with whether we can keep the GOP from picking up power in the midterms.
You Might Be Fascist If…
We have outdated ideas on fascism. The first thing that comes to mind is the nazi party. While they were and continue to be fascist, they aren’t the only ones. To give an idea of how thorough the confusion is, Senator Marsha Blackburn called Russia a socialist country in a recent tweet.
This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Russia is a fascist country now, and hasn’t been socialist for many years. It is precisely this lack of education and understanding that has paved the road for our current situation. That, and the perpetual “fascist” myth that life used to be better at some undetermined time in history. Hence, MAGA. It’s simply not true for a large chunk of the American population.
MAGA is at its core a fascist movement. And what we fail to remember about fascism is that once that power is entrenched, then it is very, very hard to hold them accountable to the people because of the structure of fascist society. One class of people are lifted up on the backs of most everyone else. Those are the people who get the power. This is why so many are willing to toy with fascism, on the off chance that they might be the ones who are members of the in-group. Most will not. And what they will discover is that fascism despises liberty, and whatever rights they believe they are fighting for, they will lose even more if a fascist government takes root.
Listen to this podcast for more information on how fascism grows and spreads in the United States.
