Fascism: the wave of the future
“The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State — a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values — interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people.”
It is now popular to call POTUS Donald Trump a fascist, oddly enough by fascists. In an effort to understand this phenomena I had to look in places other than wikipedia for answers especially since the phrase “educate yourself” actually means that the mutterer of the phrase doesn’t know the subject matter enough to describe it. Ever a fan of philosophy though I took the plunge and I recommend you do too, the subject matter is certainly more complex than is led on.
Interesting information comes up when researching fascism and one of them is the conflation it has with the far-right. Fascism is at odds with some of the American concepts of right-wing beliefs as right-wing politics tends to be gradual, tends to want less centralized government, and tends to be more economically free. It becomes confusing in the end when it is described in a dichotomous way, an examination of the tenants shows it to be a hodgepodge of ideas; whatever works to get power.
One writer states on Medium that Trump removes person-hood from some individuals and incites protests like a proper fascist, The entire article from Umair Haque comes off as particularly disconnected from facts or reality as the media has been very adamant about getting people outside to spread the virus, not Trump. The removal of person-hood comes from those who do not believe in individualization, which is something I cannot point out in Donald Trump as he largely doesn’t care what an individual does, unlike those who are all about the socialization of the American Government. Trump is liberal minded and goes right along with tradition when it comes to political parties, the tradition being you vote D or R. So even after being considered a democrat for many years, he ran as a republican and went about business as usual. That is a trait singularly absent in fascism, which seeks to be ONLY a fascist state, no other parties allowed. As far as his policies go, he has made some unilateral decisions sure but has also allowed for states to decide things for themselves, that is, let the people in those states live the way they agree too. This is a trait that is core to American values, we are a collection of autonomous states living together under a multi-tiered system. This too is antithetical to the tenants of fascism. A better example of this would be commie healthcare. Yikes.
Economically speaking it is hard to see where it connects to Trump as he is an advocate for less regulations and less centralized control. Fascists and many politicians nowadays really enjoy corporatism, that is, being influenced by whichever interest group offers more. Trump wanting to put more capitalistic traits in the economy is the opposite of anything fascists want. Capitalism helps bring about productivity and wealth and by necessity a hierarchy of merit. This too is something that fascists frown upon. Proponents of National Socialism are overwhelmingly the far-left or progressive type individuals. Those who support capitalism and individuality are starkly opposed to fascism as the fascier the person the more control they want. Many people that are grouped around the center find that the more government intervention, the less efficient everything becomes.
Fascism has a uniquely strange relationship with the youth, its relation to education: terrifying. The youth were regarded as tools for political action and thus violence was promoted as a means of getting the militia to purge the nation of undesirables. The Sturmabteilung were very effective at shutting down decent. If you did not support the powers that be, you were not permitted to speak. The violent shut down of events and speakers is a very defining characteristic of fascism as by its design is meant to be all encompassing. Those of us who stand by the constitution recognize that the ability to speak about the government critically and critically of the politics involved is critical to developing personally and as a collective. Because of censorship, and our overall lack of knowledge about our own government,, we the people have fallen into a predicament. We have forgotten about what it means to be american.
Inspired by the Germanic education system, modern day Americans are subject to similar factory settings. Schools tell us what to think, they instill in us the thoughts that are approved, they teach us how to silence the Jew- I mean- conservatives. Well they used to be called conservatives until fascist caught on and neo-nazi. Controlling the minds of the populace and exposing them only to what is approved was desired as it instilled familiarity and loyalty to the regime. If it seems like a stretch to call it mind control, then i’d ask you to consider what else it could be called when everything in your education is controlled by ideology. Being exposed to different ideas, to brilliant minds, to constructive discourse is dangerous.
It is very curious that our supposedly educated high school and college students and graduates are overwhelmingly of the same mind. If you control the information, you control the people, this is why propaganda works, this is why false flag operations work.
I am very sure that the Democratic party is proud of the anti-fascists who have been carefully cultivated in universities across America. The youth have been preened to violently oppose dissenting opinions and they are not critical. How can they be because when someone falls out of line, they are cast out with a litany of slurs. Fresh from the factory voters are glossy eyed, rabid, and ready to spearhead the establishments agenda. I can say for certain that Trump is not a fascist, but I can’t say that it hasn’t infected america. It is truly bizarre how on on breath many people agree that politicians are corrupt and in the very next sentence say that these same politicians should control everything.
