This piece is appearing as a newspaper op/ed this weekend in my very red congressional district VA-06 (in which I was the Democratic nominee for Congress in 2012).
******************************
Ever since the nightmare of the rise of Nazi Germany and the World War that followed, thinkers have asked why people would choose to support such a dictatorship. Americans have often thought, “It Can’t Happen Here,” but recent times suggest it could.
Authoritarian leaders – “Strong men” – have always appealed to some Americans, but not enough to threaten to take over the whole country.
Now, reportedly, just under a third of Americans (32%) think that a miliary regime or authoritarian leader -- subject to no “checks and balances” -- would be a good way to govern the country.
Although 32% is not enough to win an election, we can assume that others – adjacent to that group -- have enough of that same sentiment that they might go either way in an electoral contest between Fascism and Democracy. The outcome of coming presidential election may well depend on this group – i.e. whether their pro-Democracy or pro-authoritarian feelings are stronger when they enter the voting booth.
To fashion the right message to those Americans who might go either way, the pro-Democracy side should understand the needs and passions that might tempt people to support an authoritarian regime.
Here’s my sense of what attracts people to the authoritarian option:
- They assume their dictator would never use his unchecked power against them.
- They find it gratifying when he victimizes and dominates people they feel threatened by.
- What they find threatening is people who are different from their group (religiously, politically, racially, etc.).
- Threatened by difference, they are attracted to authoritarians who will enforce conformity (with their way prevailing).
- That need for conformity runs counter to America’s pluralistic democracy, which says that differences must be tolerated and that “the will of the people” includes everybody.
- The more fearful they feel, the more attractive is a narcissistic leader (Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin) who presents himself as a god, for identifying with such a figure is a balm for their feelings of vulnerability.
A good message to the people who have leanings both toward Fascism and Democracy should both assuage fears and foster a sense of our bonds as Americans.
It should emphasize our shared values (“We are all Americans”)-- painting the picture of the “Us” that can overcomes the picture the fascist force fosters of a threatening “Them” (blacks, Jews, liberals, Democrats).
Fascism accentuates the differences. Democracy accentuates the shared values.
(In this respect, the Democrats have a factual advantage: substantial majorities agree more with the Democrats on a variety of highly motivating issues: keeping government out of women’s decisions on their pregnancies, “common sense regulations on guns,” voting rights, judicial reforms. On each, more than 60% oppose the position of Trump and his Party.)
The Democrats in this campaign can enliven in people a sense of the majority that they are, and save American Democracy by summoning their support.
(Being part of “the American majority” can counter the fascist narrative that tells people that they must dominate some “Them” or be victimized themselves.)
The fascistic side encourages a sense of identity defined by race, religious belief, political loyalties. The democratic side should encourage a sense of identity that’s based on the shared “idea of America,” the values articulated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Constitution (that the Fascists are working to overthrow): the Rule of Law, the “will of the people.”
Fascism harnesses bigotry to attack on the idea of the “will of the people” by teaching that only “our people’s” votes count. Contempt for “the other” can “justify” respecting elections only when the fascistic force is victorious. So Trump’s Big Lie to deny his defeat connects with the repeated mention of urban centers like Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Atlanta — which implicitly argues that “If their victory required the votes of black people, then they didn’t really win.”
There again is that need to regard “the other” as different in some way that interferes with respect for the democratic ethic that says that every person gets a voice. Fascism defines “the people” as just those like “Us.”
Historically, American culture has generated images of ourselves that tied us all together. That once-powerful sentiment that “We are all Americans” affirmed that something meaningful holds us all together.
(In the midst of a huge wave of immigration in the early 20th century, the image Americans used to understand our shared American-ness was the “Melting Pot.” We may start out as separate elements, but by cooking together in this American Melting Pot we become the very rich and tasty human stew that America has been.)
The moral and patriotic duty of the Democrats right now is to save American democracy, which means keeping the powers of the presidency out of the hands of a would-be dictator.
The hope is that the people who might go either way can be led to understand the beauty of a free and pluralistic society – the America which has long inspired the world as a free and vibrant society where different kinds of people can live well together.
(A society that saved the world from Fascism in WW II must now save itself from a home-grown version of that same fascistic force.)
