When Do Accusations of Fascism Become Justifiable?
In an ideal world, our candidate of choice would reflect our agreement with their governing philosophy, proposed policies, and history of adhering to their promises. The world is far from idyllic. In previous works, I’ve addressed how the Democratic candidate for President is hopelessly deficient.
A million think-pieces are attempting to advance Biden as a strong candidate. He isn’t. However, we do have to discuss a certain red-hatted phenomenon that has been sweeping the nation for several years.
This election is not a choice between two candidates. It is not a question of capitalism vs. socialism, conservatism vs. liberalism, or John Maynard Keynes vs. Friedrich Hayek. It is not even the classic American impasse: the choice between two mediocrities.
At best, most American elections are a struggle for the country’s temperament, not its soul.
This election is a contest for the American Geist itself. It is a contest between traditional means of American government and naked fascism.
Whenever the F-Word appears, there is a tendency to dismiss the associated claim. Fascists seem to be things of the past, appearing as caricatures in pop culture. The label “Nazi” is so overused that Mike Godwin coined Godwin’s Law. It states, “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” Godwin has since made several comparisons in recent years between the rise of American fascism and the ascent of the NSDAP.
It is necessary to recognize that discussing American fascism is not a character assessment of any individual. History is replete with examples of true-believing, well-intended people; they have called themselves fascists, communists, capitalists, socialists, feudalists, slavers, and even liberals and conservatives. This cannot be a dialogue about any one person’s participation in American fascism. It has to be a discussion about whether fascism is already here and the action required of us.
Robert Paxton (2004) helps us develop an approach to defining the nature of fascism. He states, “Fascism in action looks much more like a network of relationships than a fixed essence” (219). Paxton’s working definition is here, in its entirety (hyperlinks links obviously mine)
- “[Fascism is] a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion” (231).
Viewing current events through this lens is troubling. While few modern governments meet the criterion for expansionist sentiments, our current administration certainly has many times explicitly favored imperialist economic policy. Paxton also notes that fascism typically manifests with “The need for authority by… a national chieftain who alone is capable of incarnating the group’s historical destiny”. Along with this, there come assertions of “The need for closer integration of a purer community, by consent if possible, or by exclusionary violence if necessary” (232). Paxton’s is not the only definition of fascism to examine.
Umberto Eco (1995) discussed the difficulty of crafting a concrete and succinct definition of fascism and, instead, assembled a list of 14 common characteristics of fascist movements. He notes that “These features cannot be organized into a system; many of them contradict each other, and are also typical of other kinds of despotism or fanaticism. But it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it” (Eco 1995). These indicators are as follows:
- Cult of Tradition
- Rejection of Modernism
- Action for Action’s Sake
- Disagreement is Treason
- Fear of Difference
- Appeal to a frustrated middle class or people frightened by the pressure of lower social group
- Obsession with a Plot
- Humiliated by the wealth of their enemies
- Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy
- Contempt for the weak
- Everybody is educated to become a hero
- Machismo
- Selective Populism
- Impoverished vocabulary to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning
Recognizing the American fascist movement should be of paramount importance to its citizens, even though this discussion may seem focused only on its current figurehead. Paxton reminds us that “One must dwell less on the Fuehrer’s eccentricities than on the role the German public projected upon him”. He suggests that “It is the fascist publics rather than their leaders who need psychoanalysis” (220). To understand how fascist publics behave under fascist rule, we can turn to Milton Mayer.
In They Thought They Were Free, Mayer (1955) describes the process by which a society transitions to being governed by surprise. The people were tricked into “Believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand… [and] even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security.” This gradual but large divide between public involvement and government action was aided by the “Sense of identification with Hitler, [and] their trust in him” (179).
Most of all, this process involved constant distraction of the public. Mayer explains that the “Whole process… was all about diverting… to live in this process is absolutely not to notice it”. He elaborates, stating “All the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath” (179). A distracted public does not see the intentions of its government.
It is not difficult to find characteristics of the above in other presidents, movements, or candidates. The Nazis borrowed the ruthless tactics of the Soviets in their subjugation of conquered territories. Similarly, the Trump administration borrowed from the Obama mass deportation and drone war strategies, Bush surveillance state, and shameless corruption of the Reagan and Clinton administrations. Modern American Fascism is the snowball-turned-avalanche that blends all the failures and iniquities of political parties past.
It can easily be pointed that both political parties emulate many of the points above. It can also be argued that some of the above references are unfair. Not all of these links are perfect examples. This is not a discussion about any one of these instances. As Eco reminds us, it is the totality of these actions, statements, and policies that compel us to arrive at this diagnosis: fascism is here.
Fascism never springs formed from the head of Zeus; it is an autoimmune disease. It arises after years of incompetence and corruption cause the public to turn a joke into an executive. When it manifests, it requires us to set aside our differences and drive it back into the void.
Howard Zinn (2003) notes that the American Communist party, not known for supporting military action, made exactly one exception to voice its support for U.S. action against the Axis powers in WWII. This was because they considered the fight against fascism to supersede all criticisms they had of the U.S. government (397).
Our current President’s political successes are in large part due to the failures of Biden and similar neoliberal politicians. Even so, when a fascist is running for office, you vote for the other candidate. We don’t have to wait for the Reichstag to start burning or the 25 thousand members of the PNF to lay siege to Rome. Fascism may or may not be stopped at the ballot box, but we have a responsibility to try.
Criticism of this position is fair and earned: the Democrats have proven time and time again that they will not embrace progressive policy unless they are forced to do so. Without significant pressure, they will continue to pursue the neoliberal policy that enabled this nightmare in the first place.
The threat of electoral defeat is not the only means of achieving policy change. Following fascism’s removal from the presidency, nothing short of constant and sustained pressure on a hypothetical Biden administration will yield any results. Still, that antagonism is always better received under a feckless neoliberal than a fascist.
Vote like they’re counted. Protest like they aren’t.
Citation and gratitude to:
- “They Thought They Were Free” — Milton Mayer
- “The Anatomy of Fascism” — Robert Paxton
- “Ur-Fascism” — Umberto Eco
- “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn
