It looks like by January 2025 we will be living under a fascist government. I am just going to consider here how this may play out based on historical similarities and the current economic, social, political situations we find ourselves in, and how it may also affect the civil rights we now enjoy.
The real danger of fascism is not just to our civil rights. It will eventually affect every aspect of our standard of living and quality of life. It will affect the progress and application of scientific advancement and medicine. It will affect education. It will affect how citizens relate to each other. Most important of all, it will affect justice.
Hopefully, I am completely wrong about this, but I don’t think so.
I will try to avoid any hyperbole, and address realistic expectations. Again, this is purely speculative; we have never had a fascist government in America before.
In Europe during the 1920s into the 1940s eight varieties of fascism existed in Europe. Each country had its own variety based on its culture and politics. The fascists succeeded in taking over all but three countries by themselves, Belgium, France, and Great Britain. When Germany conquered Belgium and France the German Nazis took control of Belgium and northern France and let the south of France be run by the French fascists. Great Britain, alone, never fell under the control of fascism or the Nazis. But it was close.
Before I can show how fascism in America will be bad, I must present the good ideas and principles which we have that it will attempt to destroy. A liberal society is based on the idea of the rule of law, individual rights, a free market, and some degree of democracy, usually a democratic republic or a parliamentary system of government. A liberal democracy therefore requires three institutions:
- A state,
- The rule of law,
- Accountable government.
These institutions require a delicate balance and wise citizens since the state is all about power, and the rule of law and accountable government is about limiting the power of government. After traveling across America in 1831, the French political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) wrote that Americans protect themselves from tyrannical government through institutions such as the rule of law, also through other institutions and associations concerned with the common good, such as churches, libraries, political groups, an independent judiciary, and a free press.
American fascism would eliminate the rule of law and accountable government and may very well need to suppress other institutions which interfere with its objectives. The objective of fascism is always power for power’s sake.
The consequences of this will be unmeasurably destructive to our current way of life and our freedoms. Like the European fascisms, it will reflect the history and culture of the country. It seems safe to say that American fascism will be racist in nature, with corporations and billionaires influencing government policy in a more definitive way than even today. Racism, anti-Semitism, law being used as a weapon against citizens rather than an institution of administering justice, along with unprecedented pollution of our air, water, and environment, can be expected.
When Donald Trump was president, his rhetoric was very similar to Adolph Hitler’s, but his policies and administration of government was much closer to Benito Mussolini of Italy. His next term in the White House may not be as nice.
What exactly is fascism? Fascism was started in Italy. There is no political philosophy attached to fascism, rather, it is manifested in what fascists are against. All the fascist movements sprang out of democracies. In fact, the only political philosophy that can be ascribe to fascism is its rejection of liberal democracy.
The earliest sophisticated philosopher of fascism was Carl Schmitt. I call him sophisticated because he addressed the Achilles’ Heel of liberal democracy, and it is a criticism which is still valid today. Of course, the flaws in his solutions are obvious, and have been called childish (referring to his fascism) by other political philosophers. However, his objections to liberal democracy should be taken seriously. It is these very flaws in our liberal democracy that have opened the door to the rise of Trump and fascism in this country.
Liberal democracy is not a spectator sport. It must be actively maintained, and it is safe to say as a nation we have failed to do this. I will not to go into all the failures here, except to point out the most relevant feature is that we have not maintained the integrity of our political principles and thus turned our political institutions and policies into agents of special interests.
Keeping in mind Mel Brooks’ theme “Hope for the best, but expect the worst,” I am hoping a miracle will avoid a fascist catastrophe, however, I don’t believe a miracle is in the making.
In the 1930s and 1940s, many Jewish philosophers fled Germany because of the Nazis: Hannah Arendt, Leo Strauss, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and many others. Once here, they wrote essays and books about how the rise of fascism in Germany and Europe happened, and gave warnings that it could happen here. They are all worth reading. Especially, Hannah Arendt, who described events in the most human of terms.
My hope is that somehow a fascist America is averted. Failing that, my hope is that it will not last more than a generation, and we can once again turn into “the last, best hope, for mankind.”
John Ruane
John Ruane holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University and a Master’s degree in Modern European History from the University of South Florida He has a concern that the importance of freedom of speech, as guaranteed by the First Amendment, is not well understood in our current society, and is gradually eroding in the face of insistence we conform to ideas without logical debate.
