It is very odd to hear pundits on the far-right calling an FBI raid on Donald Trump’s private compound evidence of a “police state”. Normally, people on the left make such accusations toward agents of public order in the United States. What is happening to the world?
The truth is, we no longer understand the difference between leadership and manipulation. Leadership is based on principles like wisdom, fairness, respect, and love. We’ve had some amazing leaders over the centuries. We may not agree with them on many issues, but their integrity is always unquestionable, even when they make mistakes.
Manipulation seeks to control. Period. The policies of a manipulator often seem contradictory because they are not based on any principle other than doing what is expedient to gain or to maintain power.
The word “fascist” is often used to describe the actions of a leader we disagree with. The danger with doing so is that it trivializes the word when we do not use it accurately.
In essence, fascism is the antithesis of leadership. The word comes from the Latin term “fasces”, meaning “a bundle of sticks.” The idea is that when sticks are tied tightly together, they form a weapon that can be used to instill fear in one’s enemies.
Fascist ideologies vary greatly around the world, but they all involve fear, unquestioning loyalty, intimidation, hatred of targeted minorities, a propensity to violence, and manipulation of democratic structures to gain and maintain power. They are often populist movements but rarely receive enough support to gain an elected majority, thus the need to find ways to undermine the democratic process. They will often use fallacies to discredit those who do not think the way that they do and will offer oversimplified explanations to complex problems.
Industrialists who lack principle often fall prone to fascist movements. We often forget that Adolf Hitler would have had much more difficulty getting his movement into the mainstream of German politics without the support of industrialists, and that numerous corporations that benefited financially from Nazism continue to exist.
Because of the chameleonlike nature of fascism, it can pollute almost any ideology. Today Christian fascist movements are quite prevalent, while other fascists espouse agnosticism. They tend to be far-right leaning political movements, but, like the Nazis, may even have the word “socialist” in their name.
Today there is a growing fear of fascism in the United States, and rightly so. There was an armed assault on American Congress in 2021 and a significant minority of the American population does not think that was a problem. Right-wing groups are gerrymandering political constituencies and changing voting laws so they can control the government without the support of most voters, not to mention their blatant manipulation of the American judicial system.
If the United States does not act now, the world could lose a powerful, albeit imperfect, source of political stability. This would create a dangerous power vacuum on the international stage. It is therefore time for the international community and the mainstream media to end their silence on this issue.
It is interesting to note that the USA was on the edge of fascism almost 100 years ago, with the prevalence of groups like the Ku Klux Klan, rampant anti-Semitism, and support for Nazism common among industrialists and oligarchs. What saved America, and possibly the world, was the humanism of the New Deal, with its investments in the well-being of the common citizen.
As the great Jewish philosopher Martin Buber wrote, “One gains power over the nightmare by calling it by its real name.” What is happening in the United States is fascism, we know where it will lead if it is not stopped, and we know how to respond. Now we just need to act before it is too late.
Gerry Chidiac is a Prince George writer.
