Not Fascism, that requires organization.

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  • Keith Wilson
    Trying to be reasonable
    • Oct 1999
    • 64123

    Not Fascism, that requires organization.

    An interesting article. I'm not sure I agree entirely, but he makes some good points. (Original here)

    Forget Fascism. It’s Anarchy We Have to Worry About
    We are not barreling toward fascism. Fascism requires a program and unity of purpose.
    BY NEAL GABLER | MARCH 29, 2017

    So many of us were wrong, myself included, about Donald Trump. We saw in the jut-jawed, brow-furrowed Mussolini-like posturing, in the blatant narcissism, in the reckless disregard for truth, the anger and incitement to hatred, the declamations that he would fix everything single-handedly on Day One of his presidency, his disdain for democracy and hints that he would lock up his opponents — we saw in all of these things incipient fascism.

    After the inauguration, I began reading Victor Klemperer’s chilling diaries on the rise of Nazism, I Will Bear Witness, and Sebastian Haffner’s memoir of the early days of Hitler, Defying Hitler. The analogies were all too close. Others on these pages have made similar observations. We were on the verge of something unprecedented, something horrifying. We were on the verge of authoritarian government headed by an ignoramus and possible psychopath. We were on the verge of the end of democracy.

    And then, last Friday, with the demise of the Republican attempt to repeal Obamacare and replace it with… well, with a massive tax giveaway to the rich, we discovered — I discovered — that I was fearing the wrong thing. It’s not Trump’s ability to marshal the forces of repression that should terrify us. It’s his inability to marshal forces to conduct even the most basic governance. Trump really is a presidential Joker. He knows how to wreak havoc, but he doesn’t seem to know how to do, or seem to want to do, much else.

    This isn’t to discount the fascistic dangers inherent in Trump. We all know that he has an authoritarian temperament. He likes the binary and berates the latter in the pairs: winners and losers, majorities and minorities (never mind that he won a minority of the popular vote), rich and poor, powerful men and feckless women, bullying America and every other country. He prefers muscle to negotiation, despite his much vaunted, and now much tarnished, skill at dealmaking. He loves strongmen and considers himself one of them.

    His desire, doubtless, was to Putinize this country with the help of his Republican lackeys. Or perhaps the better analogy is that he wanted to turn the country into one giant episode of The Apprentice, in which everyone vied for his favor. With seigniorial hauteur, he, King Donald, would point thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

    So here is the good news. Whatever his dreams of dominance and his possible aspirations to one-man rule, he simply does not have the aptitude or the discipline to realize them. We saw that last week. He thought he could bully, charm, finesse, arm-twist and threaten his way to victory, but no one was buying it — in part, I think, because he tried to make it all about his power, not the power of Congress, and he was already on such thin ice before the Obamacare debacle that he didn’t have much suasion with them.

    Why abet him, those Republican misanthropes may have thought, when at some point, they knew they might have to distance themselves from him? In any case, some of those legislators realized that Trump and his aides were way out of their depth. Hitler was able to parlay his minority into implacable power because he organized a rigid, disciplined crew of sociopaths on a mission. Trump has the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.

    So that’s the good news — sort of. To have an authoritarian state, you have to possess not just the impulse to authoritarianism but the talent for it, which is more than saying, “It’s going to be great,” or “Believe me,” or telling opponents how “sick” and “sad” they are.

    Now for the bad news. Two diametrically opposed impulses seem to have been warring in Trump for quite a while — that authoritarian tendency to rule, and a tendency to create misrule. If Trump isn’t a fascist, or at least a successful one, he is something nearly as bad: Donald Trump is a solipsistic anarchist.

    Of course he wants to accrue power, which may be what misled us into thinking he was a potential fascist. It’s just that he doesn’t seem to know how to do anything with it other than to promote himself and puff his ego, which means that everything crumbles around him. And of course, like most strongmen, he wants to do harm to the less powerful — to wit, immigrants and the poor — but it may be no accident that even his attempts at strong-arming turn out to have the opposite effect: chaos.

    The truth may be that chaos is more his métier than tyranny. As much as he says he hates losing, we may have actually caught a glimpse of the real Trump, the one sitting at his desk, smug and seemingly self-satisfied after his terrible defeat on Friday. This Trump may have thought he won by losing. No, he hadn’t won the congressional vote. But he had sown disarray, certainly within his own party and gradually throughout the health care system, especially once he joins judicial challenges to curb Medicaid expansion, as he undoubtedly will. The anarchistic tendency prevailed over the authoritarian one. Things fell apart. He wasn’t necessarily an unhappy Joker.
    "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations,
    for nature cannot be fooled."

    Richard Feynman
  • Keith Wilson
    Trying to be reasonable
    • Oct 1999
    • 64123

    #2
    Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

    Continued.

    They couldn’t have done more to sabotage their bill if they had tried, and I have a sneaking suspicion that is exactly what they were doing, some subconsciously, others quite consciously. Repeal? Absolutely. Replace? Not so much. The attempted Trump/Republican alliance, then, was a case of one anarchist making common cause with a whole gaggle of anarchists, neither of whom had the slightest interest in reforming health care, only in creating disorder and then hoping to benefit from it, both politically and financially. It shouldn’t have come as any surprise what the outcome would be. Anarchists don’t work well together.

    Just think about it for a moment. The Republican replacement was really a non-insurance bill, by which I mean it flew in the face of the most fundamental principle of insurance — the healthy pay for those who aren’t. It is the sort of community of interest that is anathema to conservatives who believe it is every man for himself.

    The upshot is that you cannot have “conservative” insurance. It isn’t tenable. When you have freedom of choice with every person getting to choose whether to be insured or not, and with those who are insured getting to choose what they want to have covered, you do not have a viable insurance system. You have anarchy. Anarchy was built right into the Republican plan.

    And that is the other thing I think a lot of pundits and political observers missed over the past eight years and even longer. Republicans never had a viable plan, not just about health care, but about anything, be it tax reform or energy or education. That is why their only remedies are less regulation and more tax cuts.

    There is a good reason for this, and it isn’t incompetence, though there is plenty of that, too. Republicans may talk tough. They may tout the idea of conservative, market-driven solutions to our problems, but somehow, serious solutions never get presented because, frankly, Republicans don’t have any interest in them.

    When you come down to it, Republicans are really anarchists dedicated to undermining government in the furtherance of an economic state of nature where the rich rule. What we saw these past few weeks was not the failure of Republicanism, as so many pronounced on Friday, but its logical and inevitable conclusion. Republicans are great at opposing things, destroying things, obstructing things, undoing things. They are really, really terrible at creating things because they have no desire to do so.

    And now they have an anarchist-in-chief, someone who shares their government phobia, if not their conviction, and whose real crime in Republicans’ eyes wasn’t that he couldn’t secure the passage of a bill, but that he managed to reveal their mess in full public view. As New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote in an open letter to Trump this past Sunday, “It took W. years to smash everything. You’re way ahead of schedule.”

    There is, however, a method to this madness. Anarchism isn’t nihilism. By undoing government, anarchism undoes the only protection most Americans have against the depredations of the Trumps of this world and against the often cruel vicissitudes of life, like health crises. Take away government, and you strip away those protections. But take away government, and you also enable Trump and his fellow plutocrats to further enrich themselves because there would no mechanism to stop them. This has long been the Republican way: greed disguised as a fear of government overreach. Joker Trump and his Republican cronies are bent on deconstructing government to leave the rest of us defenseless against them.

    Where that leaves us is a coming flurry of legislative activity that will almost certainly amount to nothing. And it won’t be because of some civil war within the GOP. It will be because the GOP, our very own anarchist party, really doesn’t want anything to happen.

    Again, Republicans and their presidential anarchist ally can undo things, as they have done with environmental protection. And that is surely no small matter. But tax reform? Forget it. No reform, just huge tax cuts for the wealthy. Infrastructure spending? Not a chance. Another go at health care reform? Yeah, sure. No action, no sweat. Anarchy is their policy.

    So, no, we are not barreling toward fascism. Fascism requires a program and unity of purpose. We are instead careening toward the first industrialized state of anarchy. Trump promised to blow things up; now he has. The question is whether anyone can put America back together after he and the Republicans are finished with it.
    "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations,
    for nature cannot be fooled."

    Richard Feynman

    Comment

    • Gerarddm
      #RESIST
      • Feb 2010
      • 32468

      #3
      Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

      What we are surging toward is nihilism.
      Gerard>
      Albuquerque, NM

      Next election, vote against EVERY Republican, for EVERY office, at EVERY level. Be patriotic, save the country.

      Comment

      • SMARTINSEN
        Transplanted Yankee
        • Dec 2006
        • 10166

        #4
        Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

        Tom Perez was more succinct.
        Steve Martinsen

        Comment

        • Keith Wilson
          Trying to be reasonable
          • Oct 1999
          • 64123

          #5
          Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

          And what did Mr. Perez say? (Yeah, the article was about twice as long as it needed to be). I've said for a long time that the right wing of the Republican party believes that government can't do anything right, and when in power does their best to make it true. It's not funny anymore.
          "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations,
          for nature cannot be fooled."

          Richard Feynman

          Comment

          • Osborne Russell
            Senior Member
            • Mar 2006
            • 27154

            #6
            Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

            Fascism comes in the wake of anarchy. Trump is not the threat, he just represents the current form of the process.

            The Great Man theory of history, or its corollary, the Boogey Man theory of history, is dubious generally, and Trump for sure is not an example of it.

            After the inauguration, I began reading Victor Klemperer’s chilling diaries on the rise of Nazism, I Will Bear Witness, and Sebastian Haffner’s memoir of the early days of Hitler . . .
            Ah, Democrats. So determined to avoid arguments or any kind of unpleasantness.
            Do not speak of "our institutions" unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf.

            Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny (2017)​

            Comment

            • SMARTINSEN
              Transplanted Yankee
              • Dec 2006
              • 10166

              #7
              Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

              Originally posted by Keith Wilson
              And what did Mr. Perez say
              "...the Republicans don't give a **** about people.'

              You must have someone special on ignore, too, he is whining about this, as well.
              Steve Martinsen

              Comment

              • oznabrag
                Historical Illiterate
                • Nov 2008
                • 40801

                #8
                Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

                How can anyone with two neurons to rub together fail to understand that the Republican Party is a traitorous, treasonous pack of imbeciles?

                OK, OK, Ian McColgin, the term 'treason' has Constitutionally-defined meaning.

                The Republican Party is NOT 'giving aid and comfort to the enemy', they freakin' ARE THE ENEMY!

                They represent themselves to be patriots, yet proudly tout their overtly-stated goal of destroying the duly-Constituted Government of the US.

                That makes them not Traitors, but Foreign Agents.

                If the America is not a Nation, but an Idea, then these people are not Americans.


                Just think about it for a moment. The Republican replacement was really a non-insurance bill, by which I mean it flew in the face of the most fundamental principle of insurance — the healthy pay for those who aren’t. It is the sort of community of interest that is anathema to conservatives who believe it is every man for himself.

                The upshot is that you cannot have “conservative” insurance. It isn’t tenable. When you have freedom of choice with every person getting to choose whether to be insured or not, and with those who are insured getting to choose what they want to have covered, you do not have a viable insurance system. You have anarchy. Anarchy was built right into the Republican plan.

                And that is the other thing I think a lot of pundits and political observers missed over the past eight years and even longer. Republicans never had a viable plan, not just about health care, but about anything, be it tax reform or energy or education. That is why their only remedies are less regulation and more tax cuts.

                There is a good reason for this, and it isn’t incompetence, though there is plenty of that, too. Republicans may talk tough. They may tout the idea of conservative, market-driven solutions to our problems, but somehow, serious solutions never get presented because, frankly, Republicans don’t have any interest in them.

                When you come down to it, Republicans are really anarchists dedicated to undermining government in the furtherance of an economic state of nature where the rich rule. What we saw these past few weeks was not the failure of Republicanism, as so many pronounced on Friday, but its logical and inevitable conclusion. Republicans are great at opposing things, destroying things, obstructing things, undoing things. They are really, really terrible at creating things because they have no desire to do so.

                And now they have an anarchist-in-chief, someone who shares their government phobia, if not their conviction, and whose real crime in Republicans’ eyes wasn’t that he couldn’t secure the passage of a bill, but that he managed to reveal their mess in full public view. As New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd wrote in an open letter to Trump this past Sunday, “It took W. years to smash everything. You’re way ahead of schedule.”

                There is, however, a method to this madness. Anarchism isn’t nihilism. By undoing government, anarchism undoes the only protection most Americans have against the depredations of the Trumps of this world and against the often cruel vicissitudes of life, like health crises. Take away government, and you strip away those protections. But take away government, and you also enable Trump and his fellow plutocrats to further enrich themselves because there would no mechanism to stop them. This has long been the Republican way: greed disguised as a fear of government overreach. Joker Trump and his Republican cronies are bent on deconstructing government to leave the rest of us defenseless against them.
                Rattling the teacups.

                Comment

                • Wet Feet
                  Senior Member
                  • Jan 2017
                  • 1017

                  #9
                  Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

                  Originally posted by oznabrag
                  How can anyone with two neurons to rub together fail to understand that the Republican Party is a traitorous, treasonous pack of imbeciles?

                  OK, OK, Ian McColgin, the term 'treason' has Constitutionally-defined meaning.

                  The Republican Party is NOT 'giving aid and comfort to the enemy', they freakin' ARE THE ENEMY!

                  They represent themselves to be patriots, yet proudly tout their overtly-stated goal of destroying the duly-Constituted Government of the US.

                  That makes them not Traitors, but Foreign Agents.

                  If the America is not a Nation, but an Idea, then these people are not Americans.


                  It certainly appears that way to the rest of the world.
                  If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.

                  Comment

                  • Osborne Russell
                    Senior Member
                    • Mar 2006
                    • 27154

                    #10
                    Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

                    Originally posted by oznabrag
                    The Republican Party is NOT 'giving aid and comfort to the enemy', they freakin' ARE THE ENEMY!
                    And they give aid and comfort to each other, and that makes treason. At that, the term seems inadequate. More than treason? Super-treason?

                    This has been going on since Reagan. I've been calling it treason since then. Thirty years. You too, I imagine. Another thirty, there may be three of us.
                    Do not speak of "our institutions" unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf.

                    Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny (2017)​

                    Comment

                    • oznabrag
                      Historical Illiterate
                      • Nov 2008
                      • 40801

                      #11
                      Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

                      Originally posted by Osborne Russell
                      And they give aid and comfort to each other, and that makes treason. At that, the term seems inadequate. More than treason? Super-treason?

                      This has been going on since Reagan. I've been calling it treason since then. Thirty years. You too, I imagine. Another thirty, there may be three of us.
                      WOOO HOOOO!!! A gawdam TRIBUNAL!




                      Nixon led the way.

                      If you're a Republican and want to be President, the path trod out by your forbears leads through violation of the Logan Act, and disenfranchising as many Democrats as possible, by whatever means necessary.
                      Rattling the teacups.

                      Comment

                      • David G
                        Senior Member
                        • Dec 2003
                        • 89765

                        #12
                        Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

                        Originally posted by oznabrag
                        WOOO HOOOO!!! A gawdam TRIBUNAL!




                        Nixon led the way.

                        If you're a Republican and want to be President, the path trod out by your forbears leads through violation of the Logan Act, and disenfranchising as many Democrats as possible, by whatever means necessary.
                        Gladly would I serve.
                        David G
                        Harbor Woodworks
                        https://www.facebook.com/HarborWoodworks/

                        "It was a Sunday morning and Goddard gave thanks that there were still places where one could worship in temples not made by human hands." -- L. F. Herreshoff (The Compleat Cruiser)

                        Comment

                        • Norman Bernstein
                          Liberaltarian
                          • Nov 2004
                          • 25217

                          #13
                          Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

                          "Reason and facts are sacrificed to opinion and myth. Demonstrable falsehoods are circulated and recycled as fact. Narrow minded opinion refuses to be subjected to thought and analysis. Too many now subject events to a prefabricated set of interpretations, usually provided by a biased media source. The myth is more comfortable than the often difficult search for truth."






                          Comment

                          • David G
                            Senior Member
                            • Dec 2003
                            • 89765

                            #14
                            Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

                            <snort>
                            David G
                            Harbor Woodworks
                            https://www.facebook.com/HarborWoodworks/

                            "It was a Sunday morning and Goddard gave thanks that there were still places where one could worship in temples not made by human hands." -- L. F. Herreshoff (The Compleat Cruiser)

                            Comment

                            • johnw
                              Senior Member
                              • Nov 2001
                              • 28596

                              #15
                              Re: Not Fascism, that requires organization.

                              He's in so far over his head, he's seeing these:

                              On the trailing edge of technology.

                              https://www.amazon.com/Outlaw-John-L.../dp/B07LC6Y934

                              http://www.scribd.com/johnmwatkins/documents

                              http://booksellersvsbestsellers.blogspot.com/

                              Comment

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