My undergraduate degree was in political science, so I know a bit about political philosophy and the machinations of political activities and social adaptation. So, I'm genuinely interested in analyzing what is going on in our country.

Fascism is an actual political movement and method. It is anti-democratic, but often gains initial acceptance through democratic means.

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Robert Paxton, a professor emeritus of social science at Columbia University in New York told Live Science that fascism is "a form of political practice distinctive to the 20th century that arouses popular enthusiasm by sophisticated propaganda techniques."

According to Paxton, fascism uses such propaganda to promote:
anti-liberalism, rejecting individual rights, civil liberties, free enterprise and democracy
anti-socialism, rejecting economic principles based on socialist frameworks
exclusion of certain groups, often through violence
nationalism that seeks to expand the nation's influence and power
Historically, fascists have opposed modernization "if that term means liberalism, democracy, Marxism, individualism, and feminism," Chris Wright, an adjunct assistant professor at City University of New York, said. On the other hand, fascists have favorited modernization "if the term means technological and economic advancement, military superiority, efficiency, and the glorification of speed and machines," Wright wrote in the essay "Reflections on Fascism."

Now, do any of those concepts sound familiar in our current context? In 1932 Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat and fervent capitalist coopted whole cloth several planks of the American Socialist party. He adapted them and put them into practice, and the Socialist party never recovered. Similarly, the Trumpists of the Republican party have commandeered much of the rhetoric and positions of neofascist parties, and (like Hitler in post-WWI Germany), took over an existing political party and its apparatus. There are clear historical parallels. Feel free to discuss them or dispute them.

Last edited by NW Ponderer; 11/28/21 09:25 PM.
A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.

Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich