The most common descriptor in American politics is the Left-Right axis. Democrats and liberals are considered to be on and embody the Left, and Republicans and conservatives are considered to be on and embody the Right. The axis is woefully inadequate for the task it’s assigned, but it’s easy to visualize and even easier for the press to vocalize. The Left-Right designations also appear in European politics, but the Left-Right in Europe is of a very different flavor than that in America. Here, we’ve tended to think of Left-Right as “more government” vs “less government,” and continue to persist in that belief even as the Right (or more specifically, the Republican Party) has abandoned “less government” in favor of “slightly less government than the Left.” Over in Europe, Left-Right tends to be more about in what manner government will act, but it also covers another element: nationalism.
Europeans tend to tag voters and politicians of a nationalist/nativist bent as “far-Right,” a designation that is, I believe, rooted in the rise of fascism in Italy in the early-middle 20th century. The placement of fascism on the Right is yet another demonstration of the inadequacy of the single-axis Left-Right spectrum, an inadequacy addressed by people like David Nolan, whose eponymous chart works with two axes. However, the evolution of American politics to its current state suggests that the differences between the American and European flavors of Left-Right are blurring.
Economically, America has been operating in a fascistic manner for quite some time. Under fascism, a nation’s economy may involve both private and public ownership under the umbrella of state control, and typically involves government tightly controlling a small number of large businesses. We’ve steered away from using the term “fascism” to describe how America works, but consider: There are literally dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of government agencies that regulate businesses. Government routinely, through a combination of contracting, distribution of tax money, and targeted use of the tax code, works to benefit some businesses and restrict/punish/harm others. Money is used as a regulatory tool, trade is restricted, the products that businesses may produce or sell are restricted, and high levels of corporate taxation essentially make the government an owner of a piece of every business that exists. All this overburdens smaller businesses, and thus favors big businesses. This makes the latter happy, and while they may whine publicly about government excess, they know full well that Big Government works to their benefit. We call this cronyism, or crony capitalism, but those are just euphemisms meant to avoid using a word with unpleasant historical connotations.
Writers at Harvard Law (of all places) pointed out that another aspect of fascism – use of authoritarian force to control expression – is prevalent in universities.
None of this is new. These elements of fascism have been around for a while in America. What’s new is the nationalistic fervor that’s driving the current Presidential election campaign. In reaction to the perception that President Obama (certainly a man of the Left) has abandoned the precept of American exceptionalism, that the population of illegal immigrants is a threat to nation’s vitality and economic health, that American jobs are being “outsourced” or “shipped overseas,” that immigrants (particularly those of Islamic faith) are refusing to assimilate to American values, that the Left is pushing multiculturalism instead of the traditional “melting pot” aspect of American culture, and that Big Business and Liberal Government are screwing the Working Man, voters are flocking in droves to the candidate that’s promising to personally fight against all these affronts to America. And, right there, is another classic element of fascism – a strong authoritarian figure.
That man has promised to “make America great again.” He has promised to round up and deport all those illegal foreigners, even the ones who’ve been here a decade or longer, who have assimilated to life in America, and who have children who speak English rather than the tongue of their parent’s birth nations. He has promised to punish companies that are shipping jobs overseas, to impose big tariffs on foreign imports, to prosecute war against those perceived as a threat to American values and to suspend the immigration of people who are different in a particular way. He’s promised aggressiveness against America’s enemies, and has even suggested he’ll abandon Western precepts of moral behavior and individual rights in doing so.
The mechanics of so much of this virtually guarantee substantial infringements of economic and personal liberty, but his followers don’t seem to care. Instead, they embrace his bravado, his tough talk and his confrontational style, and don’t seem to have a problem with his breaking some eggs in order to make the omelet they want. See: fascism.
I could go on, but you get the idea. As I’ve written before, much of this rise of nationalism can be traced to the excesses of today’s Left and the fecklessness of today’s Republican party. Beyond the Left’s failure to address issues surrounding immigration and beyond the Left’s wholesale destruction of American industries over its obsession with things like global warming, there’s the stultifying effect of political correctness and the backlash to the aggressiveness of social justice warriors. Libertarian personality Julie Borowski has a great take on that. And, beyond what the Right considers a GOP “betrayal” on immigration, there’s the party’s perceived lack of action and the apparent preference to return to the excesses of last decade rather than attempt to push back against the Left’s excesses.
The reasons, while highly relevant, don’t however excuse this rise of fascism or make it any less worrisome. Nationalism is ugly and destructive. It is one of the tools used by politicians to shift blame away from their own failed policies, to agitate, to point fingers at scapegoats, and to both foment and channel discontent at desired targets. It’s been in steady use in the Arab world against Jews, Israel, America and the West in general. It’s what keeps Putin in power. It’s how parties like France’s National Front, the United Kingdom’s UKIP and others have gained power. It’s been the means by which nations across the world and throughout history have been incited to wars, both military and economic, against other nations (with predictably bad results). And, when America’s economy remains moribund because the real problems don’t get addressed, demagogues can point accusatory fingers at everyone and everything that is “other” in naked appeals to the tribalism that’s encoded in our DNA.
It used to be that the political arguments in this country tended to be “big government” vs “not-as-big government,” and conservatism vs socialism. The man who has captured hearts and minds on the Left is an avowed socialist, albeit one who’s been redefining the word so as to divorce it from the horrors of socialism’s past. Unfortunately, the man who has captured hearts and minds on the Right is not peddling opposition to socialism, but rather a version of fascism. He won’t call it that, because he’s not stupid and because fascism is, today, a much dirtier word than socialism, but that’s what it is. Not, perhaps or yet, in all ways, and certainly not in magnitude (again, yet), but it is the path that his rhetoric and proclamations will move us along.
One of the great shames of this is that, prior to the captivation of a substantial subset of the voters by the demagogue preaching fascism, a genuine small-government movement had made some inroads. Fewer people were aligning religiously with the major parties, the Tea Party movement got several good small-government politicians elected to Congress, people like Ron Paul were inspiring many young people in a direction of liberty, and the occasional pro-liberty victory could be found in court rulings and the odd bit of legislature. Liberty, unfortunately, takes some deep thought to be understood and embraced, and nativistic drum-beating has drowned out that voice in this election cycle.
America’s on a scary path, and even if the fascist doesn’t get elected to the presidency, the elements that have brought him this far aren’t likely to be satiated by whoever does win. The near future is likely to be one of big government. The only thing not yet known is the flavor that big government will have.
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