Fascism in America? Really??


In preparing my essays thus far, I’ve attempted to learn what the Republican Party and the Democrat Party are standing for and offering voters in this election. I’ve gathered details from their party platforms, from information that the individual candidates have added to the platform as it existed prior to either primary, from Project 2025’s revelations on individual topics accessed from a number on online sources, from written and televised interviews of the two major-party candidates. What I’ve noticed during my research is the presence of one word, which we are reading, seeing, and hearing daily. I thought it might be helpful to define that word first and then to see from that definition if there is anything applicable to either candidate. That word is fascism.

Fascism, as I learned, isn’t a product of 20th century Italy and Benito Mussolini. Nor was it birthed from the twisted mind of Adolph Hitler. Fascistic ideas developed as a backlash to progressive revolutions that occurred as early as 1789, revolutions that had brought about secular liberalism and social radicalism. Adherents to the ideas that form the bedrock of fascism opposed democracy, equal rights, socialism, and feminism while exalting warrior imperialism. As it developed it became a system of government in which authority is centralized under a single person: a strongman or a dictator. (Dictator is defined as an absolute ruler, a tyrant, or a despot although in ancient Roman times it was a temporary appointment to deal with an immediate crisis, i.e. to dictate what needed to be done during the crisis) The economy of fascism is capitalism, subject to stringent governmental controls. Fascism favors the violent suppression of any opposition. Its central philosophy favors belligerent nationalism and racism.

What I’d like to do is to take a look at what Robert Reich—professor and lawyer who worked in the administration of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor in Bill Clinton’s cabinet-- has indicated are the five elements of present-day fascism in order to explore whether any of these elements are apparent in either major party’s candidate. These elements are:

1. The rejection of democracy, the rejection of the rule of established law, and the rejection of equal rights under the law, all in favor of a single strongman who promises to fight his followers’ battles for them, to be the justice they seek, to be their voice so they do not need to have a voice. This strongman can be above the law because he actually is the law.

2. The galvanizing of rage among the strongman’s followers. The rage is directed at anyone whom the followers can be persuaded to hate and/or to fear. It is also directed at the strongman’s political opponents. Terms are used to stimulate the rage and the fear and to give them longevity. Some common terms are radicals, lunatics, communists, Marxists, thugs, fascists, and criminals who lie and steal and cheat on elections. Fascists especially encourage their followers’ rage against “the enemy within” who must be rooted out and eliminated in some way: driven from the country, put in jail, lynched, shot, bombed, executed.

3. The promotions of Nationalism based on the idea of a dominant and superior race as well as historic bloodlines. The strongman manufactures, promotes, and stimulates in his followers the fear of groups that he considers genetically and/or intellectually inferior. These inferiorities are based on race, ethnicity, religion, or bloodline. At the extreme of this process, these inferior groups are scapegoated, expelled, and excluded. Their rights to participate in various aspects of society are curtailed or denied altogether. Schools and universities are directed to teach values that celebrate the nation’s dominant race, religion, and bloodline. Truths that might denigrate the dominant group are removed and/or forbidden from schools’ curricula. If the dominant race has historically or in the present day committed acts that could be seen as disparaging the dominant race as a whole or individuals within that race, those acts must be expunged from the curriculum so as to preserve the image of the dominant group. Classes, seminars, majors, MA and/or PhD courses of study that expose students to unpleasant topics such as a country’s history of genocide or racism are canceled.

4 The extolling of brute strength in the battle for what the dictator claims is the salvation of the country from not only the enemy within but also the enemy without. Assertions are made that the well-being of the nation as a whole depends upon the leadership of the strongest and the elimination of the weakest. Violence against the weak and against established mores becomes glorified since violence is done in the name of saving the country from the enemy. Hence the creators of that violence are celebrated as patriots, warriors for the good of the country.

5 The amplification of disdain for women and fear of non-standard gender identities or sexual orientations. Everything is organized around the hierarchy of male dominance, generally white male dominance. Fascism relegates women to subservient roles while celebrating the tradition of males as protectors, providers, and controllers of the nuclear family. Anything that challenges these roles is seen as a threat to the social order. Fascism cannot tolerate and seeks to eliminate homosexual, transgender, and queer people either actually or symbolically because individuals belonging to these groups upset the social order as described above.
As I see it, as voters, we must decide what kind of government we want. In doing so, we need to evaluate comments made by the GOP candidate to see if there are any hints of fascism within them.

“I am your warrior, I am your justice, I am your retribution.”

“People from within [a political group] are bad, sick people, radical left lunatics.”

“We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and radical left thugs who live within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections.”

“Migrants will cut your throat.”

“They have bad genes.”

“Tremendous infectious diseases are pouring across our border.”

“Proud Boys, stand down and stand by.”

“You have to fight like hell or you won’t have a country any more.”

“Lock her up.”
 
“When you’re a star, they let you do it…Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
 
You’re exhausted by now, and believe me, so am I. But it’s my belief that we have a decision to make about what we want to see and experience in our country as we move forward. It’s my belief that we have an obligation to make that decision in the best interests of our children and grandchildren, our ageing parents, our extended families, our neighbors, and our fellows. As a voter, I see in Donald Trump a threat of fascism that is unlike anything I’ve witnessed or even read about in the history of our Presidents.

I believe the truth is this:

In a Presidential election, there are no do-overs. There is also no excuse for not voting. In a Presidential election, every voter needs to take a principled stand, but the stand needs to come from a position of knowledge. Rage has no place in a presidential election. Nor do racism, xenophobia, misogyny, apathy, or ignorance.

Each of us can make a difference. Our first step in doing so is voting.

Elizabeth George
October 19, 2024
Seattle, Washington