A recent editorial I read, talked about Vladimir Putin’s paranoia and his fear of being killed by his own forces. Putin was apoplectic when, in 2011, he learned of the fate of Muammar Gaddafi who had suffered a humiliating and painful death at the hands of a rebel militia. Putin watched the cellphone video of Gaddafi’s death, and he took steps to isolate himself to prevent a similar fate. His paranoia and isolation have made him a dangerous individual and his missteps in the Ukraine war have made his actions dangerously unpredictable.
Muammar Gaddafi
It
was Muammar Gaddafi who had led Libya for four decades in a manner described as
a "cult of personality." He created the image of an idealized heroic
leader who demanded unquestioning praise and flattery. Why does this sound so
familiar? Gaddafi's technique was to use propaganda, fake news, nationalism,
and organized rallies and demonstrations to promote himself as a hero who was
not to be questioned. I'm thinking of a number. If you guessed 45, give
yourself a gold star.
I mention
this only as a prelude to my thoughts on the global decline of democracy and
the rise of a quasi-religious nationalism that seems to be overtaking countries
around the world, including America. The rapid globalization of world economies
and the trend toward unrestricted capitalism have widened the gap of economic
inequities. Those who end up on the short end of this economic stick, are then
more easily manipulated through fear and misinformation to favor leaders who
regularly work against their interests.
In
America, people seem to be willing to give up a democratic way of life for the
“magic beans” and empty promises of those claiming to be the strong leaders
that will provide them with a better life. This exchange of democracy for
authoritarianism seems like a good bet as the former has, in their minds, been
responsible for their plight. Strong and wrong seem preferable to weak but
right. In a quote attributed to American socialist and trade unionist Eugene
Debs, he stated, “In every age, it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the
exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or
both to deceive and overawe the People.”
In
the age of Roman domination, it was a maxim that whenever a revolt was
perceived, it was advisable to start a war to shift priorities. In modern
America that “war” is the threat of immigrants coming to take your jobs, rape
your women, sell drugs, and commit crimes that are used to distract the masses.
It is a variation of a common tool of magicians, conmen, grifters, and
politicians who use distraction as a means of control.
Another
sign of the shift toward authoritarian rule in America is the death of truth.
While politicians have long been known to “bend the truth” it took just one
grifter of extraordinary talent to gain political office to declare open war on
verifiable reality. During his 2016 campaign, it was found that this one
political candidate made false utterances about 78 percent of the time. If
challenged he would double down on the previous statements to create a
fictional parallel universe of his own making. Endless repetition of lies and
the use of nicknames of derision for his opponents was a useful tool for this
new demigod of the oppressed.
He
would also openly use promises that defied all logic. Cutting taxes for
everyone and eliminating the national debt might sound like worthwhile goals
but they are contradictions. Did anyone ever truly believe that Mexico would
pay for a wall across its own border to keep immigrants from making it to America?
How a billionaire was able to convince a massive audience of financially
insecure individuals that he alone could lead them to the promised land is a
tribute to his skill as the consummate grifter. As their new savior, only he
could solve their problems. All they needed was faith. After four years they
still had faith, but nothing else.
If
people could only open their eyes and see beyond their fear and loathing of the
unknown, they would see him as those who have had the misfortune of trusting
him in business. Most banks have learned their lessons the hard way. Those
tradespersons without large law firms on retainer have also learned he is not
to be trusted. He is currently having difficulty finding lawyers who will
represent him as he ignores their consult and puts them in precarious positions
of liability.
Will
this individual of whom I speak ever hold political office again? I doubt it,
but the damage he has wrought on our democracy will last for generations. One
political party has been totally corrupted and many within have seen how easy
it was for a non-politician, non-religious person, and not-so-smart grifter to
easily find a way forward to touch so many with false hope.
A
brief look at other authoritarian leaders just in my lifetime, which according
to Christian Evangelicals began at conception, we have the likes of Benito
Mussolini who were shot to death by Italian partisans while he was fleeing to
Switzerland. Then there was Adolf Hitler who swallowed a cyanide capsule and
shot himself in the head. Before they died, however, they led their countries
into a war that destroyed each of their countries. Over 4 million Germans died
in WWII. Over 200,000 Italians died in that same war.
Then
there was Francisco Franco of Spain who used forced labor, concentration camps,
and executions to maintain control which led to the deaths of over 40,000 of
his people. We also had Mao Zedong whose Great Leap Forward brought industry
and agriculture under state ownership and controlled his people with ruthless suppression.
A massive decline in agriculture due to poor harvests and the famine that
followed led to the deaths of 1.5 million of his people and the destruction of
much of his country’s heritage. I need not mention the many “successes” of
other authoritarian leaders like Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Augusto Pinochet,
Idi Amin, Joseph Stalin, Muammar Gaddafi, and Vladimir Putin.
Why
so many Americans are willing to give up some personal freedoms and abandon
democracy to another authoritarian leader escapes me. We seem to be a
generation looking for quick fixes and simple solutions based on false promises
of politicians and the misinformation of 8chan, OAN, and Truth Social. We
forget the failed “experiments” with authoritarian rule in Germany, Italy,
Spain, China, Cuba, Chile, Uganda, and Russia. We have become a nation of
zombies blindly walking through life with our eyes glued to smartphones which
aren’t making us any smarter. We have forgotten that just two and a half years
ago one of our biggest problems was not having enough toilet paper to wipe our
collective behinds.
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| What Will We Do? |
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| Wilhelm Reich |
I
leave you with the scary proclamation of Wilhelm Reich in his 1933 book, The
Mass Psychology of Fascism: “As painful and embarrassing as it may be, the fact
remains that we are confronted with a human structure that has been shaped by
thousands of years of mechanistic civilization and is
expressed in social helplessness and an intense desire for a führer.”
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