Sitting in my history classes throughout the years, I would contemptuously wonder how the Germans allowed the NAZI party to unleash its evil agenda upon their country.  How could citizens of a civilized nation vote for a madman like Adolph Hitler to lead them?  Why didn’t anyone do anything to stop him?

 

Several years ago, I stopped passing judgment on the Germans because I had come to understand very clearly how a nation could fall into authoritarianism.  I also had come to understand the limitations of ordinary citizens who suddenly found themselves living under authoritarian rule.  Citizens can’t just do something while living under autocratic leadership. Stopping a tyrannical government is not as simple as going out to protest on a Saturday. It took an entire world war and millions of people dying to stop the NAZIs and the spread of fascism.

 

Even though I had some idea about what an authoritarian government looked like, I wanted to know more about fascism.  How does it start?  What are the warning signs that a country is descending into fascism?  What should citizens be aware of when it comes to authoritarian government?

 

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who served under the Clinton Administration, answers these questions in her book, “Fascism: A Warning.”  The book is more than a warning; it is a full-out alarm.

 

As I read the book, I had to stop several times because Secretary Albright’s warnings about what fascism looks like sounded eerily familiar.  For example, she writes that if there were a college for despots, it would include the following courses.

  • How to Intimidate the Media
  • How to destroy political rivals through phony investigations and fake news
  • How to Divide, Repress, and Demoralize Opponents so that no one believes you will ever be defeated

Throughout the book, Albright chronicles authoritarian governments, beginning with Mussolini and Hitler, and then examines several post-World War II authoritarian regimes, including those of North Korea, Hungary, Venezuela, Russia, and the United States.

Even though the book reads as a prophetic warning to those who fear their governments may be slipping into authoritarianism, perhaps Albright was not so prophetic as much as she was a keen student of history.  King Solomon, often called the wisest man ever to live, said: “There is nothing new under the sun.”  Those who would like to rule as authoritarians today are using similar playbooks and the same language as their predecessors.  Mussolini knew that the Italian people were sick of the immense bureaucracy that was bloated and inefficient, so he instituted a campaign to drenare la palude translated as “drain the swamp” by firing more than 35,000 civil servants.

In Germany, the people were holding out for a hero because the country was in shambles following World War I, due to having to pay reparations for the war.  They wanted a leader who would promise to fix their problems.  They saw the normal politicians as ineffective because they spent most of their time squabbling.  The German people were suffering, and they yearned for a strong leader to rescue them. Albright writes that Hitler said he reduced Germany’s problems to the simplest terms, and the masses followed. Other distressing details about NAZI Germany include people driving long distances to rallies where they could commune with others who wanted to restore Germany to greatness, bring back traditional values, and hear an optimistic message about the future.

For at least ten years, I have been concerned about fascism taking hold in the United States.  Too many people have turned politics into their religion, believing that politicians hold the key not only to the nation’s salvation, but also to their own.  Once people view politics not just as their civic responsibility, but as a defining aspect of their identity and a measure of virtue, they become more radical and irrational in their views.  These individuals believe that the ends justify the means, regardless of the cost.  All that matters is to regain their perceived loss of power and to restore the nation to greatness.  Sadly, these people do not realize that they are marching right into the clutches of a fascist regime. In Albright’s book, she quotes Historian Robert Paxton, who says that the classic fascist themes are: assertion of national and cultural identity, threats by unassimilable foreigners to national identity and good social order, and the need for greater authority to deal with these problems.

So what can concerned citizens do?

First, we need to face reality and admit that we are moving closer and closer to fascism in the United States.  Many citizens do not even know what fascism is, and some need to know what makes a movement fascist.

 

“What makes a movement fascist is not ideology but the willingness to do whatever is necessary — including the use of force and trampling on the rights of others —to achieve victory and command obedience” – Secretary Madeline Albright.

 

This could mean things like arresting people without giving them due process (which is clearly outlined in the Constitution) or threatening to suspend Habeas Corpus.

 

Second, we need to be more serious as a nation. If I were a politician running for office with the threat of fascism lurking around the corner, I would not be chasing my next viral moment on social media, going on talk shows to talk about the latest conspiracies,  or wasting time bickering with people who are completely unserious about making life better for this country’s citizens.  I would be deadly serious because the threat to our guaranteed rights under the Constitution is under attack.  I strongly believe in our Constitution and the Rule of Law, and I consider them two of our most important values as a country.

 

Most of our current politicians have failed this nation.  Many of our elected officials are profoundly unserious individuals who are more interested in social media soundbites and fame than they are in being effective at governing and legislating.  Others are so worried about being primaried that they go against their convictions and values in order not to anger the more extreme factions of their political parties.  Even worse, some politicians are legitimately afraid to do what’s right because they are concerned about threats of violence to themselves and their families.

 

The 2024 Presidential election was the worst of my lifetime. It was so dispiriting and dreadful that a sizable chunk of the electorate stayed home rather than vote for either of the two presidential candidates.  As a country, we must examine why the quality of candidates has deteriorated to the point where people would rather stay home than vote for the choices offered.  We need serious and qualified candidates to run for president and Congress because the worse the quality of our candidates becomes, the more likely it is that an actual authoritarian, who is intelligent and charismatic, will ascend to power.

 

We must reject any and all candidates and systems that attempt to move the goal posts from democracy to authoritarianism.

 

Madeline Albright warned that the move toward fascism is step-by-step and not one giant leap.  We don’t go to bed in a democracy and wake up in authoritarianism.  It is a constant moving of the goal posts to see what citizens will accept, and it continues until freedoms we took for granted have been eroded.

 

The book “Fascism: A Warning” was published in 2018, and its author, Madeline Albright, died in 2022.  She admits to writing the book with the expectation of a Hillary Clinton presidency and a desire to lend her expertise to the Hillary Clinton administration on modern-day authoritarian regimes.  When that didn’t happen, she grew alarmed at the direction of the United States in both foreign policy and domestic issues under President Donald Trump.  I am sure she would be apoplectic at the current state of affairs in President Trump’s second term.

 

There are no easy answers about how to combat a nation’s march toward authoritarianism.  Too often, people are simplistic and naive in their thinking that mass protests, yelling and screaming, and even writing manifestos on social media (like I am doing here) will make a difference.  As we saw in World War II, sometimes the only way to stop authoritarian governments is military intervention.  I hope and pray that the situation doesn’t come to that.  I still believe in our three branches of government, and I hope that our legislative and judicial branches will uphold the rights and freedoms that have guided our republic for 250 years, as enshrined in our nation’s constitution.

 

The United States has persevered through hard times before because of our commitment to the principles of liberal democracy. I am no longer certain of this commitment, and it worries me that the door is opening wider and wider for a leader who will declare himself Supreme Ruler.

 

Our Constitution begins with We the People, and it is time for We the People to take our stand and reject fascism so that future generations will be inspired to take their stand when fascism makes its cyclical generational turn.

 

May a Fascist government never take hold in our country, and may We the People have a hand in making sure it is so.