America Needs to Confront Authoritarianism

Since the results of the 2020 presidential election were announced, declaring Joe Biden the winner of the contest, there has been a considerable and concerning percentage of the American population willing to believe that our nation and many of its institutions are irreparably damaged. Many right-leaning Americans now buy into various conspiracy theories, ones often decades old, alongside claims our national elections are so lax one party can control the results. The open discussion of secession, civil war, threats of political violence and other destabilizing topics once reserved for the far margins of society are now commonplace, even if almost exclusively peddled by partisan hacks in the right-wing media sphere. Fascist-leaning ideas and the lies used to fuel them are growing rapidly in popularity in the US, and this trend is unlikely to end anytime soon. This authoritarian-primed society is our new reality, and we more rational Americans need to attack it head-on if we intend to keep this flawed-yet-beautiful democratic republic of ours.

America finds itself in a true cultural battle between neofascistic thought and the liberal freedoms so many of us take for granted. For decades, the neoconservative/neoliberal alliance running the American government has systematically stripped away or weakened environmental protections, labor protections, personal search-and-seizure freedoms and more while promoting large business interests, creating a surveillance state and funding forever-wars at the expense of the public good. America's corporate and political classes have spent years convincing Americans 'government is the problem' while using that same government to cut their own taxes and subsidizing their own wallets. Despite America being the wealthiest collection of humans in the history of our species, many voters have bought into the patent lie that America just can't afford to ensure basic necessities like medical care, quality education or infrastructure maintenance.

While political and corporate corruption have combined to create a monstrously unequal, unjust and increasingly unstable society, it's far from the only game in town which has led directly to the rising authoritarian-fetishizing we see today. America has always possessed a Christian majority in its population, so much so that even while our country has theoretically been secular from the beginning, Christian thought, law, tradition and symbolism has worked its way into every corner of our society. This religious majority has seen its unquestioned grip on power and influence begin to wane over the last several decades, notably as the Millennial generation has come of age as the least religious in American history. As Gen Z appears to be following in the preceding generation's footsteps, this trend of growing irreligiosity has only intensified, leading to a newfound anxiety and sense of 'oppression and persecution' described by many in the Evangelical Christian community. What would be accurately described as Christians no longer being allowed to write the rules throughout much of our nation is being insidiously construed as a betrayal of America's Christian heritage.

As if the primeval forces of greed and theocracy weren't enough for modern America to face down, our longstanding dance with profane racism continues, renewed and empowered by a struggling working and middle class, corrupt and exploitative trade agreements and political demagogues more than willing to pander to these frustrations. Meanwhile, the percentage of the US population made up of 'white' individuals has been falling for decades, which leaves many nervous about what may happen when white people are no longer the majority. Any collection of people which believes they're losing power to another incoming group is bound to have members which violently resist. The result is an uptick in far-right militias, surging memberships in white supremacist groups like the KKK and the language of white nationalism becoming mainstreamed throughout the nation. Often posing as being for 'traditional values', 'traditional gender roles' or 'law and order', what this movement truly espouses is a return to the days of Christian, Germanic white men being placed by force of law above everyone else. This is the true lynchpin of any authoritarian or fascist movement: a group of disgruntled and dispossessed people finding an 'other' to channel their aggression towards, with the means and willingness to exact violence upon any group deemed adversarial.

When one combines these elements of modern American society: corporate greed, political corruption, loss of religious power and a surge of white nationalism, all we need is the proper demagogic charlatan added into the mix, such as Mr. Donald Trump, and America is primed for an authoritarian movement unlike any seen our history. For kicks one can add in a global pandemic, a lie about losing an election, conspiracy theories running rampant on the internet and a media industry built to exacerbate our most sensationalist tendencies, and this authoritarian movement can achieve in only a few years what would have otherwise taken a decade or more to accomplish. This is the precarious position we finds ourselves in today.

So, is there much we can do to challenge and change this chaotic state of affairs? Fortunately, there's a lot we can do, and historically America has been pretty good at tamping down the worst impulses of humankind in the long-run. We cannot take history as a guarantee of the future, and we need to acknowledge the darker parts of our past, but it should give us hope to know that history is actually on our side. Religious freedom, greater racial and ethnic equality, successful labor movements and big-business trust-busting eras are all important parts of our history, yet it's very much required of us today to stand up to a new unholy alliance threatening our nation, people and future.

For one thing, we need to sure up voting rights at a federal and state level. Banning partisan gerrymandering, hosting open primaries with ranked-choice voting, mandating automatic voter registration and mail-in voting, reinforcing electoral regulations which require secretaries of state across the country to certify the results of their state's election whether they agree with them or not, getting rid of the electoral college for presidential elections and other similar policies would ensure a more robust, fair, vibrant democracy which is far less likely to be taken hostage by the more extremist elements of society.

Additionally, we need to support and reinforce the elements of society which help to combat these extremist tendencies we see today. Creating a single-payer universal healthcare system would guarantee care to all citizens and allow for a far healthier population alongside a more flexible labor market. Setting up labor organizations across every industry throughout the nation would allow for true democracy in the workplace, giving workers a voice without threat of their jobs being pulled from underneath them. Banning corporate money from going towards political campaigns, think tanks and political action committees (PACs) would decrease the influence of corporate greed on American politics. Reforming journalistic standards, requiring fair, equal and fact-checked reporting of all mass media networks and social media platforms would filter out much of the disinformation and hyper-partisan pandering we see in the media today. Guaranteeing higher education and integrated jobs training would give working class Americans a leg-up on an ever changing economy and allow for a far more versatile labor force. Reforming the very government of the US, so that the legislature becomes more democratic and accountable to the people, the executive branch would have more dispersed responsibilities making an autocrat taking power more difficult, and a judicial branch with term limits and automatic bench rotations so partisan power pockets like we see today are less likely and less severe would go a very long way in bringing the American government's priorities in line with that of its people.

America finds itself at a dangerous crossroads, yet all is far from lost. We have the power to overcome these forces of intolerance and ignorance, we simply need the will and courage to wield it. The true enemies of American freedom are more than willing to hijack our institutions, airwaves and politics to discourage us from getting involved, yet to do so would be an affront to who we are as a nation. Doing nothing in the face of such corruption would be a disservice to ourselves, our children and their children after them. We can and we must stand up to authoritarianism and fascism wherever we find it in our society. This menace can and will be beaten, as such precarious rule never lasts. We have every opportunity to prevent this diseased way of thinking from ever taking power in our country. Perhaps all we need to consider are the values our Founders espoused over two hundred years ago while facing down the most powerful empire the world had ever seen at the time, and know we're on the right side of history.

References:

1) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/22/america-fascism-legal-phase

2) https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/08/fear-of-fascism/671289/

3) https://www.commondreams.org/views/2022/06/24/rise-fascism-feeding-meaner-more-violent-united-states

4) https://truthout.org/articles/the-us-is-descending-into-a-crisis-of-overt-fascism-theres-still-a-way-out/

5) https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/fascism-in-america-its-happening-here-according-to-professors-new-book

6) https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2022/08/05/paradox-technology-democracy-media-fragile-speech-persuasion

7) https://www.salon.com/2022/05/10/jesus-endless-and-the-irresistible-rise-of-american-fascism/