Reply #49: Fascism is just authoritarianism

[Selatius]

Authoritarianism can spring up both in societies that are based either on socialist or capitalist economic systems. The problem is not capitalism specifically but the concentration of decision-making power in the hands of a few and those who wish to attain even greater power.

All republican forms of government are vulnerable to authoritarianism because a republican form of government is one where a person elects someone else to make decisions for him or her. This requires that the person put faith in the elected, and that faith can be abused, and that is where authoritarianism creeps in.

This is why I am more apt to use the term "authoritarian" as opposed to "fascist." In my mind, they are synonymous, but to many folks, fascism is equated to the right even though there were leaders on the left who were just as abusive and destructive and tyrannical. (Compare Hitler and Stalin)