Does America Face the Risk of a Fascist Backlash? A Must Read!

[keep_it_real]

In early 1919, Germany put in place a new government to begin rebuilding the country after its crushing defeat in World War I. But the right-wing forces that had led the country into the War and lost the War conspired even before it was over to destroy the new government, the "Weimar Republic." They succeeded.

The U.S. faces a similar "Weimar Moment." The devastating collapse of the economy after eight years of Republican rule has left the leadership, policies, and ideology of the right utterly discredited. But, as was the case with Germany in 1919, Republicans do not intend to allow the new government to succeed. They will do everything they can to undermine it. If they are successful, the U.S. may yet go the way of Weimar Germany.

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/132155/does_america_face_the_risk_of_a_fascist_backlash_/

[jwirr]

1. That is the fear. However, they were very close to a dictatorship with

*ss and co. so if that was their plan why didn't they follow through? I do not trust them.

[Juche]

2. The author totally ignores left wing rage and populism

Reading his article you'd get the impression that the Nazis were running a 1 party state in the Weimar republic. The reality is power was split fairly evenly between the Nazis, communists and the centrist social democrats and a lack of alliances between the left and center against the Nazis is what doomed the country, not the Nazi party and their 35% of the vote. The author neglects to mention that the collapse of Germany after WW1 empowered the communist party just as much as the Nazis or that the social democrats (a left wing socialist party) were the biggest party until 1933. The communists and social democrats always had more seats than the Nazis in the Weimar republic until 1933. They just didn't act in unison to stop Hitler.

Left wing rage is just as real. Look at the revolutions of 1848 (when various nations overthrew their kings and tried to institute left wing leadership) or the progress of progressive movements and unionization during the industrial revolution.

Will the right wing try their pseudo populism? They already are, that is what Glenn Beck's 'we surround them' bullshit was about. In the 1920s the KKK made a massive comeback in the US, taking over several state governments and gaining millions of members. So yeah its a threat, but the author makes it sound like right wing pseudopopulism is a guaranteed result of cultural change or poverty. Its not, because there is also left wing rage. Germany and Italy may have gone fascist after WW1, but Russia went communist. Not that I support what Stalin did, but the fact is that countries respond to stress and misery by moving left as well as to the right. Which direction we go is up to us.


Another factor is that some political science studies have shown once a nation obtains a per capita income of about $5000/person the transition away from authoritarianism to liberal democracy becomes much easier. That is partly why we have seen so much movement towards liberal democracy in the last 50 years all over the world (the number of liberal democracies grew from about 25 to 90), because growing wealth made it easier to transition. The reasons aren't really known (part is that people demand higher quality of life and transparency when they become wealthy and because they are freed from focusing on problems of sustinence and can instead focus on problems of quality of life, aka Maslow's hierarchy of needs). A transition to fascism in 2014 will be harder than in 1934 as the world has much more communication technology and wealth than we did back then.

[90-percent]

3. Juche

I commend you on a high quality, informative and very well written post!

If you are not a history author already, you should consider becoming one!

-90% jimmy