It Wasn’t the Economy, Stupid
Published at 09:17 on 19 November 2024
One reason conspicuously absent from my postmortem is the economy. This is not an oversight. I do not believe the economy to be a significant root cause.
Oh, it’s a proximate cause, all right. Many voters cited the economy as a reason for voting for fascism.
However, if you look at the economic statistics, it becomes clear that the economy really isn’t all that bad by US historical or world comparative standards. Sure, it could be better for the working class. It always could be. But abnormally bad? Let’s-give-fascism-a-whirl bad? No, not by global historical standards.
The USA is actually doing better economically post-COVID than pretty much all of the rest of the developed world, yet it stands alone as undergoing a transition to fascism in that time.
Compare the USA with other countries that have historically gone fascist, and the comparison is even more stark. There is none of the extreme economic distress that preceded fascism in Germany, Italy, Spain, or Chile. An inflation rate that peaks at 8% per year? Try inflation in the thousands or millions or billions percent per month. Unemployment of 4%? That’s nothing. Try an unemployment rate of 25% or worse.
To reiterate, things could certainly be better in the USA. It’s a terribly inegalitarian society. Yet Trump was saying basically nothing about economic inequality. It was all about fear-mongering and grievance-stoking.
The USA stands alone, in a tiny circle of exceptional shame containing but a single nation, in going fascist after experiencing such minor economic issues.
The USA also stands in a slightly larger but still very small circle of shame in having gone fascist via popular vote: Hitler never got more than about ⅓ the vote in Germany and was appointed to the post of chancellor by the president, Mussolini likewise was appointed and not elected, Franco staged a coup and the Spaniards then fought a civil war to try and prevent their transition, Pinochet also got in via a coup, etc. Russia and Hungary have, in more recent times, gone fascist via popular vote, but again, their economies were significantly worse off.
The economy simply can’t explain it. What can help explain it is a morally compromised political culture, one compromised enough to be so accepting of fascist values that fascism seemed like a reasonable answer to what are, by any reasonable comparative standards, some relatively minor issues.
Which is why my postmortem mentions moral decline and not the economy.
Hey, found your url in my piles of stuff recently and thought i ought to come by and visit!
Now, I’m probably too crazy to make much sense to you about my nuanced position on this, but since an anarchist i’m inspired by turned me onto ‘The Real Anthony Fauci’ (book and now film), i felt a seriously meaningful *dovetail* with my own trajectory of trying to meaningfully challenge Big Pharma and other coercions from the always politcal “social sciences” (always? Have you read Vine DeLoria, Jr’s ‘Red Earth, White Lies’? How about David Ingleby’s article…i have the title around here somewhere… ).
It seems to me, in my limited awareness, that Big Pharma, with its slick PR abilities (and now allowed to promote its Hype nationally on TV), is actually the real fascism). Getting the masses hooked on all sorts of allopathic (symptom suppressing only) drugs. And forcing many, including in oregon, to take them even at home. Groups like http://www.mindfreedom.org have actually tried to do a “shield” program against that, with some success.
That this little man (Trump), alleged fascist, is now on the cusp of de-funding Big Pharma and its long line of Obedient policy implementers and THUS is being labled a fascist, i find most intrigueing.
Or maybe it’s a case of fascist against fascist.
Well. You could say that about the WHOLE system, mr.anarchist!! All the routines now “normalized”, such as the u.s.a. still leading the industrialized world in prison populations…need i list the many in this category??
The u.s.a. has long been a fascist garden and haven. That they have been able to mask it all so thoroughly only tells us of their ability to utilize Public Relations and propaganda.
That’s the key ingredient as i see it, regarding why the u.s. can elect an alleged fascist. The propaganda system of the others just wasn’t even close to that of the u.s./nato system.
Basically, the WHOLE situation feels to me to be on par with those who try to hype all up against feeding wild animals, in order to perpetuate public/wild alienation (and avoid our building up power spots), and most pointedly, mask over human tresspasses against said “aggressive” wild ones.
The old Big Fascist (Big Pharma, et al) in Sheeps’ Clothing calling the naive-ized simpletons of the massmind to Trust it. *Over* their intuitions that it’s beautiful to reach out to the wild ones in ANY way, outside of Only The Experts realm.
And then we have this situation where the asshole-ized “liberal” elites (not really any better than the asshole-ized “conservative” elites; and never *meant* to be, except in propaganda) are seeking to mobilize their Always Trusting dumbass-ified Believers against actual truth pushers –those seeking to Take Down Big Pharma fascism!!
And other fascisms!! While the Nice play games in their heads about how “progressive” the dems are,,,,!
I mean, have you ACTUALLY INFORMED YOURSELF of what people like RFK,Jr are saying (and have a commendable track record in DOING)???
(Me, i’m looking for an anarchist review of his book on Fauci; know of anything? So far i’ve only found some reviews at the ‘strike-the-root’ forum.)
Open to dialogue!
Notably had a hard time even getting this to you, via this site. Several times there was an automated page that came up “unable to find server” or such. i’ll try to copy it next time it happens and show you what i mean.
Another way that the sneaky trojan horse (?) internet keeps most on “the Proper Track”…