Recognizing a Dictator

During the 2016 election, Helen Andrews gave a lecture on How to Spot a Dictator.  The idea was to determine whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton bore the markers of a potential dictator.  Oddly enough, she listed Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the most dictatorial president the United States has yet produced.  FDR implemented two dictatorial strategies.

First, he established a cult of personality.  He was a master of public communication, had a gift for oratory, and convinced people to elect him again and again despite an ongoing Great Depression.  His fireside chats reassured the citizens even as the state of the economy and world didn't much improve.  He was an expert of spin.  In this regard, she said Trump was clearly along this path.  Trump is a salesman who wrote (dictated?) The Art of the Deal.  His entire schtick is to persuade voters to do what was unprecedented; elect a man with neither governmental nor military experience.  Amazingly, he carried that off in the primaries.  Yes, clearly a cult of personality figure.

Second, FDR established clientelism.  Prior to the Great Depression, the government was not in the habit of distributing money to the citizens, either through job programs or handouts.  To tackle the massive unemployment and poverty, FDR championed funds for relief to the states and later Social Security for the elderly.  There was also the Civilian Conservation Corps, a public works program.  Prior to the depression, the government-maintained pensions for veterans and career civil servants.  Afterwards, everyone who lived long enough would get a check from the government.  Once established, it ballooned: Medicare, WIC, SNAP, Drug Benefits, Obamacare, etc.  Now, if you vote wrong, your entitlements might be eliminated by the other party.  Yes, this is a common refrain in many election seasons and created a permanent threat by the government against the voters.  Andrews puts Clinton into this mode.

So, which is worse?  Do you go with the personality or the "gift" giver.  Which is less dangerous to your future?  Check out the video.

Hasan Piker, Communist Apologist

Triggernometry hosted Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who does political commentary.  Piker began his career by working for his uncle, Cenk Uigur of the Young Turks, before establishing himself as a political commentator on a gaming platform.  Piker is a self-described leftist.  During his discussion with Konstantin and Francis, he touched on several topics, but his affinity for communism was the standout.  Though Konstantin is from the first communist state, Russia, Piker offered the old refrain: that's not true communism.  Wow.  When asked where socialism/communism has been done right, he pointed to China.  Sure, it isn't perfect but look at the growth rate.  By contrast, the parties that aren't slipping toward socialism and/or communism are defined as nascent fascist parties.  He repeatedly described the Reform Party in the UK as a proto-fascist party, which provoked responses to the contrary from both hosts.

What is fascist?  Piker offered the definition of "palingenetic ultranationalism."  That's a mouthful.  Looking this up, it has five components:

• Palingenesis: Myth upon which national rebirth will rest
• Ultranationalism: Extreme nationalism with xenophobic tendencies
• Rejection of Liberal Modernity: The status quo sucks and has to go
• Totalitarian/Authoritarian: Led by single leader or party that suppresses pluralism
• Goal of the "New Man": Transformation of citizens by purging weakness or decadence

Unsurprisingly, he described the current Republican Party in the same way.  Both hosts confronted him on the use of fascism as a label for opponents.  The rise of another Hitler would demand that citizens take up arms and kill fascists before things get out of hand.  Calling someone Hitler is a permission slip for some crackpot to shoot him.

During the discussion, Piker often dodged questions by switching topics.  He dodged the issues with Islam in the UK; he is a Muslim.  In response to calling Nigel Farage a nascent fascist, he was asked if Keir Starmer could then be described as a nascent communist.  That got only a laugh.  So, right-leaning parties are likely to become fascists (in the long term) but left-leaning parties are just fine and no problem at all.  Of course, Piker has already declared his desire for a move toward Chinese-flavored communism.  Hmm.  The hosts pointed out that political critics in China, Russia, and even the UK are often locked up, while such is not the case in the US.  He argued the point by bringing up Eugene Debbs.  Really?  Debbs was locked up over 100 years ago!  That's the most recent example you have?  And it was Wilson - a Democrat - who jailed him.

It felt like Francis and Konstantin went easy on him.  It is somewhat alarming that this guy has a huge following and is an influencer.

Funny Tweet

Not a Twitter person myself, I do visit sites that reference tweets or give links to them with surprising frequency.  Here is a particularly funny one that Scott Adams linked in a recent blog:

It's still early days and much too soon to think this tweet will hold for his entire presidency.  Indeed, he only just got his Attorney General confirmed.  Maybe he will use the IRS to silence his enemies, just like his predecessor.  Dr. Ben Carson endured his first IRS audit in the wake of speaking against Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast and countless Tea Party groups were harassed by IRS and other federal agencies.  Maybe he will selectively enforce laws to punish his critics, just like his predecessor did to Dinesh D'Souza or Senator Bob Menendez.  He has already rolled out the attacks on some news agencies, just like Obama did with regard to Fox News Channel.  I suppose all of these would just be a status quo ante with new management.

Identify the Fascist

During the recent excitement at Berkeley, there was a clash of opinion that turned violent.  One party is accusing the other party of being fascist while claiming the title of 'anti-fascist.'  Can you find the anti-fascist?

Option 1: A gay, Jewish immigrant with a black boyfriend was on campus for a scheduled speech.

Option 2: Protestors who oppose the views that will be expressed in said speech detonated home-made explosives, shattered windows, and lit property on fire.

 

Yes, Option 2 was obviously the correct choice.  Some microaggressions - like inappropriate opinions - entirely justify retaliatory macroaggressions.  To prevent such speakers from being heard, it is often necessary to use extreme measures.

 

It is amazing how violent and/or destructive these leftist movements keep proving to be.  Occupy Wall Street was a cesspool of litter, vandalism, and rape.  Those who protested at Trump's inauguration set fire to a limo and shattered windows at various businesses. The Women's March even had a speaker pondering the destruction of the White House.  Fascist means to anti-fascist end?