The right-wing takeover of our country—make that much of the developed world—has changed the calculus for the individual citizen. The clamping down has begun. Repression is the order of the day. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s grotesque behavior is a first order tactic in a strategy of intimidation.
Why are we so obedient? Because the orders are legal? Rulers can always produce lawyers to provide legal justification. Alberto Gonzales provided George W. Bush a legal exemption for torture.
Put starkly: Were the criminal verdicts rendered against the Nazis at Nuremberg due to the failure of their lawyers to provide the necessary legal exemptions?
The myth we enjoy repeating is that the United States is a beacon to the world. In some respects it was true. We did herald a new contract with the people born out of the principle of individual freedom from hierarchical rule. The monarchy is long gone, but hierarchy remains in its lasting form as wealth.
A lesson from the history of the Third Reich is that to do nothing changes nothing. Not being on the side of the weak is the same as being on the side of the strong.
The three great powers of the United States, Russia, and China are each authoritarian, as are an ever increasing number of subordinate powers. Israel is the United States of the Middle East, a technological superpower built on displacement of the Indigenous. The United States is the Saudi Arabia of the West, built on enshrinement of wealth as a first principle to which all other principles must be secondary.
No other country, including the United States, can dismember a dissident in full view of the world and still attract the leading international sports organizations as it has to its kingdom, including the very recent bailout the kingdom has proffered to the Metropolitan Opera. It is a marvelous feat of image building.
We must cast aside all allusions and put the matter straight. We are not “losing our democracy.” It slipped away long ago under the shadow of finance capital. Intellectual appeals to preserve it conceal hidden support for the status quo and are, in fact, reactionary. Thankfully, that approach seems doomed to fail.
Nobody feels democracy in their bones. What we feel, what all humans feel deep down, is a thirst for freedom. And that is what we are losing.
What to do? A lesson from the history of the Third Reich is that to do nothing changes nothing. Not being on the side of the weak is the same as being on the side of the strong.
Many people in our communities have begun to resist the terrorist practices of ICE, with precious little to resist with. Some law enforcement agencies say that they will not “cooperate” with ICE. This should not be mistaken for solidarity. ICE is happy with them on the sidelines.
Why Real Patriots Should Worry Us
Surely any true American will accept without question the obligation of patriotism. There’s some things all patriotic Americans come to learn. The world is a better place because of us. We only fight to defend ourselves. We stand for democracy. We are the good guys. God is on our side.
Since these things become transparently false upon serious examination, something else must be behind the fervor with which most Americans hold their patriotism. We know a lot about conforming behavior and how destructive it can become. We know enough to worry us.
In the case of patriotism, conformity has clearly won out. Its victory can be as uncomplicated as understanding the dynamic of fan mentality. The sports fan does not complicate things. You root for the home team.
Somehow we have failed to notice the patriotism of our own political enforcers, our armed and masked federal agents loyally dragging people off the streets.
But pastimes are of little consequence. They are not national secrecy, national security, or national criminality. Did I say national criminality? What dare I speak of to true American patriots? I can speak of nothing to true patriots but only to those whose patriotism is less true. Who manage to retain a critical faculty when it comes to taking orders.
People are not born to follow orders. We have to be trained. In order for the training to be thorough and lasting, it has to come drip by drip. So that we are convinced that it is a good thing. The only thing. Patriotism is the product of this training.
Democracy, as a concept, plays an active propaganda role. If the country is ruled by “us,” there is no question of disloyalty to it. That we discuss our “loss of democracy” is an indication of how well trained we have become. Real democracy has never been with us, nor was it sought after by the founders. The very opposite. Government is safely in the hands of the wealthy and powerful.
The good news is that we needn’t lament its loss. The bad news is that dangerous rifts have developed among the ruling class, the only class capable of restraining a presidential administration that is completely out of control. Capitalists are not a monolith. They compete against each other. Some factions will easily accommodate to authoritarianism. That puts us in a stall.
I said earlier that we know enough about conforming behavior to worry us. This leads to a disturbing question—was Hitler patriotic?—and its relevance to the subject at hand since patriotism is not a moral value. It’s a habit. A habit of thought.
The SS (Schutzstaffel) was the completeness of Third Reich patriotism, the loyal enforcers of the political will of the Nazi state.
Somehow we have failed to notice the patriotism of our own political enforcers, our armed and masked federal agents loyally dragging people off the streets. They are true American patriots.
Fascism doesn’t come for a visit. It comes to stay. The 21st century version doesn’t have to align perfectly with those of Europe past. Fascism, like communism, is an abstraction to Americans. We know little about it. We have not lived under it. Given current circumstances, let’s see if we are fast learners.
The first lesson is that law enforcement is not, has not been, and should never be expected to be on the side of the people. Law enforcement serves the state. The state is not accountable to the people.
