The distinct strategies of fascist politics include: the mythic past, propaganda, anti-intellectualism, unreality, hierarchy, and victimhood. Other strategies also included are law and order, sexual anxiety, appealing to the heartland, and dismantling public welfare and unity. Below is summary of those strategies from How Fascism Works – The Politics of US and Them by Jason Stanley.
As you read, note the correlations with the blog categories listed to the right under Strict Father State. These categories came from a short paper on Fascism.
Mythic Past of Fascist Politics:
Fascist politics invokes a purist, conquering, mythical past that others, who deny the myth, supposedly destroyed. This mythical past presents a glorious, patriarchal time that still survives in rural America and ignores the nation’s darker moments that dilute its purity. It blames others in urban America for destroying this purist past and creating the dysfunctional present where the authoritarian patriarchs are no longer in control.
The function of the mythcal past is to “harness the emotion of nostalgia to the central tenets of fascist ideology – authoritarianism, hierarchy, purity, and struggle” against the less pure others.
Propaganda:
Fascist politics “uses the language of virtuous ideals to unite a purest people behind otherwise objectionable ends.” This virtuous language magnifies the glories and purity of the mythical past and uses the media to call out the impurities that threaten the myth. These impurities are corrupting and propaganda mocks them.
A key intent of fascist propaganda is to replace rule of law with the rule of a patriachal leader, like a CEO. Laws that prevent rule by a dictator, are declared corrupt and ignored. This includes the laws of checks and balances and freedom of the press.
Anti-intellectualism:
All liberal institutions threaten the fascist mythical past with the darker elements of that past and expose the lies of the patriarchal fascist leader. The fascist leader must compromise or discredited these institutions. They will become part of the fascist propaganda machine to promote the mythical past, elevate the pure and patriarchal leaders of that past, and obliterate the redeeming contributions from the impure elements of society.
Fascist politics undermines public discourse by attacking and devaluing liberal education, knowledgable expertise, and complex language. In addition, they make extensive use of false equivalences. As a result, unchecked power, suppressed reality, and a herd mentality guided by simple slogans control the dominant race and suppress everyone else.
Unreality:
Fascist politics grants excessive time to the alternate realities of conspiracy theorists and a wide-ranging gaggle of ‘flat-earthers.‘ The fake realities obsure a broad, long-held, set of sacrosanct political values and decades of scientific research with the use of the false equivalences. In addition, these unrealities transform information and reasoned debate into an emotional spectacle with a demagogue as the star performer.
Hierarchy:
Right-wing authoritarians, America’s fascists, are self-empowering through their belief that everyone else is inferior. As a result, these chosen hold on to a comforting illusion of control over and a justification of a social hierarchy. This heirarchy ranks heterosexual, wealthy, white, Christianist, men just below God and above all else. Any threat by those promoting equal empowerment and protection of all citizens results in feelings of victimization.
Victimization:
There are victims of economic, social, racial, or environmental abuse from those who can’t self-limit their privilege of self-claimed superiority. Then there are victims who suffer the loss of privilege through government intervention and forced equality, rebellion of the abused, or both. In one case, victimization comes from the enforcement of hierarchical inequality. In the other, it comes from equality forced on those atop this mythical hierarchy.
Victimhood results from domination-driven movements or from equality-driven movements. We all feel victimized whether it is from “a struggle for equal respect” or “a struggle for dominance.”
Law and Order:
In fascist politics, the patriarchal demagogue classifies who is lawful or who is an “illegal immigrant.” In other words, it defines who is a threat to it’s law and order. The law and order which protects it’s position of privilege. So, law and order that equally protects all citizens becomes demagoguery of protecting the purity of the chosen.
Sexual Anxiety:
The most useful threats of a patriarchal hierarchy are based on sexual anxiety. The patriarchal leaders accuse those lower on the hierarchy of raping the pure. The rapists threaten the purity of the chosen race. In addition, sexual anxiety also enables subjugation of homesexuals and transgender people. They threaten the purity of men. Both are threats to both toxic masculinity and social hierarchy of fascist politics.
A Nation’s Purist Heartland:
Fascist politics must locate, propagandize, and isolate its base. In addition, it must make sure the base knows where the enemy resides. Primarily, this is a rural vs urban identification. Fascist politics delineates small towns and farms controlled by hardworking, individuals from sanctuary cities, Hollywood, and slums controlled by the impure. The Heartland is pure while the surrounding city centers are overflowing with disease, pestilence. The Heartland is self-sufficient and self-made while the cities are full of parasites dependent on the state.
Basically, America’s Heartland is our majority white counties as opposed to counties that are minority majority.
Knowing where your base is located aids in distributing the propaganda of fascist politics: promoting their mythical past, advancing their superiority in their social hierarchy, devaluing of science with false equivalencies, amplifying the threat of equality and sexual identity to their purity, and using law and order to suppress the others.
Fox News, as part of basic cable, is the propaganda machine for fascist politics. Other news sources are only available with cable or satellite for an additional fee. In addition, purifying the mythical fascist state requires elimination of progressive news sources.
The Enemy – Identify, Blame, and Prevent Unity
Propaganda is a means to an end. It manufactures a mythical past and identities an enemy for fascist supporters to blame for their ills. The belief in a social hierarchy and inequality justifies placing blame. Fascist politics uses law and order to write new laws that prevent unity of those lower on the hierarchy. In addtion, the new laws punish the others and subjugates them to keep them from contradicting the hierarchy and inequality of fascist politics. In addition, the new laws keep the enemy isolated and unable to unite for their own protection through unions or other social means.
The belief in a social hierarchy means fascist politics has great admiration for the authoritarian structure of corporations. Putting a CEO at the head of a fascist political party, like the current Republican Party, is idyllic for fascist ideology.
The law and order strategy of fascist politics favors laws that keep individuals from uniting, such as the Right to Work (ie. Defund Unions) laws. The other side of the unity busting coin is preventing or eliminating existing social protection laws which “unites a community in mutual bonds of care.” This explains the resistance to Medicare for All and the desire to end Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. They create caring social bonds.
Replacing the Authoritarian with the Democratic
An authoritarian economic system, like capitalism, will always be in opposition to a democratic political system. Authoritarians prefer to resolve this political/economic conflict by forcing the democratic political system into an authoritarian system. However, those who believe in a democratic political system prefer to resolve this political/economic conflict by expanding the economic system to maximize social freedom and democracy.
Andy Hailey