When society is in spasm, people need a way to deal with their anxiety, anger etc. They have emotional needs that authoritarians have leveraged for millennia. Authoritarians have had several titles. “The King,” “Strong Man,” “Dear Leader,” “El Hefe” and the “Don” comes to mind.
We live in a society under stress with disconnection and loneliness at record highs. The majority of people when asked their religious affiliation - listed unaffiliated. When asked about support for a political party - unaffiliated was larger than either party. Suicide rates are at historic highs, drug addiction at historic levels, 1st marriage divorce rates are 50% and 2nd marriages 70%. More than one-quarter of young adults are estranged from one or both parents. At least 1 in 7 children have experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year in the United States
Many Americans have been convinced there is an evil plot to
If you took the political blood type of America today the largest blood type would be cynical.
A major news source, for Americans over the age of 60, admitted that they both create and repeat known political lies. When they attempted to stop telling lies, their audience abandoned them. They quickly got back on the lie wagon and have regained their audience. There are lie-to-me networks and digital talking heads for one reason. People have their network shaped perception of reality and anything that threatens that reality is unacceptable. They are fed a steady diet of tribal warfare building in them intense existential angst. “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”
Perhaps, America is also searching for its political soul. Is politics a zero-sum game? Every battle I win, they must lose? Is consensus suddenly now a four-letter word? Isn’t putting party compliance above the public good a sure path to career longevity?
What about our generational war?
Are those over 60 who still wanting their fantasized mostly rural white America the "way it used to be?" Perhaps they are reacting against a dynamic, digital, multi-ethnic, high-tech world inhabited by disconnect, anti-social young people who spend their spare time thinking up new genders or are video game addicts. They text. They don't talk. Interpersonal relationships seem foreign to them. By the age of 25 they have few if any real friends and many have never been on a date. Even fewer would know how to change a tire.
In times of high societal anxiety, history illustrates that we want a strong leader to resolve our anxieties. The age of the European kings arose out of a need for a champion to lead his people. The people got lead-footed, inbred, ignorant and self-serving men and a woman or two. It was the authoritarian rulers of the world that caused the Napoleonic wars, WWI with 20+ million deaths and WWII with 50+million deaths.
On the bright side, it was the authoritarian ruler of England that gave birth to America. We have remained staunchly anti-authoritarian until recently.
Now we have authoritarian on the horizon claiming the same sweet sounding old song, "Only I Can Save You." Even though he has already demonstrated he is not accountable to anything but his own personal power. He has no political alliance. He has a "brand." Millions of Americans born after WWII now clamor for another authoritarian ruler to make us believe he can fix all the broken things. Many are willing to accept a man who is above and immune from the law, and whose legitimacy is based on the inventions of the lie-to-me industry and the roar of an incited mob.
All they really want is a champion who will defeat our imaginary foes. A ruler who will banish our fears and self-doubts because he has neither.
The powerful attraction of an authoritarian ruler is nothing new. However, it is new to America.
We live in a society under stress with disconnection and loneliness at record highs. The majority of people when asked their religious affiliation - listed unaffiliated. When asked about support for a political party - unaffiliated was larger than either party. Suicide rates are at historic highs, drug addiction at historic levels, 1st marriage divorce rates are 50% and 2nd marriages 70%. More than one-quarter of young adults are estranged from one or both parents. At least 1 in 7 children have experienced child abuse or neglect in the past year in the United States
Many Americans have been convinced there is an evil plot to
- Replace white America with Brown America
- Replace black America with Brown America
- Run America by a shadow government that already runs the world
- Destroy America by a deep state of cabalists who are buried deep and invisibly in the US Gov. They are dedicated to our destruction and must be destroyed. It's "us" or "them."
- Kill and drink the blood of babies by one of the political parties.
If you took the political blood type of America today the largest blood type would be cynical.
A major news source, for Americans over the age of 60, admitted that they both create and repeat known political lies. When they attempted to stop telling lies, their audience abandoned them. They quickly got back on the lie wagon and have regained their audience. There are lie-to-me networks and digital talking heads for one reason. People have their network shaped perception of reality and anything that threatens that reality is unacceptable. They are fed a steady diet of tribal warfare building in them intense existential angst. “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”
Perhaps, America is also searching for its political soul. Is politics a zero-sum game? Every battle I win, they must lose? Is consensus suddenly now a four-letter word? Isn’t putting party compliance above the public good a sure path to career longevity?
What about our generational war?
Are those over 60 who still wanting their fantasized mostly rural white America the "way it used to be?" Perhaps they are reacting against a dynamic, digital, multi-ethnic, high-tech world inhabited by disconnect, anti-social young people who spend their spare time thinking up new genders or are video game addicts. They text. They don't talk. Interpersonal relationships seem foreign to them. By the age of 25 they have few if any real friends and many have never been on a date. Even fewer would know how to change a tire.
In times of high societal anxiety, history illustrates that we want a strong leader to resolve our anxieties. The age of the European kings arose out of a need for a champion to lead his people. The people got lead-footed, inbred, ignorant and self-serving men and a woman or two. It was the authoritarian rulers of the world that caused the Napoleonic wars, WWI with 20+ million deaths and WWII with 50+million deaths.
On the bright side, it was the authoritarian ruler of England that gave birth to America. We have remained staunchly anti-authoritarian until recently.
Now we have authoritarian on the horizon claiming the same sweet sounding old song, "Only I Can Save You." Even though he has already demonstrated he is not accountable to anything but his own personal power. He has no political alliance. He has a "brand." Millions of Americans born after WWII now clamor for another authoritarian ruler to make us believe he can fix all the broken things. Many are willing to accept a man who is above and immune from the law, and whose legitimacy is based on the inventions of the lie-to-me industry and the roar of an incited mob.
All they really want is a champion who will defeat our imaginary foes. A ruler who will banish our fears and self-doubts because he has neither.
The powerful attraction of an authoritarian ruler is nothing new. However, it is new to America.
