Quote of the Day
Over the next decade, it is quite likely that most democratic Western countries will become fascist dictatorships – this is not a tail risk, but the most likely overall outcome. Politics is not a typical LessWrong topic, and for good reason:
- it tends to impair clear thinking;
- most well-known political issues are not neglected;
- most political “debates” are simply people yelling at each other online; neither saying anything new, nor even really trying to persuade the opposition.
However, like the COVID pandemic, it seems like this particular trend will be so impactful and so disruptive to ordinary Western life that it will be important to be aware of it, factor it into plans, and try our best to mitigate or work around the effects.
alyssavance
June 10, 2023
The Dictatorship Problem
I remain unconvinced. There were some interesting trend lines which made for interesting reading and possibly good discussions. But some claims were almost certainly wrong and there was not a set of evidence which I found convincing.
I don’t know what she means by “fascist dictatorship”.
I know what the precise political science meaning would be. I’ve got a notion what your typical wokezi would call “fascist”, i.e. anything less than communist utopia. But I’ve heard “fascist” used to describe minimal government with sharp constitutional limits, and when this happens, it’s because the speaker hates “fascism” by hating it from the left-authoritarian quadrant because the “fascists” are doing all the things the communist wants to do, but the communists are on the outside having it done to them.
So, without context, possibly more perspective on this Alyssa’s other notions on the subject, I’m afraid I haven’t come away from this with more understanding.
I would posit that most already are.
Sorry, from Wikipedia. “Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.”
Once you take out the “far-right”, were there.
Communists always accuse everyone else of doing what they themselves are up to. Chief in the Americas is racism.
And once the So.border invasion collides with economic pressures. Tribalism will be the natural reaction. At which the communist will say; See, I told you you’re a racist. Then use that as an excuse for more of the same.
There is a perfectly simple answer as to why our FBI has been looking for “white supremist” since before Ruby Ridge. (As that’s why they went after Randy, because he wouldn’t spy on the Aryan nation for them.)
And why they continue to call most everybody fascist today.
As for the future? They will still be beat the “fascist” dead horse/meme the whole time their pushing us into cattle cars. If we let them.
And as long as they’re not in power anymore. They can call me anything but later for dinner!
Leaving in the “far-right” is the only reason we’re not living in the Wikipedia-definition of a fascist state.
I’d also point out that “left” and “right” mean different things to different cultures, depending on their values and the relative spectrum of their Overton Window. In early-20th-century Germany, the National Socialist (a.k.a. Nazi) Party was considered “right” while their version of a Communist Party was considered “left”. Mussolini’s “fascism” was more closely aligned to the Nazis than the Communists, so he was “far-right”.
By today’s standards in America, both are so far left the right hemispheres of their brains — thought to be the creative half — stop working (which might explain why they have no new ideas, but that’s off-topic), and our Overton Window covers a much broader spectrum of acceptable political thought than theirs did.
But the definition of “fascism” as “far-right” remains as a historical artifact.
Good point, thanks. The left-right canard has been played with great success in this epoch.
They have been since March 2020.
Peace and safety the sheep demanded and now it will be mandatory.
If fascism is a partnership between the government, acting as the senior partner, and industry, featuring centralized planning and authorian control, can someone explain to me how we haven’t achieved this status?
The USG consumes 25% of the GNP, directs every aspect of our lives; controls medical; education; finances;the media. It controls sports, employment and runs what is laughingly called the judiciary. We have our own Stasi-KGBand our CIA now doubles as the Gestapo. And the government wants digital currency.
If fascism is a partnership between the government, acting as the senior partner, and industry, featuring centralized planning and authorian control, can someone explain to me how we haven’t achieved this status?
The USG consumes 25% of the GNP, directs every aspect of our lives; controls medical; education; finances;the media. It controls sports, employment and runs what is laughingly called the judiciary. We have our own Stasi-KGBand our CIA now doubles as the Gestapo. And the government wants digital currency.
Beat me to it. That is the defining characteristic of fascism, not the nonsense in Wikipedia.
See the definition from what my daughter calls my “old timey dictionary”: https://blog.joehuffman.org/2022/09/15/quote-of-the-day-in-chains-inchainsinjail-5/
If you are anti-communist and pro nation, you are 2/3 of the way to being a classic fascist.
There are all sorts of tyrannies. Most of them, even the communist ones are pro-nation. The ones that aren’t communist are almost always anti-communist. So those criteria are not very helpful in identifying whether a regime is fascist or not. The defining characteristic is public-private fusion. We in the current Western world are an outlier where the fascists are anti-nation but are most definitely into public-private fusion.
It may be less fascist than communist, but we are already living in a banana-republic style dictatorship.
TINVOWOOT!
One thing that is glaringly obvious is that being called a fascist by a communist, is like being called a racist by Hitler youth.
The government in the USA of today is notwithstanding under the constitution. And will end as all tyrant empires.
As Chris Langan calls them GOG, (Global Occupation Government.)
And my thoughts along that line. MAGOG. (Maoist Associated Global Occupation Government.)
And how long before Gog and Magog bring as the mark of the beast?
We should plan accordingly.
And let the historians call us what they will.
Democratic western countries have ALREADY BECOME fascist dictatorships.
According to Cato and the Fraser Institute, even after a sharp decline from 2019 to 2020, World Economic Freedom is greater now than it was in 2010. Also according to the same sources, the WORST performing countries in the world are the ones getting good coverage from AOC and The Squad: Venezuela, Sudan, Syria, Iran, Libya. All apparently more oppressed by their own leaders than by Israel or the US. Go figure.https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2022-09/efw-2022-chapter-1.pdfhttps://www.fraserinstitute.org/economic-freedom/dataset?geozone=world&page=dataset&min-year=2&max-year=0&filter=0
The Human Freedom Index also registers a sharp decline from 2019 to 2020. Most notably in the areas of rule of law, freedom of movement, expression and assembly. COVID was calamitous for Human Freedom, and the increased central control over most populations is NOT returning to pre-COVID levels.
Combining Human Freedom and Economic Freedom: Switzerland, Denmark, New Zealand, and Estonia are at the top of the heap. The middle eastern countries hold down the bottom end. By far.https://www.cato.org/human-freedom-index/2022
Nothing here smells a lot more fascist than what we’ve got today.