Is this how fascism rises again?

I’m tempted to agree with most of what you’ve written about the eminent danger of fascism across the Western world, but for a single yet crucial aspect.

Your foundation argument is that political extremism (left and right) broke the center, making space for the emergence of the politically unnatural amalgamation that fascism really is (a socialism/nationalism juxtaposition, for instance).

I’m not an economist but, having been born in the final throes of my country’s fascist regime, I believe precisely the opposite happened: it was the dilution of significant political antagonism set against the decades long hegemony of economic orthodoxy spawned by the Chicago School (initially denominated neoclassic, and media discourse later morphed it into neoliberal), resulting in convergent policies being upheld irrespective of power being assigned either to Right or Left, and ultimately the noxious influence of the scions of both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, that paved the way for the naturalisation of fascism we are witnessing currently.

As I lack the capacity to sustain my opinion in a firmer way here and now, I’ll just add another reference for further reflection.

Political scientist Lawrence Britt wrote about the distinguishing features of fascism — drawing from studies on de facto fascist regimes that once ruled Germany, Italy, Spain, Indonesia, and Chile, Dr. Britt posited they all have the following 14 characteristic elements in common (and check as many as needed):

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism;
2. Disdain for human rights;
3. Identification of enemies as a unifying cause;
4. Supremacy of the military;
5. Rampant sexism;
6. Controlled mass media;
7. Obsession with national security;
8. Religion and government intertwined;
9. Corporate power protected;
10. Labor power suppressed;
11. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts;
12. Obsession with crime and punishment;
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption;
14. Fraudulent elections.

Laurence W. Britt, “Fascism Anyone?”. In Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, p. 20 [online at http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?page=britt_23_2&section=library; registration required](full text available at http://www.njhn.org/Fascism_Britt.html)