What is Authoritarianism?
…and how do we fight it?
Now, to begin with, I’ll admit to having no scholarship experience or training in any of this, it’s just my personal musings based on a lifetime of reading both current events and the history behind those events. Just what I got in high school.
Now, as far as modern archeology goes, human civilization goes back around some ten thousand years, give or take a couple, depending on where you dig. Really? That’s not a lot, in my opinion. But then, all of this is my opinion, isn’t it?
But really? Take a look at what Wikipedia says:
“The earliest chronologies date back to the earliest civilizations of Early Dynastic Period of Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Sumerians,[3] which emerged independently of each other from roughly 3500 BCE.”
So, some 5500 years ago. There are older sites of earlier civilizations, but these are the first that we can read about in their own words. And what we see is that from the very first, there was some form of monarchistic rule. Now, the details are gonna vary, since we’re talking about differing cultures and histories, but they had guys they called “kings” or “emperors”, and at times a female version of that, though languages will vary in the terms they use. Not all past cultures were as patriarchal as ours is! And, if what we’re learning about the Viking culture is any indication, a lot of those ladies may have been top warriors, too, just as the male rulers were. I mean, if your culture remaining the top dog in the neighborhood is based on your military strength, it makes sense that the top leader is also a fighter, right?
But as it tends to do, time marches on, and cultures merge, change, and sometimes progress.
Obviously, Eastern cultures were often quite different, but really? Almost all human civilizations from the Bronze Age onwards have been based on an authoritarian style government, almost exclusively monarchistic. Of course, again, the details will vary widely, as to what the top tiers looked like below the “boss”, what they were called and what power they had granted to them, either from the top or based on culture and actual military strength.
But the truth is, any Authoritarian style governing structure that has a top boss (singular) is going to have one thing in common with all the others.
A lack of a right to privacy.
In addition, what you see when you read the histories of these old civilizations, you also see a lot of back stabbing, political shenanigans that make US politics look tame, spying, shady allies that switch sides at will, and that list goes on. Almost none of them relied on anything that we’d call a reasonable amount of cooperation in today’s world. The top guys got all the wealth (or the majority of it) and the rest gets the leftovers. The amounts vary from culture to culture of course. Some were better than others.
But moving on, specifically to Western culture, we go to the Middle Ages, where that monarchistic style grew into an Authoritarian utopia/nightmare. Yes, the masses were largely slaves, at least in most cases, until mercantilism developed a wealthy class who were not nobility, whereupon things began to change. Eventually, that allowed human civilization to develop to where America got people in charge who were all basically wealthy merchants and landowners, who desired to take the control and taxes away from the British nobility and use it locally instead of sending it overseas.
I’ll pass for now in my description of how the Rich White Men (RWM) managed that little miracle and how they desired to keep that control for themselves, since I’ve written about that before. But, moving on.
As civilization “progressed” in Europe, various political pundits (for lack of a better term) had varying ideas about politics and how to control humans, and eventually, the vaguely related ideas of Communism and Socialism got invented, people got tired of monarchs taking all the cash and wealth for themselves, and we got a series of revolutions and changes to how governments across Europe were organized. A lot of this forced a few monarchies to alter themselves so the people got more power, and the rulers were reduced to figureheads, as we saw in Britain and a few others.
Yay!
But eventually, the Russian Revolution occurred, and the Chinese got Mao (NOT the kind you eat), and a lot of folks today think that changed everything. Modern conservatives in the US love to blame that on “the Leftists”, and use it to pound on the Democratic Party and anyone else who disagrees with their Patriarchic RWM’s ideal of Capitalism.
But they’re wrong. Why?
Because authoritarianism has been around for literally thousands of years, and it is very good at hiding its nature, based on local customs, culture, and whatever political theories they can hide behind.
Yes, hide. Why? Because mankind in general isn’t stupid. Uneducated and often focused on the immediate needs of feeding themselves, but in the end, not stupid. They can see (if it isn’t hidden) when the top guys are taking for themselves what the people think are theirs. So those new wanna-be authoritarians hide their true nature behind a false front, which could be anything.
Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Populism, heck even a new style of monarchism has been tried, as well as various “styles” of “democracy”, as in Russia. But no matter how you hide it, the very first modern right that disappears is…
The Right to Privacy.
Why? Because every Authoritarian governing structure rises in the beginning on lies, hidden sources of power, killing, spying, and just often basic thuggery, it’s how they rise to power, and gain the authority they crave.
And to maintain that authority, they cannot allow others to use those same methods against them, so they have to spy and act covertly against any possible opponents, though often they do act overtly as a deterrent to others.
But, you see, the reality is that authoritarians always act the same, regardless of the political facade behind which they gained their power and position. Yes, the facade has to match what the people they get behind them want to see, otherwise they won’t get the support they need to win.
But once they win, the facade begins to fade, and the truth eventually comes out. Politics matters less. Politics happens in countries where differing factions can and have the power to act politically, and in a true modern authoritarian structure, any actions against the rulers have to be hidden. That’s where Authoritarianism has morphed beyond the old monarchistic systems. There, power was more distributed, depending on the culture. In today’s world, Authoritarianism has gained more support from those more willing to bring it out into the open.
So, what’s the cure?
Democracy. Democracy and a good dose of Progressivism. People caring about other people. People using the power that numbers bring to prevent the RWM from keeping their dreams alive. That’s what the French did. Populism run wild, but, damn, did it work!
Here in the US, we’ve allowed those Rich White Men to crap on our Constitution. The major point is the allowing of Corporations to count as people and for money to count as “speech” (Citizens United?), but that’s not all of it. The major thing to see is that since 2016, and Bernie Sanders’ loss to Clinton, almost ALL of his major policy ideas have moved from the fringe into the mainstream of Americans’ ideas of how to solve our problems. Almost every single one.
Universal Health Care (especially when labeled “Medicare for All”)
Child care assistance
A Universal Basic Income
A better version of Social Security for retirees.
I could go on. But all of these are modeled on the Europeans’ use of a moderate version of socialism controlled by their basic democracy, which gives them a well working mix of Capitalism and Socialism that has been very successful. The more Americans see how well that works, the more of us want it for here, too.
A good future for mankind is one that benefits us all. Having an economically based structure that gives us levels of income with a large number of poor is a recipe for disaster. The more people who have enough to spare for the extras means a more active and healthy economy, and with a growing population, an actively growing economy.
Having a world in which authoritarianism is defeated once and for all is one that will allow us to achieve that future, and when we no longer have to fund large expensive militaries, we can devote that cash to bettering all our lives.
Besides, if we manage that, I don’t have to hear about Trump every damn day.
Isn’t that incentive enough?
