Carrol Cox
On that assumption, in two or three years masses of people will be wanting forms of organization through which they can express their (understatement) concerns, and if _we_ (howver defined) cannot provide those forms of organization, rightist leadership will be there to provide it. I wish there was a shorter and pithier term for "authoritarianism." Fascism is no more danger than is royalism, but a severe crisis without a strong mass left will create for the 21st century some new form of authoritarianism which will be as destructive for us as fascism was for the 20th century. ^^^^ CB: In the US , we can be more specific. We might face the threat of another or renewed Reaganism. Or better yet, another Bushism. Any future USA "authoritarianism" is most likely to move in specific ways that the Reagnites moved towards "authoritarianism" ,and then the ultimate reach of Reaganism in a world without the Soviet Union, Bushism. This is because Bushism was based in the same American national, political culture that America will still have in two or three years. It is the direction "authoritarianism" takes in American culture of this time in history. Authoritarianism is unnecessarily vague, given what we know. It is obvious that in our concrete circumstances, the threat, if any, is a revival of Reaganism and Bushism, not some vague new authoritarianism like Athena jumping fully grown out of the head of Zeus. We can even be specific about who the "rightest leadership" would be: Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, and the gang. There aren't some hidden unknowns who the American people will suddenly start following en masse in two or three years This defines an activist task for leftists here. Undertake activities that stop any revival of Reaganism/Bushism . _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
