We are in a transitional stage in which much of the popular certainty of the postwar era is slowly fading. In such an era, and when politics is no longer an elitist enterprise but a more populist one, the politician who can rouse the passions of the crowd will gain a larger following than the politician who appeals to reason. Once a person becomes a member of the crowd which is being mesmerized by a populist politician, that person ceases to think completely for himself and absorbs the passion of the mesmerized crowd. Cognitive dissonance easily becomes epidemic.
This was certainly true of Mussolini, the father of fascism. It was an example that every dictator, no matter how immoral and irrational he may be, has followed with some success. In such a transitional era, reason is easily abandoned to the passion of the moment.
In many ways, Mussolini was an idiot, but one who understood crowd mentality and how to manipulate a crowd through its fear and passions and the abandonment of reason and even deeply cherished ideals. This can also happen in the politics of religion, and religion is easily contorted into a fear-based moralistic political ideology. This has happened in our midst in the most recent time.
Once such a populist dictator gains power, it is almost impossible to remove him without assassination. A populist dictator is narcissistic and sociopathic. He can be concerned only with his own power and can thrive on crowd-power as long as he can keep a substantial portion of the populace mesmerized by fear and immune to reason and reality. He will instinctively manipulate the sense of abandonment that traumatises a significant segment of the population in social/cultural transition periods.
This social transition had begun by the 1950s, but the postwar era was one of euphoria and material upward mobility. The 1950s also greatly benefited from Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal" policies, and the transition went largely unnoticed.
From the 1960s forward, the social and cultural transition became much more visible. The deep structural fear in the American psyche, generated partly by the Cold War and the rise of religious apocalyptic preachers, increased during the Vietnam War and the massive protests against it.
Adherence to religion also began to dwindle, almost imperceptibly at first, but by the dawn of the 21st century, it became clear that the fastest growing religious demographic in the Western world was atheism/agnosticism and those who were vaguely religious but identified with no particular denomination.
The reaction was the creation of the "culture wars." This only served to expand the deep structural fear in America This new manifestation was driven largely by television preachers, many, if not most, of which were simply cashing in on the popular fear and dissociation of a large segment of the population. An oversimplified religion that was corporatised by moralism emerged with considerable strength but a shallow spirituality.
This resulted in an emergent distrust of democracy and an ill-defined longing for a strong authoritarian ruler who would force this corporatised moralism upon the nation through civil law and the subversion of the courts.
As we have seen, such an authoritarian ruler can be accepted, no matter how immoral and corrupt he is, so long as he promises and attempts to institute this moralistic corporatisation through subversion of the courts and through legislation. Morality is not the real issue and the movement itself can manifest gross corruption and real immorality. It is primarily seeking self-affirmation. Morality is not demanded of the authoritarian leader, and he is usually sociopathic, considering himself above both the law and basic concepts of morality. He instinctively knows how to manipulate the "crowd." While he is indifferent to any forms of ethics or morality, he instinctively understands the principles of corporatisation and the value of moralism as a tool to this goal.
The manipulation of courts and civil legislation can be used to satisfy the passions being generated by fear. In the case of America, apocalyptic fantasies, which passionate and unreasoned religions use to manipulate their congregations, will form a suitable power base and produce a suitable crowd that can be easily mesmerized and politically manipulated.
Mussolini used this to great effect, and a simple study of the authoritarian and repressive regimes in our world today will verify this use of moralism and religious fear to curtail freedom and civil liberties and substantiate the power of even the most brutal and immoral autocrat. Invoking fear of cultural and social change and binding this fear to a form of religion is a potent tool for populist authoritarians.
In the case of Christianity, the Gospel ceases to be the message, and repression and coercion replace the teachings of Christ. Conversion, repentance and salvation cease to be the message, which is replaced by a striving for the political affirmation of the religious entity.
There is an observable pattern, and it was certainly evident in Mussolini's takeover of the Italian government. The ideology that he generated, called fascism, is a government, a “state hegimonikon,” of a combined political force, an economic elite, (international corporations), and a corrupt religious entity.
The government upholds the special status of the corporations, lowering or abolishing their corporate taxes and shifting the tax burden onto the general population. A religious body willing to cooperate with this type of authoritarian government is also given special status in return for a spiritual underpinning of the autocracy.
Paramilitary bodies are always a part of the rise to power of a dictator and the maintaining of his power. We can see this, especially in Iran, where the "Revolutionary Guard" is designed to defend the dictatorship. The paramilitary group is allowed all manner of corruption and usually develops a strong financial base by means of this corruption. This is clearly the case with the Revolutionary Guard in Iran.
We can see the development of such an authoritarian dictatorship in Hungary, and it is already well-established in Russia. The basis of such a fascist regime is a special cooperation between government, religion, and a corporate oligarchy. In such a regime, corporate complicity will be rewarded with special privileges and the above-mentioned tax incentives, and the cooperating religion will receive special status so long as it affirms the authoritarian leader and government.
In Mussolini's regime, the Church was invested into the system through special privileges also. It was Mussolini who established the Vatican as an independent city-state and promised to enforce Roman Catholic doctrine and dogma through state coercion and repression. Something similar has unfolded in Russia today, and Iran is based on this concept. Social repression and coercion are the reasons why the Catholic Church supports the rise of the authoritarian dictatorship in Hungary and would support the same in Poland. This is the same promise being given to the Evangelical movement in America today in return for their political support.
Spiritualised nationalism is a mesmerizing force and a potent instrument for any aspiring autocrat. It is also a serious heresy.
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