“You don’t know what you’ve got ‘till it’s gone” (Joni Mitchell).
Democracy is fragile compared to dictatorship. Democracy depends on us to govern ourselves, not on some tyrant to tell us what we are allowed to do.
But if enough constituencies are angry about other groups that they want to shut down, many aspects of a dictatorship can be very appealing, at least at first glance.
All dictatorships need a dictator—a dictator who believes only he has all the answers, and he alone is the one person to follow.
This cult of personality is heady stuff for followers. It gives the “true believers” someone to venerate, and, once committed, followers seem to be cemented into place. Stalin killed millions of his fellow Russians, yet there are still Russians who revere his memory.
Dictators can seize power in several ways, but violence is always their hallmark. Only the scapegoats and targets of violence vary.
Let’s consider the symbols of the January 2021 insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol. Philip Gorski, an esteemed sociologist, identifies the various insurrection symbols as an extreme form of White Christian nationalism (P. Gorski and S. Perry, published in the United States by Oxford University Press, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy, 2022).
These symbols included: Christian crosses and American flags sharpened to a point for use as weapons; the “Jesus saves” signs of White Christian nationalists; the Nationalist Social Club (NSC) stickers of a neo-Nazi group; the “Release the Kraken” flags of those who believe—despite all the evidence—that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump; the Proud Boys and their White power hand gestures; the “Kekistan” flags, partially modeled on the Nazi flag, designed by the 4chan online group of Qanon; flags emblazoned with images of assault weapons—some with taunts to “come and take it”; the Gadsden flags of a snake coiled over the words ”Don’t Tread on Me,”which has come to symbolize far-right revolution; Oath Keepers’ hats and flags; the Camp Auschwitz shirts; and the “American First” flag based on Nick Fuentes’ far-right podcast.
Yes, you have heard of Fuentes. He’s the person Donald Trump denies knowing, but who dined with him and Ye (Kanye West) at the White House. Here’s a quote from Fuentes, an equal opportunity bigot who seems to hate everyone: “The Taliban is going to ban abortion, vaccines, and gay marriage…maybe we were fighting on the wrong side for 20 years.”
Hatred, envy, and fear are easy emotions to arouse and, once inflamed, difficult to extinguish. The primary target of hatred is the only variable among the groups involved in the insurrection. Who best to hate?
The insurrection groups
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covered all the usual targets: Jews, Black Americans, liberal Christians, women, immigrants, or anyone outside their own group.
Hatred and scorn are major threats both to religion and to the democratic ideals of liberty and justice. Hatred is a heavy burden. We could just lay it down.
Rather than doubling down on misery and hatred, we could, as a nation, double down on democracy. Rather than more hate, we could embrace the democratic ideals of fairness, social justice, and equal opportunity.
White Christian nationalism opposes the teachings of the Christ, and it will wreck the nation as we know it.
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that God or history is on their side. Mike Johnson, the recently elected Speaker of the House, believes his authority is God-given.
Throughout history, anytime God/Allah/Yahweh is called down on one side, violence and chaos are justified as means to an end. Then, in the end, even the instigators suffer.