We have already forgotten that about one-third of the GOP wanted us to enter the war on the side of Hitler in 1939. We have already forgotten Joe McCarthy in 1950. Now Trump followers have taken us to the brink.
Therefore, we must now take the offensive and fortify our institutions against the next and inevitable assault on our Republic. The enemy is nameless, as Hofstadter could only describe a “paranoid style”. Most recently, this enemy has defined itself as patriots fighting socialism. So “twentieth century”. Thus the best antidote to this “enemy” is a neutralization of the “enemy’s” language.
Real socialism has been our soup de jour since FDR in 1933. The only questions being decided since then are whose financial interests are being addressed today, business or labor. These interests are negotiated in the political arena. The recent Trump problem, on the other hand, involves a cultural issue of the opposition between civic citizens and authoritarian subjects. This is the same conflict that affected us in 1939 and 1950. The answer to resolve this dilemma permanently is two-fold.
First, economic inequality must be reduced by an improved labor condition in the affected areas, to wit, the rural hills and small cities. Improved economic conditions will prevent individuals from being concerned about theory or ideology.
Second, civic education efforts must be greatly expanded. Strangely, the Newsmax television network can be helpful with its many World War II documentaries on Hitler’s rise to power. So to with several other cable channels which seem to be constantly covering those wartime issues. Our current Trump supporters exhibit a severe lack of understanding of civic principles and history. A nationwide education effort, as C-Span’s 1976 series on Tocqueville, may be a starting point. Now is the time to permanently change the basis of national discourse.