We're All Fascists Now

There's an easy answer for everything. Vote the right way and the nation will be fine. You won't have to make any real sacrifices, the government will make sure they make all the sacrifices, "they" being whomever your chosen political savior happens to despise.

So here we are, selecting between Mussolini A and Mussolini B - Trump and Clinton. One is a personal messiah, the other is a policy messiah. Thoughts of personal freedom, personal accountability and governing as much of your own life as possible are being washed away in our hunger for a strong leader to make the bad things go away.

This didn't happen to us, we did it to ourselves. If we had wanted freedom, the Democrats wouldn't have become completely fascist and the Republicans would have chosen someone, anyone other than Trump. Nope, this is who we are, as Obama might say. I guess fascism was on the Right Side of History after all.

My thinking isn't political these days, even though I'm frequently giving in to the siren song of political blogging. Instead, it's cultural. How do you turn this thing around? Truth be told, I'm kind of at a loss. For one thing, while our political leaders are all strong-men-in-waiting, it just doesn't seem like the culture is. But it must be, right? Or is this just the natural consequence of living the Marquis de Sade life where all that matters is pleasure? Are we looking for a strong man so we can leave all that icky constructive stuff to someone else so we can focus on weed, porn and video games?

That last seems like the best explanation to me. I guess if you don't have any real ambitions in life, having someone tell you what to do isn't such a big deal. If you're not trying to go somewhere significant, who cares what regulations you have to follow?

Directionless fascism?

They're serving free ice cream after the rally, so it's all good.