Totalitarianism On the March

Totalitarianism is once again on the march. It's coming at us so fast and from so many directions it is difficult to see as a whole, though the pieces are quite familiar.

Let's start with President Obama's most recent encroachment on the private sector, the putative firing of GM's CEO. Nothing in the Constitution tells us that Presidents should maniuplate the leadership of private enterprise, or usurp the responsibilities of shareholders and boards. While I shed no tears for GM or its failed CEO, I wonder about Obama's vision of the Presidency when he behaves more like Hugo Chavez than Teddy Roosevelt, our most activist President when it came to clipping the excesses of big business.

When in modern times has a President taken such invasive action in the private sector, apart from Richard Nixon's imposition of wage and price controls?

To understand the fascismo sentiment behind Obama's largely symbolic sacking, hold your nose and read Michael Moore's defense of it in, appropriately, The Daily Beast:

"He has the massive will of the American people behind him -- and he has been granted permission by us to do what he sees fit. If you liked this week's all-net 3-pointer, stay tuned."

To do what he sees fit. We're a long, long way now from the American political heritage of Rousseau, Locke, Burke, and Jefferson when we think like this.

Tough economic times are opportune moments for totalitarianism, and sometimes it comes with charismatic leaders who buff it up with charm and soaring rhetoric. Finally, though, all they offer are their own beliefs about what is fair, just and right. And when the timing is right, a lot of people will agree with them.

What is fair, just and right is usually defined against a fearful backdrop of scoundrels, represented by dehumanized stereotypes: The rich, bankers, lawyers, hedge fund managers, and usually Jews (don't worry -- that's coming).

Consider Glenn Beck's questioning of Connecticut's Attorney General, who could not offer any legal grounds for harrassing the bonus babies of AIG. Finally, he fell back on his perception of popular sentiment -- that AIG employees got "money they don't deserve."

Who's to be the judge of that, if not your boss? Apparently, more and more people feel comfortable making Obama the final judge of more and more things: What should taxpayers subsidize, who should be taxed more, what people ought to earn, what constitutes social justice.

To do what he sees fit.  It is really no different than what Germans, Argentinian Peronistas, Spanish Francists, Italian fascists, and Nicaraguan Sandinistas granted to their leaders.

Come now, you say -- Obama's no Hitler! He is not. But National Socialism and every other fascist movement took root with government control of private industry and institutions (especially universities, and press). Private ownership, government control. Take away the funny mustaches and silly uniforms, and that's what totalitarianism is. Sometimes it is accompanied by imperialism and mass slaughter, but sometimes it is quieter than that (Tito, Castro, Peron, Chavez). Only the scapegoats change to suit the Leader's needs.

You won't catch President Obama wearing a funny uniform, but his minions in Congress just passed a bill that triples funding for Americorps, and organizes them into "local cadres," with uniforms, military-style discipline, and a committee to consider compulsory service for Americans of all ages. Even the San Francisco Examiner, hardly a conservative oracle, called it "creepy authoritarianism." And those same minions are considering passing his reduction of tax deductions for charitable contributions -- a move no doubt designed make the non-profit private sector more dependent on government, and less on private donors.

All of these policies, and more, show us a President who is a classid statist, with a profound distrust of the individual, and a will to curb individual freedoms in the interest of groups -- favored political classes of people. Most people won't be among those favored groups when it's all said and done.

The rising totalitarian sentiment is not confined to the left. It's worth remembering that our modern left and right, Communist and fascist movements, both originated from the dialectic philosophy of Hegel. Increasingly, we see fascist and Communist flags in public demonstrations in the streets of London and Paris, not to mention long-forgotten fascist flags and insignia increasing displayed at professional football matches in Europe.

Unconnected things, perhaps. I think not. I think we're seeing social phenomena -- Obama is one example -- that reflect people's reactions to widespread economic insecurity and fear for the future, a call for someone to just fix it, to make things right again. To do what he sees fit.