Authoritarianism on the Rise

[David Horn]

(08-05-2020, 04:59 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: I have long thought authoritarianism is tied to the Agricultural Age approach of kings.  Leaders  like Hitler and Stalin took the newer industrialism, but left the culture more inclined to stick with kings by another name.  There is an argument between autocracy and democracy.  The argument between Republicans and Democrats is just a smaller difference within a democracy.  Both the Republicans and Democrats ought to reject the Hitlers and Stalins of the world.

I have begun to suspect that the recent popularity of authoritarianism is a 3T trait.  At least in America, a crisis where it is recognized that Trump is not the way to go might purge authoritarianism.  I am thus not so sure that authoritarianism is on the rise as the thread name suggests.  Ask me again after the election and it's aftermath.

Several studies correlating personal traits to political positions has demonstrated the attraction of both groups to authoritarians.  Conservatives tend to be traditionalists and lean toward authoritarians when traditional social models are under attack, as they are today.  Liberals only lean that way when the society becomes so sclerotic that change is impossible.  Therefore, lefty authoritarians tend to assume power by overthrowing the prevailing systems and imposing a "better one", that rarely is. Rightwing authoritarians tend to seize power by corruption of the current system.  Of the two, the latter is easier and more common.  It's also true that the prevalence of authoritarian tendencies is much higher on the right.  I'll take a swing at that and say that resentment of change is vastly more common, because change is constant.