Fascism is on the ballot

[Eric the Green]

(10-16-2020, 07:19 AM)Isoko Wrote: I agree with you Eric when it comes to millenials in America (and the larger Anglo world such as Britain and Canada). The vast majority of them actually are very defensive and supportive of the new multicultural/multiracial society that has been born. They don't have the desire to return to the past. 

However, millenials in Europe are a different kettle of fish. Aside from some outliers such as Germany and Sweden, I would say the vast majority of millenials in Europe have some form of populist right wing sympathy. Greek millenials are very patriotic and right wing. The majority of French millenials supported LePen with arguments made similar to Classic Xer and CH86. Italian millenials usually vote for the populists. Spain has a growing right wing populist movement and its millenials supporters. Eastern European millenials have views that would not be out of place in 1950s Britain. You get the point. 

Like I said before, Trump would actually be very successful in Europe. I think the reason for this is that the Anglo countries tend to be more defensive of democratic structures compared to Europeans that like to embrace their caesars every so many generations.

"populist" is not an accurate term for these right-wing folk; that meaning of "populism" implies that "the people" at heart are fearful and prejudiced and can be preyed upon to vote their rights away on that basis, whereas the original meaning of the term means power to the people over moneyed and the other elite interests of a few.

Europe and the USA are different, that is true. Europe has a long caesar tradition, whereas USA has a long democratic one. Things have shifted a bit though, because the Europeans since WWII and the American Marshal Plan restoration, and especially since the late sixties movements, took the American sixties movements and older democratic traditions and went with them and became more advanced, while America has gone backward in that time. 

Also, Europe has a much-stronger socialist tradition, and it's not a dirty word there whereas it is in the USA, especially because the USA was the leader of the Cold War and Russia was the totalitarian "socialist/communist" enemy, and because of our self-reliance capitalist ethic. Therefore with all these trends much has been established in Europe of a liberal and left bent, so the generational cycle of returning caesars may not apply. But you may be right that with the millennials it is coming around again, and the immigrant/refugee crisis certainly has stoked it with the rise of LePen, Brexit, the Italian right-wing leaders, neo-Nazis in Germany, and the drift back to authoritarian government in eastern Europe, etc. There is also certainly rising people-power opposition to these trends, as there is in the whole world now. That's true populism.

So, we'll see. I think if caesarism returns it will be a 4T thing, and that means soon. It may already be too late for the LePen types, since the refugee crisis is easing now. Trump's fall, if it happens, will also take some air out of this movement. A progressive turn in America will influence what happens in Europe once again.