‘Fascism’ isn’t even the right word for this though. This is far worse, containing a psychological element that other incarnations of authoritarianism have lacked for the most part. This is a rebirth of the religion of the State, a far older phenomenon than the fascism and communisim of the twentieth century, and its appearance feels inevitable, the final crisis of a culture whose moral and intellectual underpinnings have long ago rotted away to nothing. The value of freedom is taught nowhere, children and adults are herded through conveyer-belt schools, conveyer belt careers, with no true knowledge or virtue imparted, and when a crisis of this magnitude erupts from beneath their feet, they have no framework through which to understand it or mount a defense.
