The recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade represents the triumph of white supremacist fascism, as the facade of democracy has been demolished for decades, beginning long before the psychopath insurrectionist took office in 2016 and was unwilling to submit to the results of the 2020 election.
Fascism results from the alliance of ethno-nationalism with the capitalist oligarchy in a given country. During stable times of relative prosperity a so-called “democracy” functions as a quasi-egalitarian plutocracy. Democracy is a euphemism suggesting that the non-wealthy achieve representation in government by the right to vote, even as American citizens witness the plutocracy of rich donors aggregated into Super PACS whereby districts are gerrymandered to suppress the votes of poor whites and people of color, whereby corporate executives can buy their way into government offices to write laws to dodge paying taxes and to slash social programs while boosting subsidies for themselves. When welfare for the wealthy replaces welfare for the working class and poor, we have a plutocracy, despite the lingering archaic euphemism of “democracy”.
The facade of democracy has been crumbling for decades, under the wrecking ball of neoliberalism, itself a confusing term connoting the authoritarianism of the transnational capitalist cabal, the clique of huge transnational corporations on a mission to disempower labor and transform government into their own welfare trough. Integral to this power grab by corporate pigs is control over the mainstream media, guided by a for-profit consumerist model, called “infotainment”, whereby various sets of narratives and titillating stories vie for the attention of various sectors of the population. The social media serve as megaphones to amplify the sport of adversarial clickbaited socio-political tribes whose vitriolic noise replaces any semblance of journalism. Amidst this chaos, an extreme narcissistic con-artist is enabled to become president, even when losing the popular vote by 2.9 million. The tribal enmity between Team Hillary and Team Trump was aided and abetted by white-supremacist-funded internet bunk. Retro-Murican voter suppression in key swing states brought the sociopath charlatan into office, affirming the intentions of our white aristocratic forefathers dreading a possible “tyranny of the majority”, those peasants who might have run roughshod over the aristocracy enshrined in their Constitution, this Constitution prohibiting the vote to women, blacks, and poor whites. The electoral college is the schema of white male supremacy, not democracy.
Wedge issues are the key components for the ascendancy of Retro-Murica. As the “bi-coastal tribe” deluded itself for decades about “liberal democracy”, the infotainment media preached trickle-down narratives, market fundamentalism, supply side economics, black women on welfare driving Cadillacs, poor people as takers, and rich people as creators. The fly-over state tribe flocked to Rush Limbaugh, rightwing talk radio, then Fox News, then to rightwing think tanks scripting white supremacist narratives called “news”. Wedge issues include abortion, trickle down economics, God, gays, and guns. It’s very effective tribalism to establish the enemies called “liberal elites” be they Hollywood celebrities, George Soros, or other “commies” who want to undermine traditional white majority culture. In our social media clickbait culture wedge issues are much more easily narrated than intellectual discussions of issues. As the non-wealthy argue on the social media, become fragmented into opposing tribes, the noisiest tribe, angry white men, gains the most power. Hence the United States collectively descends into a new Dark Age, already long underway when Trump came into office. Our current socio-political dumpster fire rages on.
We are headed for a more loathsome Retro-Murica because of ongoing pandemic-caused supply-chain dysfunctions and the opportunistic corporate price-gouging causes inflation to soar, and it’s easier to blame Biden than study the actual causes of this anomalous inflation. Liberals are divided into moderate and far left sub-tribes, thus setting the stage for a mid-term shellacking later this year. The last democratic president, Obama, had his mid-term shellacking with the help of white male rage amped up by Fox Noise and rightwing social media and talk radio. Enough whites were enraged by Tea Party rhetoric on #1 rated Fox News and rightwing radio, both of which outweigh liberals on the social media. The same rightwing media dominance persists. Check the ratings of Fox and rightwing talk radio and podcasts. Prepare yourselves for this Retro-Murica to get worse.
Yes, it’s fascism. As World War I broke out, the working classes in Europe aligned for their respective nations, not the international proletariat. Mussolini was in Italy’s socialist party, but broke from it and alligned with other fascist ideologues who had already maligned socialist ideology. Georges Sorel, French proto-fascist, wrote Réflexions sur la violence, a fascist blueprint inspiring Mussolini. Fallacious white supremacist manifestos like The Protocol of the Elders of Zion were circulated by Henry Ford. In the Cold War Era redbaiting amped up white supremacy. The John Birch Society was co-led by Fred Koch, father of Charles and David. He said “The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America”. Racism maligning both blacks and Jews scheming to implement a “New World Order” has been amplified on the internet and social media by conservative oligarchs. Retro-Murica is built on the foundations of paranoid racist narratives, the wedge issues of God, Gays, guns, and abortion, and the destruction of sane dialogue via the internet with its social media algorithms.
It’s time to realize “democracy” was always a quasi-egalitarian plutocracy, and is now descending into authoritarian plutocracy in which women are forced into birthing their rapists’ babies and many people maintain rabid devotion to a charlatan pathological lying mafia-style ex president. Twitter gave Trump a platform for incessant BS until January 8, 2021. Some social media have made perfunctory steps to limit rightwing bunk, but Tik Tok gives Trumpers free reign. The noisiest most butthurt people, angry white men, will make sure Retro-Murica takes precedence over any liberal idealizations we once held dear. Facing reality is the first step towards healing, to seek anything approximating democracy in this Retro-Murican Dark Age.