Frightening - an amazing read. "The Rise of American Authoritarianism" to explain Trump's rise

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism

It's long, but well worth reading - it explains a lot - and will surprise very few of us here at DU.

"The rise of American authoritarianism"

A niche group of political scientists may have uncovered what's driving Donald Trump's ascent. What they found has implications that go well beyond 2016.

by Amanda Taub on March 1, 2016

Table of contents

I. What is American authoritarianism?
II. The discovery
III. How authoritarianism works
IV. What can authoritarianism explain?
V. The party of authoritarians
VI. Trump, authoritarians, and fear
VII. America's changing social landscape
VIII. What authoritarians want
IX. How authoritarians will change American politics

The American media, over the past year, has been trying to work out something of a mystery: Why is the Republican electorate supporting a far-right, orange-toned populist with no real political experience, who espouses extreme and often bizarre views? How has Donald Trump, seemingly out of nowhere, suddenly become so popular?

What's made Trump's rise even more puzzling is that his support seems to cross demographic lines — education, income, age, even religiosity — that usually demarcate candidates. And whereas most Republican candidates might draw strong support from just one segment of the party base, such as Southern evangelicals or coastal moderates, Trump currently does surprisingly well from the Gulf Coast of Florida to the towns of upstate New York, and he won a resounding victory in the Nevada caucuses.

Perhaps strangest of all, it wasn't just Trump but his supporters who seemed to have come out of nowhere, suddenly expressing, in large numbers, ideas far more extreme than anything that has risen to such popularity in recent memory. In South Carolina, a CBS News exit poll found that 75 percent of Republican voters supported banning Muslims from the United States. A PPP poll found that a third of Trump voters support banning gays and lesbians from the country. Twenty percent said Lincoln shouldn't have freed the slaves.

Last September, a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst named Matthew MacWilliams realized that his dissertation research might hold the answer to not just one but all three of these mysteries."

======================snip===========

Everyone here should read this. It is absolutely frightening.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Bookmarking for tomorrow...n/t

[shadowmayor]

2. Professor Altemeyer

Surprised the article didn't mention Right Wing Authoritarianism by Bob Altemeyer. Very interesting article. Thanks for posting!!

[bemildred]

3. And the flip side of that, if you allow that it is so, is that:

a.) anti-authoritarians have been sorted out of the Republican Party, into the other Party, the Democrats, that's us
b.) this presents the American voting public with a clear politcal choice about policy for the first time in a long time

May not be pleasant but it should be illuminating.

[Shankapotomus]

5. It seems good news for Democrats and liberals

We've all been trying to tell everyone the Conservatives are authoritarians and, not only do we have conformation of it, but it's going to drive them to more overt and extreme behavior which is going to expose them as the crazies that they truly are.

It's like battling a psychological abuser all your life who never breaks any laws so there is little you can show to prove the abuse or stop it. But then suddenly the abuse turns physical and it's suddenly crystal clear abuse is occurring. Despite the threat of violence this is good news. It means the facade of Republicans and conservatives as just one side of two political spectrums and choices is cracking. Democrats haven't cracked. We just need to stand here saying what we've always said and wait.

[bemildred]

6. One would think so.

I don't feel convinced yet. The habit of the corporate Dems of blurring the distinction between the two parties because they hate populist governance may bite them in the ass if they don't get a clue.

[Shankapotomus]

8. I agree

Populism is repugnant to many but incremental movement may prove the more successful option.

[Shankapotomus]

4. Kicking for more views

Everybody needs to read this. It's not only illuminating on a political level but also on a social and even family level. A must read!

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. kicking for relevance and the west coast crew!

[Rhiannon12866]

9. K&R! Thanks for posting!

Reading this now. Back in 2003, I think, when I'd first joined DU, an acquaintance who was new to politics asked me what was the difference between liberals and conservatives. The simplest answer I could think of giving was that conservatives want to tell everyone else what to do - I was thinking of same sex marriage and racial and religious intolerance, glad to know I wasn't far off. Illuminating article!

[Shankapotomus]

10. It totally makes sense now why Liberal media can't get a foothold

People want to hear authoritarian "strongman" solutions to issues and, by their nature, liberals hate strongman solutions to social and international problems. But it's authoritarian talk like "we're going to wipe out this political party", "we're not going to compromise" "this party is destroying America" that draws listeners and viewers. The general public wants to hear about easy and permenant fixes to problems that result in their favor, not piecemeal compromises and negotiations. They just want someone to tell them their problems need to go away, not how to make it more fair for everybody.

It's almost as if you have to step over the line into the extremism of an authoritarian and intransigent cult to have media success. That's what gets views and listeners. Liberal media and Right-Wing media have been competing in different genres and the Right has chosen the one that gets the most viewers. We've chosen the low traffic non-fiction genre and the Right went with high traffic drama and thrillers.

It's like that episode of Star Trek with the evil and good versions of Kirk, Spock, etc.

Maybe if we had an angry Rachel Maddow and a screaming, non-negotiable Chris Hayes, liberal media could finally become gain the traction it needs to thrive.

[reefermadness]

11. Scary

It's scary as sh*t but the article offers no suggestions as to how to combat rising authoritarianism.

[Doctor_J]

12. This is interesting since the Clinton supporters on du exhibit strong authoritarian tendencies

So if it ends up being trump versus Clinton in November, it is difficult to see a path back to representative democracy. Hillary supporters are not racists and white supremacists like trumps, but do favor cluster bombs and wall street control of the economy and more war and for profit prisons and schools and healthcare - more death, more corporate control over everyone's lives.