Reply #22: What I find really discouraging

[Lydia Leftcoast]

is watching the reaction to the demonstrations at the RNC.

The right-wing reaction is "dirty, smelly, unemployed hippies who should have been shot."

The left-wing reaction is "Since when is free speech a crime, and what about the possibility of police provocateurs?"

The "moderate" reaction is, "Well, I believe in free speech and everything, but those protesters shouldn't have thrown stuff." (This is even though the violence started after the main protest was over.)

Neither the right-wing nor the "moderate" group seems willing to even consider the possibility of police or FBI provocateurs, despite clear historical precedents.

There's a deep authoritarian streak in the American psyche, and all that is required for taking another step toward fascism is to push the right buttons.

It's scary, because one of the insidious things about fascism as seen in 1970s Latin America or pre-war Japan is that most people are able to get on with their lives, and the government provides them with handy scapegoats to explain their economic misery.