On Tuesday morning, Gov. Paul LePage (R-Maine), said in an interview, “we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country.” Not only is it unsettling for the governor of an American state to be endorsing an authoritarian form of government, but it also reveals an underlying shift in the American public — a tilt toward authoritarianism.
I am not accusing Trump of trying to impose authoritarian rule, but there is no doubt Trump’s anti-establishment and populist discourse resembles attitudes adopted by authoritarian political leaders. His demonization of outside groups, his delegitimization of the political establishment and the media, his threats to jail his political opponent, his hostile tirades — the list goes on.
However, the most worrisome development is the fact that a governor of a U.S. state would give legitimacy to authoritarian rule. We’ve seen the tragic consequences of autocracy throughout Latin America, the Middle East and in its most extreme form, Europe between World Wars I and II. But it is not necessary to examine other countries in order to witness the terror that autocracy has caused. We need only to look at our own history.
In 1950, Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s demagoguery, personal attacks on politicians and unsubstantiated accusations of communist subversion in the U.S. government spurred a vicious political movement known as McCarthyism. McCarthy first became a media phenomenon by asserting that 205 communists and homosexuals had infiltrated the U.S. Department of State. When criticized by the media, he labeled them “dupes” or “communist sympathizers.”
McCarthy was supported by a broad group, the so-called “coalition of the aggrieved.” Common themes uniting followers of McCarthyism were anti-internationalism and opposition to social welfare provisions resulting from the New Deal. Followers of the McCarthyist movement were opposed to public health services like vaccination and mental healthcare because they believed these issues were plots concocted by communists to brainwash Americans.
McCarthyism, indeed, created an authoritarian situation. The Senate Committee on Government Operations, of which McCarthy was chairman, was used as a tool to investigate alleged communists in the government. Fear of unemployment was used as a tool to muzzle dissent. The American Communist Party was banned, “communist” literature was burned and thousands lost their jobs. Fundamental rights were altered.
As in the 1950s, our susceptibility to demagoguery is a result of deep, and often legitimate, discontent and fear. As the prominent political scientists and economist Francis Fukuyama has pointed out, the working class and sectors of the middle class are experiencing the effects of “economic stagnation and rise of inequality.” The working class feels abandoned by both parties, which have supported free-trade liberal policies that have affected working-class jobs. Thus, many people have a feeling that unknown forces are guiding politics and the economy, feeding into more paranoia, conspiracy theories and accusations of treason. However, an authoritarian approach will not magically resolve these issues, and many of Trump’s protectionist policies could have devastating effects on a country so deeply interconnected in the global market. Instead, what is needed is a leader who can guide and reform the country within the bounds of existing democratic institutions and the Constitution.
Defeating Donald Trump in the election will only be a short-term solution. It is economic and social reform that will prove to be the long-term solutions needed to prevent another Trump. Politicians must pay more attention to the sectors that have suffered from economic stagnation and lack of social mobility by including them in the public-debate and policy-making processes.
We must learn from our past and resist the authoritarian temptation. History does not look kindly on Joseph McCarthy, and it will certainly not look kindly on those who choose the authoritarian path.
Julian Fleischman is a UF political science and telecommunication senior. His column appears on Fridays.
