“When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. (Sinclair Lewis)
I had a nasty thought over the weekend, and cannot make it go away.
Once in a college history class in open discussion, I was so foolish as to say that ideas are not so important as actions. I doubted that Napoleon or Stalin gave a damn about the underlying ideology that led them to power. Having power was all they cared about.
I was quickly put in my place by both fellow students and professor. Of what importance was, say Karl Marx and his ideas? Marxism became a virus, and that virus opened the door for Stalin and Mao and Ceaușescu and others. And indeed the idea did not matter to those thugs, but it was their gateway to power. Marxism became a scourge, and it took 75 years and countless lives to break free of it. It also allowed the United States to sit atop a perch and claim its faux-capitalism to be the antidote. Now we see that the antidote is worse than the poison itself.
Right now in the state of Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder is using his new-found powers given him by a Tea Party legislature to shut down democratic governance in one lone Michigan town, Benton Harbor. He has appointed a local dictator. He can do it once or a hundred times. The law does not limit him. In Wisconsin, Scott Walker has the advantage over his opponents of not having to play by rules. He can freelance his way through his self-generated “crisis” to change state government to his liking. He does not seem to care about the rule of law, or even rules of fair play. He will do anything to win.
These are not “evil” men in the sense that they want to hurt people. But they are dangerous in the Machiavellian sense that they believe their ends so just that their means are acceptable. So too might Marx have approved of the events in Russia, not having the foresight to see how power corrupts ordinary people makes ordinary psychopaths into historical tyrants.
This disease, the idea that is the gateway to power for the Walkers and Snyders is not Marxism, but is equally dangerous. It is called Randiansim, Objectivism, Libertarianism, and is all done in the name of freedom. The spear-chuckers are true beleivers, and are so certain they are right that anything they do to advance their cause is justified. In so doing, they will open the door for a Stalin or Ceaușescu. Remember that the people behind the actors are not ideologues, but rather cold and calculating power-seekers. It is the bane of civilization, perhaps our ultimate undoing, that power cedes to those who want power. Our best leaders are those who do not want power for its own sake, and they don’t run.
Ayn Rand’s philosophy is a a poison, a disease that is working its way through our society. Like smoking, people inhale Rand when they are young, and the less thoughtful do not discard her as they mature. It takes a wise person to see that an ideology imposed on us by force, and this is what Walker and Snyder are doing, cannot give birth to freedom. Imagine behind Walker a Cheney, for instance, waiting in the wings, ready to take power and impose his will without the annoyance of legislatures and courts and voters. Every move by the extreme right these days in some way undermines democratic governance. It is no accident, and when the tyrant comes to power, we will have no tools left to unseat him.
That was the nasty thought I had this weekend – it took 75 years to dislodge the meme called Marxism, and might take that long to dislodge Randianism. And, at what cost?
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PS: How, you might ask, do I know that Walker and Snyder are Randians? Fair question. Answer: I don’t know it. I just know it.
PPS: Just for chuckles read here how Rand accepted Social Security and Medicare as she died from lung cancer (believing the scare tactics about tobacco was government propaganda).
Piece of Mindful 