The Real Road to Fascism

The Huffington Post ran an article on December 7, titled Ocasio-Cortez Claps Back at Trump Jr.’s Meme with Reminder of Democrats’ Subpoena Power. The headline voices the problematic fascism invading our culture and politics. The article praises the “scorched” response from Cortez to Donald Trump, Jr., after he posted a meme correlating socialism to eventually eating one’s beloved dog. More problematic than the historical accuracy of tried and failed socialism since Marx and Engel’s famous treatise for communism, in which socialism is the first step to dialectical Utopia, is the Post’s approval and celebration of Ocasio-Cortez’s blatant fascism. Americans should look at Ocasio-Cortez’s threat in one of two ways. First, she might be threatening Trump, Jr., in the sense that those who disseminate unfavorable material about her will be punished, which is textbook fascism and communism. Or, two, she is communicating that due to Mueller’s investigation and Don Jr.’s, involvement in the 2016 meeting with an alleged Russian national, Don Jr.’s meme is insult enough to goad her into punishing him with a subpoena. Either way, we indeed have fascist ideology in our political system.

There are many problems with Ocasio-Cortez’s clapback (never mind the fact that she can’t subpoena citizens), but the greatest challenge is the culture of fascism that has infiltrated our Millennial (born between 1983 and 1998) and Gen Z (born between 1999 and 2015) populations. Many young men and women in America look to Ocasio-Cortez as a hopeful prototype of leadership and change to usher in a new era of progressive politics that will unwittingly bring about Marx and Engel’s Utopia. Other Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, etc., hope Ocasio-Cortez is simply a chimera, but that hope may be misplaced, too. During an October episode of HBO’s "Real Time with Bill Maher", leftist thinkers Bill Maher and Jonathan Haidt exchange assertions on the recent problematic university culture developed, in part, to Gen Z college students. One of the exchanges center around unparented and nondisciplined college graduates who become “the kid who’s screaming at the professor and then gets a job at the Huffington Post.” Furthermore, Haidt affirms Maher’s assertion with “…and provides fodder for right-wing media…” Maher follows up with, “…and the problem with liberals in general is they let those kids who are at the Huffington Post or whatever, write that insane woke (expletive).” Ocasio-Cortez, like President Trump, utilizes her Twitter account to challenge other politicians or leaders like former representative Joe Crowley. Cortez tweeted “My opponent seems to be avoiding a debate, and isn’t acknowledging me. It’s just the 2 of us… I stopped by his office… asked for a debate in person.” Yet turnabout is never about fair play. When Ben Shapiro offered Cortez $10k to debate him, she created propaganda via Twitter that implied Shapiro was sexually harassing her via “catcalling”. As soon as she made this salacious claim, Ryan Saavedra surfaced the tweet of Cortez antagonizing Crowley. Ocasio-Cortez does not only influence existing voters, but has the ability to influence future voters, like Gen Z. Jonathan Haidt, a center-left liberal, pointed out that parents are the reason Gen Z college students who scream at their professors did not receive the parenting needed to develop healthy, emotional and mental maturity to navigate the world. Furthermore, Barna Group research reported in 2017, one out of two Gen Z identify their parents (Gen X) as their role model. Perhaps Gen Xer parents did not parent their children, yet instead made them better progressives. According to Pew Research conducted in 2016, the Silent Generation (born between 1925 to 1944) leans 53 percent Republican compared to 40 percent Democrat. The research concludes that Republican leaning is at its greatest since Pew began gathering data in 1992. However, if one looks at the voter leanings of the Silent’s children, the Gen Xers (born between 1965 to 1984) dial in at 42 percent Republican and 48 percent Democrat. What this indicates is Gen Xers decreased Republican voting by 11 percent compared to their Silent parents. Millennials (born between 1984 to 1998) lean 36 percent Republican and 57 percent Democrat while their Boomer (born between 1945 to 1964) parents lean 49 percent Republican and 45 percent Democrat. That is a decrease of 13 percent from Republicanism from Millennial children to their Boomer parents. If the 2018 mid-term elections are any indicator, 31 percent of ages 18 to 29 came out to vote, an increase from 21 percent in 2014. Seeing the Republican leaning voting decrease between the generations, there leaves a possible reason: the Silent Generation has not done a good job of communicating the conservative heart to their Gen Xer children. Contextualize these statistics with universities dominated by Democratic-voting professors and two major financial crises. Couple with a movement’s imperative to offer socialist programs to solve any future fears resultant in a plausible explanation as to why America is losing the ideological war for conservativism. If the statistical trends mentioned above hold true, then Gen Z are even more likely to vote heavily Democratic in the 2020 presidential election, as they may be inclined to imitate their Gen Xer parents’ political ideology or continue the increased generational trend to vote Democratic. Arthur Brooks, author of The Conservative Heart, makes a pronounced indictment against conservatism in which he asserts that conservatives are not skilled at communicating the compassion and intelligence of the movement. Perhaps conservative parents failed to transfer and transmute the heart of conservativism from one generation to the next. Instead, what is resultant is an anxious, socialist-sympathetic, and fascist generation of young people whom even liberals like Maher and Haidt are not excited about. If America grows more fascistic, we may need to look to the parents of Gen Z for answers.