TWILIGHT OF DEMOCRACY by Anne Applebaum
The subtitle of Anne Applebaum’s book, the seductive lure of authoritarianism, suggests that the rise of authoritarianism in Europe and the United States makes democracies endangered species.
Authoritarian governments have existed in varying degrees for nearly all of the time people have gathered in communities. The Soviet Union, China, North Korea, South American and African dictatorships have existed for decades, even though their citizens sometimes rise up in opposition.
Applebaum, born in Washington, D.C., now resides in Poland with her husband, who is a Polish politician. An expert on Russia and active for years in political circles, she has been living with and watching the governments of Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Spain, the UK, and the United States under Donald Trump begin to move toward more authoritarian rule.
Her book is also a personal political biography over the last few decades. She follows the changes in the political landscape by observing that her friendships change as the political tectonic plates shift under them. People who attended parties together a decade ago now would never be invited to the next party because the guests and hosts would have moved to opposites ends of the political spectrum.
Authoritarian governments require forceful, dictatorial leaders and followers who are willing to be subservient to authoritarian rule. Authoritarians must suppress their enemies. The enemies are truth, freedom, diversity and former government institutions. As Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Reagan’s U.N. ambassador, wrote in 1986, “To destroy a society, it is first necessary to delegitimize its basic institutions.” In my Russian history class I learned that it is critical that an emerging authoritarian government control the media. The new leaders must feed only the information they want people to know. If that is not immediately possible, then the aspiring authoritarians must cause people to doubt the veracity of the news.
The leaders of these countries also must create an enemy or enemies to rally the people against. Creating a common enemy means that the people are united against a common foe. Often this “enemy” is created with conspiracy theories. One Polish leader said of a conspiracy theory that it was not true, but “the peasants will buy it.”
The enemies are often immigrants, the elite, the press, the former government institutions. Leaders rail against the disruptions immigrants are causing, they berate the media for not relaying the narrative of government, they replace experienced government bureaucrats with party loyalists often with no experience in running agencies, they support nationalism and advocate xenophobia, they may deny freedoms of speech, of assembly, of movement. The purpose is to control. Diversity, freedom, truth are the enemies of authoritarianism.
People who are open to being controlled, Applebaum says, are often those who have difficulty dealing with complexity or nuance. They want choices to be black or white. It appeals to people who in their own lives have had an authoritarian father. Sons of authoritarian fathers are often authoritarian fathers, following the only role model they know. They are comfortable with authoritarians.
Applebaum writes that perhaps fear of the current Covid 19 virus “will create fear of freedom,” aiding leaders to increase their control. I would broaden this view to say that fear of freedom could be at the core of choosing authoritarianism. Authoritarians often deny freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. They need to have control. Freedom is an existential threat to their goal of control. For those who capitulate to authoritarians, the lack of choices helps simplify their lives, and they are accustomed to being told what to do.
Thomas Sowell in his Basic Economics argues that free market capitalism, which is essentially economic democracy, relies on individuals making the best choices for themselves and, although some could make poor decisions, the aggregate of choices will produce good outcomes. Economic choice means that when people buy a product or service that the producers of the product or service know quickly what they need to provide more of and what they can pull back on. It is a very responsive system to the choices of the customer.
On the other hand, when governments or committees decide on plans for an economy they make long range plans, setting in motion production choices that can’t be changed quickly. Thus when the Soviet Union formed 5 year plans, they often had rows and rows of work boots but bread lines around the block.
Authoritarian governments do not create prosperity for their citizens. Often it’s only the bureaucrats of oligarchs who prosper. Freedom produces creativity and prosperity.
Democracy is messy. It relies on trust that people will be informed and make decisions that are best for them. Accurate information that is accessible is vital to democracy. Individuals must have accurate information to make good decisions. Freedom is complicated also because it has restraints. Freedom does not mean anyone can do what he or she wants. Every person has the same freedom and rights. Therefore one individual’s freedom to act cannot infringe another’s. Freedom has fences. You may feel you have the right not to wear a mask during a pandemic, as advocated by medical experts, but those around you have the right to protect their health and the health of their families. Your freedom ends where another’s begins.
People in Europe have been accustomed to governments cycling between more democratic and more autocratic systems. In the United States we are far more disillusioned and alarmed because we have thought of our society gradually working its way onward and upward toward a more perfect union—a more just and unified society. This current dramatic back slide under Trump calls into question whether our democracy can withstand the onslaught of Trump’s classic authoritarian populism, as we see our press under attack, our institutions assaulted, high government positions filled by Trump with willing sycophants, immigrants and non-white people denigrated, and directives coming from Trump through unofficial channels like Twitter. The Constitution has no provision for one man in a room with a cell phone directing the course of the country.
Anne Applebaum warns us of the threat of authoritarianism, its classic signals we should be aware of so that we can change course before we are stuck in the tar baby. The United States is not founded on an ethnicity or a culture. It is founded on ideas of freedom, equality before the law, individual rights, diversity. While this is the ultimate vision, it is necessary to keep it in front of us and continually work toward it. We all should have conversations about freedom and about thinking of individuals and not groups. Fixing problems of racism and religious bigotry and other divides in society is not easy. We must see each other as individuals and not as members of some stereotypical group or class. It might be a signal that we are making progress when politicians no longer have specific policies for blacks, hispanics, religious groups, genders, but have plans for all Americans to thrive.
As human beings we are far more alike than we are different. We must recognize that because we were born privileged that we still suffer with failure, pain, and sorrow; and don’t think that if we are born in famine and chaos that we do not have hopes and dreams.
Comments