Slouching Towards Fascism

I WAS SHOCKED AND HORRIFIED when I found out, by watching "Face the Nation" that over the past four years, the Democratic party has lost about two million members, and the Republican party has gained approximately that many. Even worse, much of this loss and gain has happened is the so called "swing states", increasing its impact. What does this mean? That fascism is popular, and is winning? I had, for some reason, assumed pretty much the opposite; that people are fleeing the Republican party, and that Trump's popularity maxxed out long ago, that it would never go any higher than now, because at this stage of the game, Donald Trump is simply not going to attrract any new supporters? Is this all wrong too,heaven forbid? Isit possible that Trump's behavior over the past six months, or four years, has actually attracted new supporters for him? How can that be? Suppose that the Epstein files are actually released to the public, and that they haven't been edited,and that Trump's name is all over them, along with pictures and names of under aged girls. Trump, busted, finally. What would happen to his approval rating then? would it skyrocket, the nation proud to have verified pedophile as president? The same news program gave Trump's current approval rating as forty four percent, with fifty three percent opposed. That's low for a president at this stage, but not as low as you somehow think it should be, what with Trump rolling out all his fascism, and such. Trump opponents are evidently conronted with the unpleasant but undeniable reality that a large portion of we the American electorate views Trump's authoritarian behavior, the tariffs, the national guard, the deportations, all that, as positive developments, necessary to making America great, again. People tend to like a strong man, people tend to like fascism. Somehow, it makes people feel secure, comfortable, protected. Our great leader will take care of us. Trump, the man who gets things done, rather than sitting around waiting for congress and all the and media talking heads talk about every little detail in every policy proposal, debating, talking, endlessly. So what if he sidesteps a few regulations and breaks a few little laws and usurps a little congressional authority in so doing? My father once said to me that the best form of government is probably a benevolent dictatorship, heavy on the "benevolent" part. Almost everybody who participates seriously in the democratic process becomes, at one time or another, frustrated at the cumbersome, plodding inefficiency of it all. The elephant in this idyllic room is that human beings by nature, when they acquire dictatorial powers, even if they begin as basically benevolent individiuals, tend not to remain benevolent, because, alas, Lord Acton was right, power corrupts, power does not make benevolent. The National Guard has now been patrolling the streets in Washington D.C. for more than two weeks. Indeed, there has been and still is a negative response to this from the public, but, perhaps, not negative enough. Already, it almost seems as if we are all somehow starting to get used to it. Perhaps we will watch the fuhrer clean up every American city, one at a time, by force, then praise him as he tells us another ludicrous big lie; that crime in America has finally been totally eliminated. Prisoners often end up liking prison, and adoring their captors, living their lives in chains, not knowing they have the key.