Questions such as this had begun bothering me a couple years ago, as I became more politically aware (that is, I started to pay close attention to current events). The rhetoric bandied about during the election taught me that I have a low tolerance for politics, at least as currently practiced. So that I am not constantly in an accute state of anger, I have let it fade into the background – not out of mind, but no longer to the fore.
It seems to me that there is indeed a cyclical component to political moods; not a fixed cycle, nor an easily identified similitude, but a cycle nonetheless. I’d say that since the mid-90s, the country has been swinging “right” (or “conservative” or “Republican” or however you wish to describe it). I’m not sure how that would be measured, so I can’t provide a cite. It is, however, something I believe to be true.
With all that said, I’m not overly worried about the US turning into a fascist state. I start to worry when I think specific events may hinder the possibility of the cycle continuing. If a SC decision came down permitting religious exhibits on government property (e.g., Roy Moore and his marble slab), I’d be worried. If we were to begin a war with Iran under false pretenses, I’d be worried. If public K-12 schools began requiring RFID cards and no parents complained, I’d be worried. In fact, institution of a required national ID card would be a big warning sign. The overturning of Roe v. Wade would, to me, indicate a level of government intrusion into people’s lives that might indicate a non-recoverable rightward swing. Perhaps I put too much trust in the power and judgement of the courts that any of these things, should they happen, will be stopped.
This is not to say that I’m not worried. The general populace’s seemingly selective “morality issues” (abortion and same-sex marriage were hot-button issues, the death-penalty and FCC crackdown really weren’t) during the election worry me. The Lindh case worried me. The fact that the RIAA can subpoena information about people trading files on P2P networks without a court order worries me, as does their seeming ability to get whatever legislation they wish passed. The recent finding that high-schoolers think speech should be restricted worries me. The passionate diatribes I’ve heard against the ACLU worry me. The case of the South Dakota man who, it was ruled, had to produce ID for the police (SD? I forget his name and what state it was) worries me. The fact that “plausible deniability” seems to rule both the political and corporate world worries me. However, none of these alone are enough to make me believe the pendulum won’t swing back in the future. Furthermore, not only can one can point to just about any point in history and find examples of similar happenings, but there are also some good aspects to each of the above.
I suppose what I’m saying, in my prolix way, is that I don’t have an answer as to how to gauge the “fascist mood” of the country. Part of the problem is that you’re asking for definition of an ill-defined zeitgeist; the “14 points of fascism” listed are inadequate. I don’t think any single event would be indentifiable – at least, while it was happening – that would indicate we’ve passed the tipping point. I’m a computer scientist, ferchrissakes, not a historian, sociologist, or politician. But I do have worries, enough to keep the thought in the back of my mind.
