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All successful right wing propagandists (from Hitler's propagandist Goebbels to Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove) have been tuned in to this fear and confusion and exactly how to convey that they alone have a solution for it.
Why Americans Don't Vote
In the US only half of eligible adults register and a little over fifty percent of registered voters actually vote. Reich argues that it's typical in highly authoritarian "democracies" for the passive, non-voting population to constitute the majority. He also stresses, with examples from Germany, Japan, Italy and other totalitarian states that it's is precisely this passive, non-voting majority that fascists and ultra-conservatives reach out to. He is very critical of the left for attempting to engage this demographic by addressing their appalling economic conditions a strategy he insists is doomed to failure. In his view, what the left needs to grasp and never does is that owing to the social conditions they grow up in, this politically inactive majority are too caught up in their own internal struggles to think in terms of their economic needs. To put it crudely, status-related needs, such as getting laid, and driving a fast car and watching the Superbowl on a flat screen TV will always be a much higher priority than wages or working conditions.
Reich also makes the point that just because this group is "non-political" in no way means they are passive. To the contrary, he argues that their withdrawal from the political process is actually a highly active (though unconscious) defense against the social responsibility inherent in making political choices. His definition of "freedom" is the ability and responsibility for each individual to shape his own personal, occupational and social existence in a rational way. He also asserts that there is nothing more terrifying to the average person than the responsibility entailed in this level of freedom. Because the experience of being raised in excessively authoritarian family, educational and religious structures denies men and women any experience of the human organism's natural capacity of self-regulation they reach adulthood with no confidence in their ability to conduct their lives without external authority to guide and compel them.
The reactionary right knows exactly how to appeal to these unconscious fears and anxieties. First by creating even more rigid and authoritarian structures that provide immediate (though temporary) relief of anxiety by limiting choice. And secondly by promoting racist or pseudo-racist ideology that projects unhappiness and perceived lack of freedom away from ourselves onto an external "enemy" Jews, Moslems, socialists, immigrants, terrorists, Hispanics, blacks, feminazis, liberals, intellectuals (this was Bush's favorite scapegoat) and increasingly teenagers.
Where Progressives go Wrong
Reich obviously believes the progressive message economic and political freedom is more innately appealing to the working class than what fascism has to offer. His only complaint is the way the left tries to deliver it. What he advocates is that instead of educating low income workers about economic and political injustice, progressives ought to directly address the emotional baggage the working poor carry from authoritarian family and school experiences. He proposes that the best way to do this is to engage in politically enlightened social reform activities, primarily directed towards youth to help them become resilient adults unhampered by their parents' insecurities and towards women.
During his lifetime, Reich himself was an outspoken champion of women's rights arguing that freeing women from authoritarian family structures was the best way to free their children from them. He campaigned tirelessly for women's ability to access (free) birth control and abortion recognizing that many women are forced to raise their children in a paternalistic, authoritarian families for economic reasons as well as for laws and programs promoting women's economic independence. He also advocated that progressives involve themselves in parent and teacher education (to specifically address authoritarian child rearing and teaching styles) and health and sex education.
Are There Lessons from the Sixties?
As I recall, we did a lot of this progressive social reform in the sixties and seventies and simply stopped for some reason. We attempted to address our authoritarian, hierarchical educational system by starting our own alternative schools, focused on curiosity, creativity, problem solving, positive reinforcement and role modeling, rather than rote memorization and authoritarian control and punishment. Then, for some for some reason, people lost interest in volunteering in alternative schools and turned them over to the educational system. Who are happy to run special schools that were alternative in name only because of authoritarian administrative structures which force teachers to run their alternative classrooms in exactly the same way as traditional ones.
We also tried to address an authoritarian medical system by starting free clinics staffed by lay and peer support workers, as well as doctors, nurses and other health care workers who volunteered their time. Then before we knew it, these clinics morphed into federally funded "community clinics," where doctors and other health care workers nurses now command the same salaries and unfortunately operate under the same hierarchical structures as in mainstream hospitals and clinics.
With the current health care mess and more teenagers than ever dropping out of high school, the need seems more acute than ever for progressively oriented free clinics and alternative high schools and literacy and sex education classes. Oh yes, and how about free, progressive abortion counseling for pregnant teenagers and adults? Why should Right-to-Life churches have the monopoly on abortion counseling?
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