Andrew Lehman

For several months now, the Republicans have been seeking to find a way to demonize the Obama Administration, experimenting with the words "socialist" and "fascist" to see which word seems more powerful at evoking fear.

"Fascist" suggests a one-party government controlled by a small elite, often with close ties to specific corporations. Fascism is often characterized by an atmosphere composed of fear and reprisal.

"Socialist" seems to imply a government focused on the group instead of the individual, denying individuals their desire to do as they please while seeking ways to make the less economically advantaged individuals within the group more secure. Implied is the denigration of individual rights.

In both cases, there is the implied "in" group and "out" group. Republicans are seeking ways to have people who identify with being the out group identify with Republicans, who identify themselves as the out group. Regarding fascism, Republicans work the meme that Democrats are in total control. Declaring socialism, they imply that the individual has lost all ability to achieve success.

Republicans seem to want us to feel revolution in our midst.

Republicans and Democrats are mirror images of each other in many ways, particularly as regards the military, military contracts, lobbying-based government, foreign relations and both parties agreeing on how the majority of government assets are dispersed. There is a drift left in hard times that reflects an assignment of government assets to those with the least ability to influence government policy. In severe downturns, there tends to be less an emphasis on making it easy for the wealthy to become wealthier. At this time, the Republicans represent those so wealthy that even a moderate turn left represents a potential decrease in an ability to increase assets. Hence the words "fascist" and "socialist" seem to be emerging easily from their lips.

Both fascism and socialism seem "un-American" and so are used to generate feelings that support an entitled Right status quo that has deeply stratified the nation. The Right is focusing on the wrong place entirely. The Right is behaving like the Democrats are their enemy. They think they are targeting the meme that opposes their interests.

What is changing is the way that humans view themselves, communicate and prioritize. The massive wave of horizontalization that is underway represented by Internet communication, cell technologies, massive online gaming communities, virtual worlds, interactive entertainment and the destruction of traditional news distribution vehicles is resulting in the democratization of society.

People are feeling empowered.

This is not in the Right Wing's interest. It's not particularly in the interest of mainstream Democrats. It is in the interest of destratification and lives not consumed with want.

Republicans can continue to call the Obama Administration fascist or socialist. It's not unlike yelling at the pitcher in a baseball game, not even from the stands, but through the TV. Screaming at the actual medium carrying the information might be addressing the changes more directly.

Except, in this case, it's not coming through the TV.

The shift occurring is not represented by differences between the two political parties. The words "socialist" and "fascist" fail to marshal the associations that make clear where we could be headed. Republicans need new epithets. They need to be hurling their slurs in new directions.

Only the transformation, the evolution is so deep, so pervasive, so subtle and sophisticated that so far, we've few words that have been able to describe it. Clay Shirkey comes close. Howard Reingold intuits the direction. Ken Wilber describes where he believes we end up. None have coined the word that grasps it.

"Fascist" or "Socialist" don't do the trick. We're talking evolution, not revolution. Republicans are locked in a political paradigm. This is a social transformation.

It was the amateur linguist Benjamin Whorf that noted that without a word, we often fail to notice a thing's existence.

We are noticing. It's clear that many of us don't know what to say.

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Andrew Lehman
andrew@pjep.org
http://www.neoteny.org

Andrew Lehman operates Andrew Lehman Design, Ltd., a web firm with over 400 clients specializing in local businesses and non profits. He is co-director and founder of the 1400 organization, Peace, Justice and Environment Project (pjep.org). Andrew is on the board of directors of In These Times. Andrew blogs daily at www.neoteny.org.