You’re absolutely right, in a time when the CIA and FBI were both utterly off their leash, repression of left-wing movements and unions was rampant, domestic assassinations were engineered by the government, and brutalization of minorities and dissidents was much more widespread, back when marital rape was legal and women couldn’t open bank accounts in their own name, there was less fascism.
Literally yes, because while these things are symptoms of fascism they’re not necessarily causes of it. It’s not any easier to be fascist under these circumstances than it is in the modern day; the only change is the specific kind of liberal commie shit the fascists want to do away with. Here’s (a non-exhaustive list of) what does make it easier to engineer a fascist takeover: economic and social uncertainty, weakness of leftwing movements, trust in democracy and institutions, centralization of power and unwillingness or inability to hold leaders accountable. I trust you can plainly tell that today’s America (and even 2024 America) is worse than Nixon’s America on all of these fronts, but if not then for one ask yourself why there’s not a modern Watergate. It’s not like either side of the isle is lacking in material.
Perhaps you’d like to proclaim how much more democratic Woodrow Wilson’s America was than the modern day?
That one was definitely pretty fascist, but also “fascist” snd “democratic” aren’t opposite; you can have non-fascist authoritarianism and fascist democracy (though that one tends to pretty quickly collapse into fascist authoritarianism). Nixon’s admin was up to some pretty authoritarian stuff, but it wasn’t fascist authoritarian stuff.
Literally yes, because while these things are symptoms of fascism they’re not necessarily causes of it. It’s not any easier to be fascist under these circumstances than it is in the modern day; the only change is the specific kind of liberal commie shit the fascists want to do away with. Here’s (a non-exhaustive list of) what does make it easier to engineer a fascist takeover: economic and social uncertainty, weakness of leftwing movements, trust in democracy and institutions, centralization of power and unwillingness or inability to hold leaders accountable. I trust you can plainly tell that today’s America (and even 2024 America) is worse than Nixon’s America on all of these fronts, but if not then for one ask yourself why there’s not a modern Watergate. It’s not like either side of the isle is lacking in material.
That one was definitely pretty fascist, but also “fascist” snd “democratic” aren’t opposite; you can have non-fascist authoritarianism and fascist democracy (though that one tends to pretty quickly collapse into fascist authoritarianism). Nixon’s admin was up to some pretty authoritarian stuff, but it wasn’t fascist authoritarian stuff.