How Democracy Will Die

Nationalism has great inherent appeal. America first! Yeah, I can get behind that. The problem is that it isn’t as simple as flag wavers want you to believe. Every single fascist dictator got into power using nationalism as his message. Hitler, Mussolini, and Putin all ran on strong nationalistic platforms. Does that mean that nationalism is reserved for dictators?

I suppose it isn’t. The idea of isolation centers around the idea that a country should seal its borders put high tariffs on foreign products, and rid itself of undesirable people. You can see how these concepts would appeal to people who choose not to think too deeply. Let’s look into each of these concepts.

seal the borders

One of the most popular planks in the nationalist platform is to seal the borders and keep foreigners out. Build a wall. Get the army to prevent illegals from getting in. Most of us like that idea. I certainly don’t want thousands of illegals entering the country every month. America for Americans! Right?

Everyone agrees with that. But, that’s not the whole story. A nationalist leader brands these people as criminals, insane hospital patients, rapists, and parasites ready to feed at the public trough. These undesirables shouldn’t just be kept out; we need to find any living among us and get them out of the country, too. Again, not completely unreasonable. History has taught us that nationalistic leaders never stop at expelling the obviously illegal aliens. They also include other people who don’t belong to the majority. Sometimes, they even kill them.

tariffs

Make foreign companies pay tariffs on products they export to us. Let’s make China pay a ten percent tariff on everything they send here. The idea is that by adding a tariff, Chinese products will be more expensive, and people will buy American products instead. This is great in theory, but it can have devastating effects on our citizens.

Let’s say there is a Chinese TV that wholesales for $500. It retails for $1,000. Add a ten percent tariff, and it now wholesales for $550, and retail is $1,100. There are no comparable American products, so people pay another $100 because of the tariff. China will sell less TV sets here. But our citizens either pay more or do without. I know this is a silly example, but the point is that thoughtless tariffs hurt us more than the countries who pay it.

There are cases where tariffs make a lot of sense. For example, China has developed sodium-ion batteries that replace the Lion batteries we use in electric cars. Cherry, a big Chinese car company, is selling electric cars that get 600 miles on a charge for about $29,000, about half of what European electric cars cost. The Chinese government has paid Cherry millions to help them. The European car companies can’t compete. A tariff makes sense here to level the playing field. The EU is considering a 100 percent tariff on these cars.

pandering to the base

One thing that all nationalistic leaders have in common is that they work hard to stay popular with their base. Usually, it’s the working-class white Christians. They were the majorities in Italy and Germany. They are also the majority here. They share a suspicion of foreigners, Jews, Blacks, and college-educated people. Nationalistic leaders cultivate these prejudices.

Nationalists ask their base why they have to pay hard-earned money for entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. Stop funding old people and cut over a quarter of the Federal budget. That idea is very popular with the base.

Nationalists sell hate and fear. They provide easy-to-digest answers for complex questions. They build loyalty by pandering to the lowest common denominator. Once in power, they will do anything to stay there. Anything, from declaring elections fraudulent to inciting mobs to take the government by force.

The only thing that has kept America free from this is our constitutional, peaceful transfer of power. All US presidents, save one, have put this above their personal ambition. I, for one, would vote for a head floating in blue liquid before supporting a candidate who presents a threat to our way of life. It isn’t about issues to me. It’s about electing someone who believes in our country and its constitution above personal ambition.

Tjere’s one other serious issue a nationalist creates is people who would have no chance of getting into powerful positions, finding themselves able to buy their way into the nationalist’s government. He values loyalty to him above all else. That is probably the most dangerous aspect of this. Don’t believe me? Read Plan 2025.

Listen to this post.