Quotes About Power

the Fascist game plan: a single party, speaking with one voice, controlling every state institution, claiming to represent all people, and labeling the entire sham a triumph of the popular will.

the conservatives saw the Fascist leader as someone they could hide behind, manipulate, and, when convenient, replace.

The answer matters because, although nature abhors a vacuum, Fascism welcomes one.

Instead of citizens giving power to the state in exchange for the protection of their rights, power begins with the leader, and the people have no rights. Under Fascism, the mission of citizens is to serve; the government's job is to rule.

Across the Atlantic, Havel added, "Europe is attempting to create a historically new kind of order through the process of unification . . . a Europe in which no one more powerful will be able to suppress anyone less powerful, in which it will no longer be possible to settle disputes with force.

Why are many people in positions of power seeking to undermine public confidence in elections, the courts, the media, and—on the fundamental question of earth's future—science? Why have such dangerous splits been allowed to develop between rich and poor, urban and rural, those with a higher education and those without?

identifies strongly with and claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary—including violence—to achieve his or her goals. In that conception, a Fascist will likely be a tyrant, but a tyrant need not be a Fascist.

Mussolini was not a keen judge of individuals, but he was sure he knew what the mass of people wanted: a show. He compared the mob to women who are helpless (he fantasized) in the presence of strong men. He posed for pictures in the government-controlled media while driving a sports car, standing sans shirt in a wheat field, riding his white stallion, FruFru, and posing in his military uniform, complete with shiny boots and a chest bedecked with medals.

If an advertiser can use that information to home in on a consumer because of his or her individual interests, what's to stop a Fascist government from doing the same?

And why, this far into the twenty-first century, are we once again talking about Fascism? ONE REASON, FRANKLY, IS DONALD TRUMP. IF WE THINK OF FASCISM as a wound from the past that had almost healed, putting Trump in the White House was like ripping off the bandage and picking at the scab.

In those moments, many of us no longer want to be asked, "What do you think?" We want to be told where to march. That is when Fascism gets its start: other options don't seem enough.

First, he often endorses actions by foreign leaders that weaken democratic institutions.

To a small "d" democrat, process matters more than ideology. The fairness of an election is more important than who wins. There is not, on most questions of policy, a single democratic answer. Concerns arise only when leaders try to augment their power through means that could cause permanent damage to democratic institutions.

Strach z komunismu zplodil fašismus.

MUSSOLINI OBSERVED THAT IN SEEKING TO ACCUMULATE POWER, it is wise to do so in the manner of one plucking a chicken—feather by feather—so each squawk is heard apart from every other and the whole process is kept as muted as possible.

Were they humble? No. They were, in their own minds, human skyscrapers, fragrant with testosterone; backslapping, hand-crunching, sports-talking deal makers who spoke a language alien to me and, while swearing imaginatively at one another, often giggled like kids.

Every step in the direction of Fascism—every plucked feather—causes damage to individuals and to society; each makes the next step shorter. To hold the line, we must recognize that despots rarely reveal their intentions and that leaders who begin well frequently become more authoritarian the longer they hold power.

Speaking in town squares, beer halls, and circus tents, Hitler employed over and over again the same action verbs—smash, destroy, annihilate, kill. In a typical address, he would shout himself into a lather of arm-flailing, screaming fury at the nation's enemies, only to grow abruptly calm as he painted a word picture of what a new era of German ascendance might look like.

When a dictator abuses his authority, there is no legal way to stop him. When a free society falters, we still have the ability—through open debate and the selection of new leaders—to remedy those shortcomings. We still have time to pick a better egg. That is democracy's comparative advantage, and it should be recognized and preserved.

with the rights of others, and is willing to use violence and whatever other means are necessary to achieve the goals he or she might have.

that for Fascism to extend its reach from the streets to the high offices of state, it must secure backing from multiple sectors of society.

Mussolini was not an original thinker, but he was a gifted actor who could play a role.

a Fascist is someone who identifies strongly with and claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary—including violence—to achieve his or her goals. In that conception, a Fascist will likely be a tyrant, but a tyrant need not be a Fascist

blood and instinct will regain their rights. . . . The era of individualism, liberalism and democracy, of humanitarianism and freedom, is nearing its end. The masses will accept with resignation the victory of the Caesars, the strong men, and will obey them.