The Harsh Reality

[Mike 03]

14. I say that because this is part of a wider assault against Western Democracies that

is like a post Soviet-collapse wave, beginning mostly in Europe, encouraged by Russia, and involving several moving parts, like the Christian Right, Viktor Orban in Hungary, Putin. RW parties are ascending in Spain, Italy and Germany and have largely succeeded in Poland too. And it's spread to India and Brazil and the Philippines. Brexit is a byproduct of this same phenomenon. There's a growing disillusionment with democracy and no good defense against this playbook, which is about as old as Mussolini now. It's hard to understand why it is so difficult to combat, but part of the problem is that reality and truth, as such, are not important to the people who want something else.

Some great books on this:

Road to Unfreedom by Timothy Snyder
Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum
Unholy by Sarah Posner
Power Worshippers by Katherine Stewart
Strongmen by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Death of Democracy by Benjamin Carter Hett (about the Nazis but the author makes it relevant to what is happening now)