What is fascism and what drives it? The reason we are having difficulty defining fascism and what is the root cause is that it’s right in front of our faces. I believe it’s simply greed. It might start with corporations paying off sleazy politicians or sleazy politicians telling corporations that they will deregulate industry and give them tax breaks in exchange for their financial backing. Either way, it’s money that is corrupting people’s morals and the majority are paying the price.

So what came first? The chicken or the egg? This top-down mentality is what fuels fascism. There are a lot of lower-income Republicans who believe in far-right economic policies because they call themselves business people and believe that they too will eventually benefit from these economic policies. Many people who have this view pickup on it because the people in their circle believe these scams as well. That’s why fascism is so hard to shake.

Many people’s thought and belief systems support fascism. It may not be what they truly want or believe but it has become commonplace in the later half of the last century. Also, that is why sharing and interdependence are so very critical to democracy. The lone fat cat says he doesn’t need anybody and doesn’t care what you think unless your views line up with his ambitions. Then he might tolerate you in conversation? But this self-indulgent view is very lonely and leaves very few better off. It’s a society that promotes and participates in sharing that is blessed and has a more inclusive reception of thoughts, ideas, and strategies.

The further to the right that you go the less likely are people and politicians who support public education or any public investment that benefits the majority. The further to the left you go, the more do people believe in public education and try to make it better as well as other public investment that collectively benefits us all. I believe the edge of right-wing politics wants to defund public education. It’s simply every man for themselves at that point.

Certain industries benefit from top-down economics. These include the military, banks and corporate America. About every other sector is struggling against it. To the selfish, fascism makes perfect sense. Take what you want, pay what you want, and have the military do what you want to your objectors. It’s the only symbiotic relationship in right-wing economics, the military and the fat cats. In every other way, Republicans won’t pass a bill or make a law that benefits the majority or democracy. It’s only their corporate benefactors who get their attention and legislation passed through Congress.

In our modern era, many forgot about the institutions that made our country great. Unions, marginalized minority groups, and women’s organizations did a lot of the heavy lifting too. Since corporate America was able to succeed in dividing and conquering our nation on lies, bad trade deals, and greed, we haven’t been the same since or will be without a revolution-like process to push an agenda that is more favorable to democracy.

Right now we battle fake news, voter suppression, and voter legislation that purposefully goes against minority culture, to keep them from participating. The battle against fascism is really just a battle against greed. But the media has popularized it to a point that we are just mesmerized by it and its detractors are labeled as communist or socialist and are considered disloyal to the American ideals. Quite simply, it’s a lie built upon a mountain of deception to keep us guessing what fascism is or what its going to take for society to overcome its poisons.