To Choose No Choice

In concordance with Charlie's post, Fascism's main goal is definitely not to allow freedom of expression- but rather to build up the military, increase a sense of national unity, and to also tighten the amount of control the government has over the people. Charlie also went on to say that as long as the people felt that they were involved in the government- they were happy. The scary thing that has been mentioned in class on numerous occasions is that in many of these countries- people CHOSE to give up their CHOICE (democracy). This competing world view of totalitarianism was more popular during these times after WWI than the world view of a liberal democracy where majority rules. In countries such as Italy and Germany- people would rather have a dictator dictate their lives than be forced to participate in a failing democracy (such as the Weimar Republic). I do find it terrifying that people in Germany legally elected the Nazi party to power, which in just a matter of years, would soon basically take over the country, kill millions of Jews, and wreak havoc across Europe. Of course- these dictators came into power at the PERFECT time- right after the countries were upset with what they had been allotted in the Versailles Treaty (such as the war guilt clause, which blamed Germany), the World economy was in shambles, the liberal democracies were failing, and overall the social structure in Europe was very unstable- the  "authoritarian solution" was a plausible and attractive alternative that made a strong impact on Europe during the 1910's, 20's, 30's, and 40's!