Mythmaking Danger

There is great danger in governing from mythology.  One of the major tenants of fascism is mythology used by the fascist party, through propaganda, to affect political systems.

Nazi Germany is the most obvious example, but others are relevant..  Mussolini's Italy is a perfect example.

Post WWI Italy was in ruins.  Italy had been on the Allies side in WWI, and suffered huge losses. Mussolini emerged as a savior, of what was a new Republic.  Italy had just attained nationhood before WWI.
Mussolini used mythology of a return to Rome, some anti-smites, his Catholic upbringing, and outright lies to take over the Italian government.  He did make the trains run on time, and was able to mitigate some of the effects of the depression that began for Europe in the 1920s.

The mythology of a return to Roman glory was his strongest motivator.  He used the roads leading to the Coliseum as his common parade route, dressing his followers as Roman Legionaries; etc.  A return to Roman Glory was the myth.  Dictatorship was the goal.  And it worked.  Hitler copied the fascist strategy.
We see this same strategy  in America unfortunately today.  The radical right, who now own the Republican Party, use the Tea Party as a mythology to motivate fascist organization.

A cursory read of history, invalidates the Tea Party myth.  The fact are that a group of colonists, upset in what they perceived was an unfair tax on tea, dressed up as Indians, boarded a couple tea carrying ships, and threw a few barrels into the ocean.  The were not backed by the local population, who mostly did not support the protests against tea prices.  The Boston Tea party was a small event.

The Boston Massacre was different.  British regulars opened fire on civilians, and sparked the revolution.  The Tea Party did not spark the revolution.  Taxes were not the major cause of the American Revolution; it was the drive for colonial independence, the left-overs of the French/Indian War and the unbelievable incompetence of King George.

But the Tea Parties, have adopted the myth of the Boston Tea Demonstration, since it dovetails with their small government, cut taxes (especially when those taxes help poor people of color).  The poor are the scapegoats, especially African American poor, of a mythology that calls for a roll back of Civil Rights of both women and minorities.
And empirical evidence is the first victim in this myth making.   For example, conservatives in California claim that the democratic majority has caused a flight of people from California to Texas (a low tax, conservative stronghold).  Empirical evidence does not support this view.  In fact, immigration only went significantly down during the governorship of Pete Wilson, a tax cutting Republican,  who helped pass an anti-immigration bill that the Republicans are still trying to live down.

High taxes have nothing to do with immigration or emigration; climate (the Dust Bowl, famines and drought) is the true stimulus of large scale movement of people.

But the myth continues unabated.

Charles K in his latest diatribe against the President claims that the current administration has spent the most in history,a lie, that the President has expanded government, another lie.

All of these lies, buttress what is a fascist myth machine.  And our very freedom is its victim.