The ideal Subject of Totalitarianism is people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists. – Hannah Arendt, philosopher and political theorist

Hannah Arendt was involved in exposing antisemitic propaganda in Berlin in the early 1930’s. Following  a brief imprisonment by the Gestapo, she fled Germany. After escaping a subsequent German detainment in France in 1940 she ended up on New York’s Upper West Side. I think it’s safe to say the Ms. Arendt understands the breeding ground for Totalitarianism.

The quote above echoes frighteningly the political and social climate of the United States right now. The business, political and community leaders have managed to blur completely the distinction between truth and fiction. The dynamic has been irreparably amplified by the journalists and social media. The imposition of political or social “correctness” is a deviously insidious form of Totalitarianism – “do and behave as I say or be branded a racist or chauvinist or misogynist.”

James Kunstler’s latest commentary explores the political and social tyranny evolving in the U.S. Certainly Trump’s style of imposing his will on foreign Governments and the Fed evokes thoughts of a dictatorial style of leadership. But, as Kunstler points out, the leading Democratic candidates are revising the settled facts of historical events to arouse the support of those who loathe Trump:

“For instance, Resistance team captain Elizabeth Warren referred the other day to the 2014 “murder” of Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri “by a white policeman.” Of course, Ms. Warren was speaking her “truth.” Now, it happens that the US Department of Justice under Eric Holder (this was the Obama administration) determined that it was not murder, as did an inquiry by the State of Missouri — rather that Mr. Brown was shot after attacking officer Darren Wilson in his police car and attempting to grab his gun.

Did Senator Warren not believe former attorney general Holder? Was there some other authoritative opinion she was referencing? Or was she just making shit up on-the-fly to juice an audience? Could she have had any other purpose than to provoke racial animus? Is that what this country needs? More tension between blacks and whites? More reason for suspicion and hatred? Is that where you want leadership to lead you?”

Here’s the rest of Kunstler’s must-read essay:  The Yin and the Yang of it