If the United States devolved into a totalitarian state, would we recognize it? Maintaining a free society requires knowing these warning signs.
In Part I, we defined totalitarianism as state-orchestrated control over all public and private life by an ideologically-driven political organization. In the words of the father of Italian fascism, Giovanni Gentile, the totalitarian state seeks “total representation of the nation and total guidance of national goals.”
While this control is most obvious and pronounced under a dictatorship, democratic republics are not immune. A legislature may vote in favor of a totalitarian state just as easily as a dictator may impose one.
This is totalitarianism in theory, but what is it in practice?
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