Totalitarians in our midst are becoming more prominent, but they are not always identified as such, instead being labeled by the standard labels like socialist, fascist, liberal, progressive, democratic socialist, communist, etc. Totalitarians are enemies of liberty, enemies of private property and enemies of the rule of law. This is why it’s important to identify them for what they are.
Totalitarians are identifiable. Their tendencies follow a certain logic, whether they are in government or aspiring to take control of government.
Totalitarians aim here and now for a utopian society in which social ills, real or imagined, are eliminated. (We need not know their motivations to be able to identify their aim.) The utopian aim is the principle aim because everything else they stand for flows from that.
Their utopian aim implies that they aim at revolutionizing (transforming) society and state, one way or another. This is because we do not have utopia at present and we cannot get it here and now without radical change.
The use of force to achieve utopia means that they’ll sacrifice individuals and all their rights to their larger aim. The Bill of Rights means nothing compared to the aim.
This means they aim for single-party rule, i.e., the total control needed to create the perfect society. Control implies thought control.
This means they use any means to crack down on opposition.
This in turn means identifying people and groups of people that they can blame for the existing social ills that they intend to remedy, these people being in opposition to them.
Identification of these enemies implies dealing with them in a range of ways.
One way to cut down opposition is to censor them. The opposition includes religious, political, artistic and ideological opponents, or any center of opposition. A more severe means is to murder one’s opponents.
Another method to gain single party rule is by corrupting the election process.
Yet other methods involve creating persuasive myths in order to generate a population that supports totalitarians in power.
Total control includes education and communication because there is no tolerance for opposing views.
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