On February 24, 2017, Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association told the Conservative Political Action Conference that "Right now, we face a gathering of forces that are willing to use violence against us....Among them and behind them are some of the most radical political elements there are. Anarchists, Marxists, Communists and the whole rest of the left-wing socialist brigade."
This is an example today of the concept of the garrison state identified by Prof. Harold Lasswell in 1941. Lasswell was describing the totalitarian regimes of both the fascist right (Hitler and Mussolini) and the Communist left (Stalin). His concept became further developed as the siege mentality, whereby a whole society can believe and act as though they were captives within a besieged city (or country).
We continue to see many examples of governments in which the leaders persistently cry out against foreign threats and internal subversion. They not only exaggerate the threats, they exacerbate them in order to foist a sense of great danger that will convince people that they need to support the government's policies. These include higher military spending, the law and order crackdown of dissidents, the promotion of traditional social and religious values, and the suppression of free speech and press. In the end, the goal is not so much to protect the country as it is to promote the interests of certain internal groups and to maintain the individuals and the party in power.
President Donald J. Trump, with the solid support of his base, including the National Rifle Association, is the current leader of an emerging garrison state in the U.S. He is encouraging the siege mentality of Americans by emphasizing the dire threats of radical Islamic extremists and terrorists, ISIS, the nuclear threat of North Korea, the nuclear threat of Iran, proposed restrictions to the Second Amendment, and the dangers of illegal immigrants, especially Hispanics, to the safety and security of Americans everywhere. He discourages the freedom of speech and the press by denouncing stories that challenge him as "fake news" to be disbelieved and rejected.
Trump is not concerned with unifying the American people. On the contrary, he feeds contentious divisions and social unrest with fear and anger to increase the siege mentality. He himself and his White House staff display symptoms of deep paranoia.
By scaring people, Trump is promoting an agenda that is highly favorable to certain interests and individuals in the U.S. He does this through increasing budgets for Defense and Homeland Security, restricting immigration, constructing a wall along our border with Mexico, permitting the private exploitation of public lands in the West, rejecting global climate change in favor of fossil fuels (especially oil and coal), and passing tax "reforms" that provide tremendous concessions to large corporations, corporate executives, stock investors, investment portfolio managers, and other very high income and wealthy people.
Those people of the Trump base without so much material but with high emotional interests indicate that they are OK with the crumbs from the table according to supply-side, trickle-down economic theories. They continue to trust Trump and long for making America great again, which they see as crushing all of Trump's and their own enemies, foreign and domestic, real and imagined.
It is obvious that high income individuals and the interest groups of the Trump base will gain much in material advantages from the siege mentality. But how will the base of true believers also benefit?
(c) 2017 Stephen M. Millett (all rights reserved)
