The Fear of Freedom

Why America is Moving Toward Fascism

by
Todd F. Eklof
August 19, 2007

In his profound book, Escape from Freedom, perhaps more pertinent today than when it
was first published in 1941, during the Nazi threat, psychoanalyst Erich Fromm wrote, “It
seems that nothing is more difficult for the average [person] to bear than the feeling of
not being identified with a larger group.”1 This is so, it seems, because human beings are
not purely solitary creatures. As much as we value the idea of freedom, the thought of
being truly free is frightening to most of us because having our own individual thoughts,
feelings, and desires might estrange us from others—leaving us isolated and alone. This
fear, of course, is justified given that many throughout human history have been punished
severely for choosing their own path. The word heretic, for example, which refers to
those whose ideas differ from official Church dogma, comes from the Greek word
meaning, “to choose.” Heretic is simply another word from freedom, specifically the
freedom to choose one’s own beliefs. So we fear freedom for ourselves as well as for
others. Unfortunately the opposite of authentic individual expression is fascism, from the
Italian word, fascio, meaning “group,” “association,” or, more literally, “bundle.”
Fascism refers to the sort of society that expects everyone to be the same. Those who
aren’t part of the group, who don’t share its ideas, values, and lifestyle, are often denied
equal rights and protections under the law, and are sometimes punished and persecuted as
criminals. There may be a great number who disagree with these injustices, but are too
frightened of retaliation or feel too powerless to do anything about them. Whether it is
fear of suffering political and economic ramifications, or fear of being excluded from our
friends and families, such fear leads us to abandon true freedom and individuality in
favor of fascism and groupthink. For this reason, As Fromm forewarned us, “although
foreign and internal threats of fascism must be taken seriously, there is no greater mistake
and no graver danger than not to see that in our own society we are faced with the same
phenomenon that is fertile soil for the rise of Fascism anywhere: the insignificance and
powerlessness of the individual.”2

A society that places the collective will over that of the individual is, by definition,
more fascist than free. It might be hard, for some at least, to understand how anyone
could accuse the United States of being more fascist than free, given all its lip service
about freedom. George W. Bush has often said the “terrorists” want to attack our country
because they hate our freedom, and has called his unfounded war in Iraq, “Operation
Iraqi Freedom,” as if its purpose has something to do with liberating Iraq. And we say
those millions of American soldiers who have been killed in various wars throughout
history died fighting for our freedom. As uniquely individual as it might sound, as
unpopular as it might be, and as dangerous as it might be in our increasingly fascist
society, I don’t think a lot of these soldiers were really fighting for freedom, but were
unwittingly fighting against it—against the freedom of sovereign nations to choose their
own leaders and to control their own natural resources. Indeed, as Fromm says, “It
almost seems that ‘original’ decision is a comparatively rare phenomenon in a society
which supposedly makes individual decision the cornerstone of it’s existence.”3

In a 2003 article entitled Fascism Anyone?4, novelist Laurence W. Britt outlines

fourteen characteristics of fascism which may give pause to anyone who still believes we
live in a “free country.”

• The first of these is what he calls powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
We saw this immediately following the destruction of the World Trade Center with
displays of the American Flag at every turn, followed later by red, white, and blue
window and bumper stickers. Britt suggests this nationalistic frenzy also includes
pride in the military and suspicion of things foreign, examples of which include those
yellow magnetic stickers that say “support our troops,” and re-labeling French fries
“freedom fries.”

• Examples of the next characteristic, disdain for the importance of human rights,
include the, so called, “Patriot Act,” passed just 45 days after September 11, 2001,
which increased our government’s power to search our private records, including
phone and email communications, medical, financial, even library records, and eased
other restrictions making it easier to gather intelligence on U.S. citizens, violating
some of our most important civil liberties in the process. As if this isn’t enough, the
Bush administration has snubbed its nose at habeas corpus, protecting people from
unlawful arrest; has imprisoned suspects indefinitely without access to legal
representation; and has used torture to try to gain information.

• Another characteristic of fascism is identification of enemies or scapegoats as a

unifying cause. One need only mention the Administration’s success in shifting the
blame for 9-11 from Osama bin Laden to Saddam Hussein, and from those Saudi
Arabians, who actually carried out the attack, to the innocent people of Iraq who have,
tragically, become our government’s sacrificial scapegoat.

• The next characteristic Britt lists, the supremacy of the military or avid militarism, has
been proven by the unprecedented cost of the Iraq war, perhaps exceeding a trillion
dollars, while our own national infrastructure is aging and collapsing around us, our
public schools are overcrowded and otherwise inadequate, and we’ve proven not only
unable to provide for our citizens during disasters like Hurricane Katrina, but also
incapable of having adequately returned its refugees to their homes years later.

• Rampant Sexism, another characteristic of fascism, manifests itself as control of

women by curbing abortion rights as with the draconian law voted on recently in South
Dakota that would have made all abortions illegal unless the life of the mother was
endangered. The bolstered efforts in recent years to further discriminate against gays
and lesbians by officially prohibiting them the right to marry is another example of the
kind of rampant sexism characteristic of a fascist society.
• Another indicator, a controlled mass media, is evident by the rise of Fox News, owned
by neocon Rupert Murdoch who has used it to push his own conservative ideological
agenda. Murdoch, who recently purchased the Wall Street Journal, owns the largest
media corporation in the world, which is one of only seven major corporations that,
according to Robert Kennedy, Jr., “own or control virtually all of the United States’
2000 TV stations, 11,000 radio stations, and 11,000 newspapers and magazines,”5
essentially placing the national media in the hands of seven CEOs.

• The seventh characteristic of fascism, obsession with national security, needs little
commentary given what has been obvious to all of us during the past six or seven
years. There is, of course, good reason to be concerned with national security given
the number of enemies our country now has. Unfortunately, in a fascist state national
security means spending hundreds of millions to keep people out through oppressive
and secretive means, but has little to do with securing our nation against the increasing
environmental disasters coming our way because of global warming.

• Another characteristic that needs no explanation is what Britt calls religion and ruling
elite tied together. We know that politicians regularly appeal to religious values in
order to get elected, often promising to help force the values of the religious majority
on the rest of us through legislation. This is happening around the country as more and
more states pass laws prohibiting gays and lesbians equal protection under the law,
violating the Bill of Rights in the process. Other examples include the current
Administration’s “Faith Based Initiative,” providing government support for some
church programs, and its support of teaching creationism in our public schools.

• The power of corporations is also protected in a fascist society, which is, again, a
characteristic that needs little explanation. Although there are probably many
corporations that are extremely ethical and beneficial to humanity, there are far too few
mega-corporations that are being propped up by unjust and environmentally
destructive government policies that are destroying our world. As David Korten,
author of When Corporations Rule the World has written, “we continue to place human
civilization and even the survival of our species at risk to allow a million or so people
to accumulate money beyond any conceivable need.”6

• Part of protecting corporations leads to Britt’s tenth characteristic of fascism, the

power of labor is repressed or eliminated. Suffice it to say that the past few years have
been the most ineffective for the labor movement in this country since it began, with
less than 8 percent of private sector workers unionized.7

• Britt says fascists also hold disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
Again, during the past few years we have seen the government dramatically lessen its
support of Public Broadcasting, suppress scientific efforts, including stem cell
research, altered scientific reports regarding global warming, and brought our public
education system to its knees with the “No Child Left Behind Act,” which places great
stress on both teachers and students to perform without providing the financial
resources they need to succeed.
• Obsession with crime and punishment is the twelfth characteristic listed by Britt. My
only comment here is to point out that our nation, which purports to be the leader of
the “Free World,” has more than two million prisoners, nearly one out of every 140 of
its citizens.

• Despite this obsession, however, a fascist society is also rampant with cronyism and
corruption. Unfortunately the evidence that this is true of our current government is so
great that we simply don’t have time to get into it. Suffice it to say, Tom Delay, Mike
“Brownie” Brown, and Scooter Libby, to name a few.

• Finally, the fourteenth and final characteristic of fascism listed by Britt is fraudulent
elections. Rather than commenting here, I will simply let your experience of what
transpired during the past two national elections speak for itself.

If we agree with Britt’s characterization of what it means to be fascist, then those of us

who are true patriots, those of us who truly love our country and all that it’s supposed to
stand for—freedom, equality, and justice for all—have cause for grave concern regarding
the State of our Union. For we must remember, as Fromm points out, our union ought to
be “one of solidarity, not one of domination-submission.”8 But in his book, The Art of
Loving, he complained, “Equality today means ‘sameness,’ rather than oneness.”9 As
thorough or as incomplete as we might find Britt’s characterization of fascism, it refers,
in essence, to a society that expects sameness rather than solidarity from its citizens.
Fascism, at its core, means groupthink. It’s the sort of bland, ignorant, and oppressive
society that strives to make everyone act, think, and look alike.

Now, before continuing, having spent a great deal of our time defining fascism, I would
like to briefly mention why I feel this subject falls into my purview as a minister, and
why it should be of interest to our church community. Needless to say, many, especially
those outside our church community who would prefer I remain silent about all of this,
would complain I’m being entirely too political and am in violation of our church’s tax
exempt status. In response, I would like to point out that the impetus for this sermon is
the book, Escape from Freedom, written by a highly regarded psychiatrist. The word
psyche, the root of psychiatry and psychology, is the Greek word meaning “soul.” So my
discussion of fascism today ultimately stems from my concern for the human soul, which
is why the title of this message is “The Fear of Freedom.” As a minister it is my pastoral
responsibility to address our common fears. And, finally, my prophetic calling forces me
to specifically address the negative manifestation of such fear no matter who or where I
have to point to my finger.

Next week, when I speak on “The Freedom of Authenticity,” I will further address the
positive ways in which we can counter the sort of fear that leads to fascism. For now I
wish only to get at the heart of the matter. As I said earlier, the primary reason we
gravitate toward fascism is our fear of being isolated and alone. We are social creatures
and we want to fit in. We want to be loved and accepted by others. Yet, perhaps as some
cosmic joke, some tragic paradox, we are also each profoundly individual and it is these
two opposite sides of the human experience, freedom and fascism, that often meet in
conflict. How do we remain true to ourselves yet live in community with others?

When we are first born, regardless of how hostile or friendly our environment, each of
us has experienced the warmth and security of being truly at one with another, having
shared the same body, blood, and nutrients as our mothers. Yet, as Fromm points out,
“The history of [humanity] is the history of human individuation, but it is also the history
of growing freedom.”10 As we grow further and further from our original state of unity
with another, sensing more and more our separation from others, we lose the warmth,
inclusion, and security we once enjoyed and the world becomes more isolating and
threatening. Nevertheless, as Fromm goes on to explain, “Just as the child can never
return to the mother’s womb physically, so it can never reverse, psychically, the process
of individuation.”11 In other words, we have to grow up and we have to become true
individuals. Tragically, far too many of us are unable or unwilling to accomplish this for
ourselves or to allow it for others, so we seek to become the same as everyone else, and
pressure others to become the same as us, as if this could somehow recreate those
primary bonds we lost early on.

And so, as cliché as it might sound, the best way to counter fascism in ourselves and in
society at large is to question authority. The first step on the path toward hoard-mentality
is to stop asking questions. Fromm says, “The suppression of critical thinking usually
starts early.”12He also says that in a fascist society, “It is the aim of education to teach
the individual not to assert [one’s] self.”13 Through this process of education, or, perhaps
better put, the process of indoctrination and conformity, we tend to lose our own original
thoughts, feelings, and desires, and begin to accept and mistake those of the collective as
our own. What we need, what we are to do with our lives, what we are to believe, what
lifestyle we are to model, is all handed down to us from the human herd, yet we come to
take all of them as our own. “The right to express our thoughts,” Fromm says, “means
something only if we are able to have thoughts that are our own.”14 To know what our
own authentic thoughts are we must ask questions of ourselves and of society, no matter
how uncomfortable they make us feel, or how difficult they make our lives. Plato’s
maxim, “know thyself,” is the beginning of true individualism and freedom.

As we do this, as we regain our power to think critically, by questioning ourselves and

others, a subtle shift in how we experience freedom will begin to take place. Instead of
experiencing it negatively as separation from others, we experience it positively as
freedom to explore many possibilities. Despite the fact that “freedom to” has not yet
been fully realized, it is this ideal goal that continues to thrive in us despite our collective
drive toward fascism. “If there is anything to be surprised at,” writes Fromm, “and
encouraged by—I believe it is the fact that the human race, in spite of all that has
happened to [people], has retained—and actually developed—such qualities of dignity,
courage, decency, and kindness as we find them throughout history and in countless
individuals today.”15 The turn our country has taken today is certainly a wrong turn, but
it is not an inevitable turn. Indeed, it is a dead end, and eventually those who arrive at its
end will have to turn around and come back toward freedom. The only inevitability is
that we must grow up; that we must become an individuated society whether we want to
or not. This will happen! And each one of us has the power to make it happen by
claiming our right to ask unpopular questions, to face inconvenient truths, and to explore
all the possibilities that life has to offer.
______________________________
1 Fromm, Erich, Escape from Freedom, Avon Books, Heart Corporation, New York, NY,
1941, 1965, p. 234.
2 Ibid. p. 265f.
3 Ibid. p. 225.
4 Britt, Laurence W., “Fascism Anyone?”, Free Inquiry Magazine, vol. 22, no. 2, July
2003
5 Kennedy, Jr., Robert F. Crimes Against Nature, Harper Perennial, New York, NY,
2004, 2005, p. 178.
6 Korten, David C., When Corporations Rule the World, Kumarian Press, Inc., Berrett-
Koehler Publishers, New York, NY, 1995, p. 261.
7 www.commondreams.org/views05/1230-40.htm
8 Fromm, ibid., p. 290f.
9 Fromm, Erich, The Art of Loving, A Bantam Book, Harper & Row, New York, NY,
1956, 1963, p. 12.
10 Fromm, Escape from Freedom, ibid. p. 264.
11 Ibid. p. 45.
12 Ibid. p. 216.
13 Ibid. p. 258.
14 Ibid. p. 266.

15 Ibid. p. 296.