Meanwhile, 44 percent backed the American tradition of competing branches of government as a model, if sometimes “frustrating,” system.
Why would people want to live under an authoritarian’s thumb? It’s rooted, experts say, in a psychological need for security—real or perceived—and a desire for conformity, a goal that becomes even more acute as the country undergoes dramatic demographic and social changes. People also like to obey a strong leader who will protect the group—especially if it is the “right” group whose interests will be protected. Recall the Trump supporter who, during the 2019 government shutdown, complained, “He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
At some level, people just want a particular policy. It’s silly to pretend a democracy where I never get what I want is going to be more attractive than a dictatorship where I get to unleash my libidinal id.
And you can’t just blame this on religion. Religiosity has plummeted over the last 40 years, but we seem to be as accommodating towards fascism as ever.
The fall of the spiritual dictator in the masses is what scares them
Yes, one of the reasons for this movement being started decades ago, and coming to a head now, is the decline in what people considered to be the correct values, aka their values. Religion is in decline, conservative political positions are getting less popular, mainstream culture is slowly moving away from catering, pretty much, exclusively to white, straight, christians. They are being backed into a the proverbial corner. The only way they see a future for their dominance is by force.
That’s what it certainly seems like