Does Fascism Still Exist Today? | Dr. John Wilsey | The Kenwood Institute Podcast Episode 19

uh today we're talking about isms um communism fascism to be uh precise and i want to start i want to start by talking about america and the state of things today okay so here's a question for you is present day america even properly democratic And what I mean by this is, or has democracy become an illusion in a nation run by bureaucratic managers in DC? So let me fill out a little bit more.

In my view, democracy entails ownership.

So a democratic nation is a nation that is owned by the citizens.

And it seems like in our day, we just don't have very much ownership in what the nation does.

We don't really have much say in what goes on.

It seems like people in D.C. do what they want.

We vote, but nothing really ever changes.

What do you think?

I think that there's some truth to what you're saying, but I also think that democracy is very powerful in America.

When you say we vote, but nothing ever changes...

I know what you're suggesting there.

I know that you're saying that our vote as citizens is fairly ineffectual in terms of changing things, changing the direction of things.

But, and while I think that's true on the one hand, on the other hand, all of our institutions of power local, state, and federal, they're all decided by elections.

Elections, as President Obama said, memorably, elections have consequences.

They sure do.

But the policy makers in our institutions of government are still elected in the Congress and in the executive.

And in some cases in the judiciary, one, the state level and the local level.

So I don't I don't think we just kind of rule out one and embrace the other as an answer to that question.

In our system, there are still direct elements of democracy.

For example, when we vote for our governor, when we vote for our state representatives and so forth, when we vote for our congressmen, when we vote for our senators, which I don't like.

I want to go back to the 17th Amendment.

I agree.

Yes.

But we directly elect them.

Right.