1) The Pledge of Allegiance (Führereid)
2) God-talk in political speeches (Vorsehung)
3) Gyms (Hitler Youth cult of strength)
4) Detachment Parenting (literally invented by Nazis)
5) The Interstate Highway System (Autobahn)
6) Policing (Gestapo/SA) https://twitter.com/drkwarlord/status/1327454730713505792

7) 'Respect for Authority'
8) Middle Managment
9) Flags
10) National Anthem
11) Cheerleading
12) ROTC

I'm actually not joking here. ...

As a German, coming to the U.S., it was a stunning experience to see day-to-day rituals practiced here that would be immediately recognized as authoritarian exercises in conformity, cult of strength, disempowerment of the common people, etc. back home.

For lack of a better word, I am calling all these normal aspects of American daily life that are deeply undemocratic #microfascism

They form the foundation on which political ideas can grow that inform #fascist politics.

These widely shared rituals also partly explain the politics of the liberalism of middle-class professionals. Their careers as 'good kids' and 'good students' have taught them that servility is virtuous, and rebellion sinful.

They act on this socialization by stomping downward and kissing the ring of the powerful, even when they reach a point where they no longer have to.

This is what happens when your intelligentsia prefers gyms to bars, gum to cigarettes, and conformity to conflict.

Race is an integral factor in this decay of intellectual life.
Segregation kills the public sphere as a shared civic space. No public sphere, no open debate.
No shared civic space, no recognition of diversity and difference as legitimate.