Nature of Change in Democracy and Fascism

On the way back from our brunch at a Polish restaurant, Aaron shared his view that meaningful change is not possible in this country, for better or worse. Naturally, what constitutes “change” is subjective, but the type of political change Americans expect rarely consists of incremental policy improvements, often forgotten by the time the next election rolls around. It’s nearly impossible to achieve a fundamental change thanks to the robustness of the US Constitution. Promises of “change” always end in disappointment.

Paulo Coelho said, “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” I doubt this idea originated with him—it must be quite old. It makes sense, but one issue I have is that if your “example” is motivated by a desire to “change” others, it becomes the same difference; you are still trying to change others, but passive-aggressively rather than overtly. Implied still is the assumption that you are right and others are wrong.

Imagine your perspective is instead: “I don’t really know what’s right, but given my assumptions, I feel X is the better path forward. Hopefully, by combining my perspective with those of others, we can collectively move in the right direction.” In this view, your desire to “change” others with your opinion fades. If you accept that new information might invalidate your assumptions, your wish to change others diminishes. Instead, your openness to be changed by others grows, canceling out any desire to change them. The same holds in a marriage.

Because I’ve changed my opinions so many times in life, I’ve reached a point where I have little confidence in my views. But this doesn’t mean I shouldn’t hold opinions; quite the opposite. In a democracy, the more perspectives we have, the better—without them, the wisdom of the crowd cannot function. To believe in democracy means to harness the power of contradictions to transform all ideas, not to eliminate, discard, or suppress them.

From a dictator’s point of view, fascism is about forcing change on others without being open to change oneself. In this sense, sadly, a fascistic mindset is indeed growing in America on both sides of the political spectrum.