totalitarianism

George Orwell’s 1939 novel, “Coming Up for Air,” tells the story of an unremarkable suburban London householder who is seized with a feeling of overwhelming dread by the looming terrors of war and totalitarianism.

And it’s heartening to see him still on the road, laying into what he sees as the creep of totalitarianism every night in his eighth decade of life.

As I have previously described, millions of potential followers of totalitarianism in America have taken mental refuge in a shallow cynicism that is actually a disguise for extreme gullibility.

“To look at this video and see what happened reeks — reeks — of totalitarianism. This is not what democracies do.”

The works of Hannah Arendt on totalitarianism and obedience are essential readings as well, especially her classic book On the Origins of Totalitarianism.