Stop me when you figure out which country and government this is. 1) Government comes to power and within 3…

Stop me when you figure out which country and government this is. 1) Government comes to power and within 3 years has built 3,500 km of high quality new roads. 2) Within that same 3 years, tens of billions spent on job creation schemes. /1

3) Big subsidies are given out for house purchases, conversion and maintenance. 4) Big spending on socially deprived areas. 5) Young engaged couples offered interest-free loans to start their lives together. /2

6) Huge subsidies for theatre tickets, concerts in factories, construction of lots of new theatres. 7) Organisation of new operas and plays. 8) Workers offered heavily discounted holiday packages, 75 percent off rail tickets and 50 percent off accommodation. /3

9) Heavily subsidised cruises organised for ordinary people. 10) A massive winter aid drive raised hundreds of millions for the needy, providing them with food, clothing and fuel. 11) Car companies commissioned to create affordable vehicles for ordinary people. /4

12) A wide range of advanced public health measures are introduced, including restrictions on asbestos, radiation, pesticides and food dyes, and world-leading occupational health and safety reforms. /5

13) Aggressive public health campaigns are introduced against smoking. 14) Unemployment was reduced from over 30%, to 0%, in 5 years. Anyone? /6

This was Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, pre-WW2. Hitler was probably the most popular democratically-elected leader in history. You can see why. All fascism begins with popularity. Fascism is endgame populism. /7 https://t.co/8sfSWMB9oN

If you make popularity the source of ultimate power in a society, as we do with elections, you will always end up with fascism. Which is a hopeless concept. What you really end up with is a monarchy, or pope. A King. That’s the most popular thing, always. /8

The only alternative to that is a public administration, which only follows periods of utter catastrophe, as we all experienced post-WW2 in the re-build. Without catastrophe to sweep away status hierarchies, we always revert back to Kings. History’s default state. /end