When Did We All Go Mad?

In his America's Political Capitalism, Chris Hedges warns us:

It is no longer our economy but our democracy that is in peril. It was the economic meltdown of Yugoslavia that gave us Slobodan Milosevic. It was the collapse of the Weimar Republic that vomited up Adolf Hitler. And it was the breakdown in czarist Russia that opened the door for Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Financial collapses lead to political extremism. The rage bubbling up from our impoverished and disenfranchised working class, glimpsed at John McCain rallies, presages a looming and dangerous right-wing backlash.

This mystifies me. Why, when it's the meltdown of the Rightwing, Neocon policy structure (if that's what they call it) that's causing these problems, is there the threat of a "right-wing backlash"? (With "against the Left" being implied.) Are they nuts?

Well, no. They're not. Because history shows that a "right-wing" backlash is exactly what can happen.

I don't get it....

Hmmm.... Okay, now I have to delete the next 600 words of my rant. (I hate wasting a good rant. I'll save it for later.) Because I just put the pieces together.

Considering that most "adults" are actually just tall twelve year-olds, no, it's not surprising that when things start to fall apart, they get scared and they want a Big Daddy to come along and tell them how to fix it all.

Or that they'll pretty much do whatever Daddy Says until the memory of the catastrophe starts to fade in their minds. Except that by then, it can be far too late....

Meaning no particular offense, but I think this is the same instinct that leads so many people to profess faith in an all-powerful "god." They cling hopefully to the idea that there's a Real Grown-Up somewhere out there, keeping an eye on events and in charge of making sure it all turns out ok.

And there's no way to combat that. You can't argue someone into rational belief.