Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador running for President as a Republican, came out — brazenly — for fascism last week. She said that every American’s private computer ID should be given to the government.
Granted, the government probably already has way more information about all of us than that to which they’re legally or morally entitled. But for a self-described “Reagan Republican” to say such a thing shows just how beyond repair our culture has become.
Granted, she walked it back. She claimed she only wanted to do this to go after Russian or Iranian “bots.” She had a pretty good record as Republican governor of South Carolina (the current one is better) and a good record as Trump’s U.N. ambassador, very pro-Israel among other things. But there should have been NO part of her that would make such a statement, even carelessly, if she’s to be trusted with what’s left of our tattered, burning Bill of Rights.
Here’s the thing about Republicans like her (or most Republicans, except for Trump): She wants to be liked by the media. She wants to be approved of by the media. She wants a seat at the cool kids’ lunch table. She will never, ever get that, not as a Republican. Right now, the media will swoon over her because she’s giving Trump a hard time — though isn’t really a threat to his candidacy, since nobody seems to be right now, except for the FBI and DOJ. But if she ever became President, she, and her family, will get the same treatment that Trump is getting now, unless she became a leftist (which she probably would).
The study of the neurotic desire to be liked belongs in the field of psychology, not government. However, when something relevant to the field of psychology threatens your liberty and freedom (what’s left of them) over and over and over again, then you’d better take a moment and look at how someone’s neurosis can get in the way of standing for what they claim to stand for. This has been the Republican neurosis for generations now … with the lonely, towering exceptions of Reagan and Trump.