There is an intriguing historical pattern, gentle reader, observable in the rise to power of a number of totalitarian leaders.
Without labouring the point, you can look at Germany between the wars, China since World War Two, and the USA in the Trump era. Even the UK is currently moving through a chaotic political episode which has its origins not so much in grievance, as nostalgia.
In the UK, there is a sense in which something has been lost (the glories of the empire perhaps) and Brexit was a ham-fisted attempt to recover it. It hasn't ended well.
But back to Germany, where post the Great War, people were struggling against poor economic conditions, skyrocketing inflation and unemployment, and a strong sense of grievance after the punishing sanctions set out in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler and the NAZIs exploited these fears and frustrations, and the results played out in the most tragic fashion.
China holds major grievances against both the West and Imperial Japan, which have been festering since long before the Nanking massacre, and the Opium Wars. One of the forces driving the ceding of Hong Kong (and the CCP's iron fist used to put down dissent) is collective Chinese memory of how Hong Kong came to be British in the first place.
More recently, the phenomenon of the election of Trump (albeit by a minority of voters) reveals how desperate many Americans have become, faced with a decline in their living standards, offshoring of their once great industrial empire, and a loss of faith in their institutions. One clear measure of the physical health of a nation is life expectancy, and in the USA, it has recently seen a decline.
Noam Chomsky was prophetic back in 2010 when he noted -
"If somebody comes along who is charismatic and honest, this country is in real trouble, because of the frustration, disillusionment, the justified anger, and the lack of any coherent response".
Unfortunately, Trump may have a primitive form of charisma, but honesty? Besides, uncharismatic leaders can be extremely successful.
There doesn't seem to be a major gap between grievance and vengeance, something that becomes obvious when the behaviour of newly-minted autocrats is examined.
Hopefully, Australian nationalism, such as it is, takes on a more tolerant and forgiving aspect. We don't, fortunately, take ourselves all that seriously.
That's always a good thing.....
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