--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Fascism is more of a natural state than…" description: "\"Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically t..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff1/norman-mailer-839_assuming_fascism-is-more-of-a-natural-state-than_2277199.png" --- # Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To… ![“Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically to encourage more fascism at home and abroad. Democracy is a state of grace that is attained only by those countries who have a host of individuals…” quote by Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff1/norman-mailer-839_assuming_fascism-is-more-of-a-natural-state-than_2277199.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff1/norman-mailer-839_assuming_fascism-is-more-of-a-natural-state-than_2277199.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff1/norman-mailer-839_assuming_fascism-is-more-of-a-natural-state-than_2277199.png) > “Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically to encourage more fascism at home and abroad. Democracy is a state of grace that is attained only by those countries who have a host of individuals not only ready to enjoy freedom but to undergo the heavy labor of maintaining it.” [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Fascism thrives when democracy is taken for granted; exporting democracy without local commitment can backfire, fostering authoritarianism elsewhere and at home. **In simple terms:** Democracy needs active, willing citizens; otherwise, authoritarianism spreads. Key Takeaway Cultivate civic responsibility before promoting democracy abroad. Themes politics democracy authoritarianism civic duty Mood cautious critical analytical Type political philosophical When to use this quote - education reform - foreign policy - community organizing - media literacy Key Concepts social contract political theory export of ideology Questions to Reflect On - How can societies build a culture of active citizenship? - What safeguards prevent export of democracy from becoming coercive? A Different Perspective Democracy cannot be imposed; it must be earned by a populace. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abroad Democracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abroad-democracy-5300358/) [Assuming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assuming/) [Country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/country/) [Democracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democracy/) [Democracy State](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/democracy-state-2473577/) [Enjoy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enjoy/) [Export Democracy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/export-democracy-2411531/) [Fascism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fascism/) [Fascism Natural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fascism-natural-2494932/) [Grace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grace/) [Heavy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/heavy/) [Home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/home/) [Host](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/host/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Labor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/labor/) [Maintaining](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/maintaining/) [Natural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/natural/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Ready](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ready/) [States](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/states/) ## Related quotes > [I really am a pessimist. I've always felt that fascism is a more natural governmental condition than democracy. Democracy is a grace. It's something…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-really-am-a-pessimist-i-ve-always-felt-that-fascism-is-a-more/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [The Soviet Union attempted to export communism to the entire world. We know what came of that. Now the West is trying to export…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-yakunin/the-soviet-union-attempted-to-export-communism-to-the-entire-world-we/) [Vladimir Yakunin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-yakunin/) > [A monoculture is not only Hollywood, but Americans trying to export democracy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bernardo-bertolucci/a-monoculture-is-not-only-hollywood-but-americans-trying-to-export/) [Bernardo Bertolucci](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bernardo-bertolucci/) > [You do not export democracy through the Defense Department or the Defense Secretary. You do it through trade agreements, through the Department of Commerce…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-f-lynch/you-do-not-export-democracy-through-the-defense-department-or-the/) [Stephen F. Lynch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-f-lynch/) > [There are a couple of ways to use the word democracy, and the way that I think is productive is to think about democracy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masha-gessen/there-are-a-couple-of-ways-to-use-the-word-democracy-and-the-way-that/) [Masha Gessen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masha-gessen/) > [If you want to be a Jewish state and you want to remain a democracy, you have to have a two-state solution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-f-kerry/if-you-want-to-be-a-jewish-state-and-you-want-to-remain-a-democracy/) [John F. Kerry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-f-kerry/) > [“Under democracy, the incentive structure is systematically changed. Egalitarian sentiments and envy are given free reign. Everyone, not just the king, is now allowed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-hermann-hoppe/under-democracy-the-incentive-structure-is-systematically-changed/) [Hans-Hermann Hoppe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-hermann-hoppe/) > [Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/democracy-is-not-a-state-in-which-people-act-like-sheep/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“No, democracy is not identical with the subordination of the minority to the majority. Democracy is a state which recogizes the subordination of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vlad-lenin/no-democracy-is-not-identical-with-the-subordination-of-the-minority/) [Vlad Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vlad-lenin/) > [In a well-functioning democracy, the state constitution is considered more important than God's holy book, whichever holy book that may be, and God matters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayaan-hirsi-ali/in-a-well-functioning-democracy-the-state-constitution-is-considered/) [Ayaan Hirsi Ali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayaan-hirsi-ali/) > [A democracy is a state which recognizes the subjection of the minority to the majority, that is, an organization for the systematic use of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/a-democracy-is-a-state-which-recognizes-the-subjection-of-the/) [Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/) > [“Citizens no longer understand democracy to mean a condition of political equality, in which one person gets one vote, and every individual is no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-m-nichols/citizens-no-longer-understand-democracy-to-mean-a-condition-of/) [Thomas M. Nichols](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-m-nichols/) > [A democracy is a state in which the poor, gaining the upper hand, kill some and banish others, and then divide the offices among…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/a-democracy-is-a-state-in-which-the-poor-gaining-the-upper-hand-kill/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [People who live under fascism are not only miserable but they're full of shame. You just don't go in and inject democracy into them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/people-who-live-under-fascism-are-not-only-miserable-but-they-re-full/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [If you live in a material universe where acquiring things is very important to you, then family is an absolute deterrent to maintaining that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-taylor-gatto/if-you-live-in-a-material-universe-where-acquiring-things-is-very/) [John Taylor Gatto](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-taylor-gatto/) ## More by Norman Mailer > [Conservatives are people who look at a tree and feel instinctively that it is more beautiful than anything they can name. But when it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/conservatives-are-people-who-look-at-a-tree-and-feel-instinctively/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [There's a subterranean impetus towards pornography so powerful that half the business world is juiced by the sort of half sex that one finds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/there-s-a-subterranean-impetus-towards-pornography-so-powerful-that/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [So the blind will lead the blind, and the deaf shout warnings to one another until their voices are lost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/so-the-blind-will-lead-the-blind-and-the-deaf-shout-warnings-to-one/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Writing for a newspaper is like running a revolutionary war. You go to battle not when you are ready, but when action offers itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/writing-for-a-newspaper-is-like-running-a-revolutionary-war-you-go-to/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [I would introduce myself if it were not useless. The name I had last night will not be the same as the name I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-would-introduce-myself-if-it-were-not-useless-the-name-i-had-last/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [“City Point is so beautiful, she says. In the night they cannot see the garbage that litters the beach, the seaweed and driftwood, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/city-point-is-so-beautiful-she-says-in-the-night-they-cannot-see-the/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [“I find it’s more fun to write about something that you don’t know completely and that you will discover on route. A dear friend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-find-it-s-more-fun-to-write-about-something-that-you-don-t-know/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Short-term amnesia is not the worst affliction if you have an Irish flair for the sauce.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/short-term-amnesia-is-not-the-worst-affliction-if-you-have-an-irish/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Part of the oncoming demise (of New York during its terrible fiscal crisis) is that none of us can simply believe it. We were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/part-of-the-oncoming-demise-of-new-york-during-its-terrible-fiscal/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [I have always had this very strong, call it a feeling, call it a prejudice, call it a conviction ... that the mysteries are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-have-always-had-this-very-strong-call-it-a-feeling-call-it-a/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [I do believe that America's deepest political sickness is that it is a self-righteous nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/i-do-believe-that-america-s-deepest-political-sickness-is-that-it-is/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [America is a hurricane, and the only people who do not hear the sound are those fortunate if incredibly stupid and smug White Protestants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/america-is-a-hurricane-and-the-only-people-who-do-not-hear-the-sound/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [Armstrong, sitting in the commander's seat, spacesuit on, helmet on, plugged into electrical and environmental umbilical's, is a man who is not only a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-mailer/armstrong-sitting-in-the-commander-s-seat-spacesuit-on-helmet-on/) [Norman Mailer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/norman-mailer/) > [I was thinking that surgeons had to be the happiest people on earth. 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Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) [Browse all 2,452 Assuming quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assuming/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Fascism is more of a natural state than democracy. To assume blithely that we can export democracy into any country we choose can serve paradoxically to encourage more fascism at home and abroad. 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