Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin... and Cornelius Fudge?

So I finally finished Jonah Goldberg's book. As quoted before, fascism "is a religion of the state. It assumes the organic unity of the body politic and longs for a national leader attuned to the will of the people." Examples cited include Woodrow Wilson, Benito Mussolini, and Adolph Hitler. Stalin wasn't a national socialist, but he and Mao definitely built cults of personality.

Netflix delivered the latest Harry Potter movie, Order of the Phoenix. This view, early in the movie, is what Harry Potter sees when he enters the Ministry of Magic:


Wow -- a four-story high poster of Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Like all photographs in the Wizarding World, Fudge moves just enough to tell he's alive.

A few minutes later, Harry is dragged before the highest Wizarding court. Here again we see Minister Fudge as the personification of authority:


Unfortunately, Fudge is in denial. He would rather destroy Harry (and his mentor Dumbledore) publicly than acknowledge that Lord Voldemort has returned. Fudge wants to think that Harry and Dumbledore are the big threats to his authority and position, because Voldemort is far too scary to even contemplate. Better to believe Voldemort's return is a fiction, created by Dumbledore as part of a plot to overthrow Fudge's rule, than to face the truth.

Inevitably there's a big showdown. In the middle of a duel, Voldemort shatters all the Ministry windows and shreds Fudge's banner:


And then, just as the fighting ends, Fudge himself shows up and comes face to face with his biggest fear:


Harry and Dumbledore were right.

What a delightful subtextual commentary on government! J. K. Rowling certainly has no illusions about the state being the source of morals, right and wrong, good and evil. More often than not, the people who ascend to the heights of power are compromised in the process. They forget about their responsibility to the people, focusing only on perceived threats to their authority.

Good on ya, J.K. Thanks!