Using Truck Decals to Understand Folk Fascism

Driving to Florida and back last week gave me an opportunity to see America's continued public discourse through car stickers, flags, and decals. A lot of what I see on a daily basis in New Jersey was replicated elsewhere, so this appears to be a national, rather than regional thing.

I didn't see many bumper stickers, but I did see a lot of decals in the back windows of large pickup trucks. In North Carolina as well as in New Jersey I noticed an interesting and common combo; a blue line flag decal paired with some version of the "don't tread on me" Gadsden flag. (In one case it was in the form of the Punisher skull.)

On the surface, these symbols completely contradict each other. The blue line flag expresses unwavering loyalty to the violent agents of the state, even after (or especially after) they have been criticized for killing unarmed Black people. The Gadsden snake symbol, on the other hand, is an admonition against an oppressive government, like the kind of government whose agents commit murder with impunity. 

We rarely notice the contradiction when we see these symbols put together because both are exclusively used by the exact same people. When we dig deeper, however, we should see the use of these symbols as a clear expression of the folk fascism adhered to by millions in this country. The blue line plus "don't tread on me" really means "I should be allowed to do whatever the hell I want by the government, which should be spending its resources beating down the people I don't like so my privilege is maintained." It's a harsher-edged expression of the dictum that right-wingers think there are people the law protects and does not bind, and people the law binds but does not protect.

It's important to understand this daily, folk fascism because our political media's framings make it impossible to do so. They still talk in terms of conservatives wanting "less government" as if giving more power by the police to kill and jail is in any way "less government." (Or making it illegal for women to cross state lines to get an abortion, for that matter.) It's really about conflicting ideas of what the government exists to do. The fascistic notion that the government exists to protect the Herrenvolk and to destroy its enemies is being openly expressed everyday on America's streets and highways.