Hobbes. Spinoza. Ebenstein/Fogelman.

Though nothing can be immortal, which mortals make; yet, if men had the use of reason they pretend to, their commonwealths might be secured, at least from perishing by internal diseases. For the nature of their institution, they are designed to live, as long as mankind, or as the laws of nature, or as justice itself, which gives them life. Therefore when they come to be dissolved, not by external violence, but intestine disorder, the fault is not in men, as they are the matter; but as they are the makers, and orderers of them. Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan: Of Those Things that Weaken, or Tend to the Dissolution of a Commonwealth. 1651.

The natural right of the individual is determined, not by sound reason, but by desire and power. All are not naturally conditioned so as to act according to the laws and rules of reason; nay, on the contrary, all men are born ignorant, and before they can learn the right way of life and acquire the habit of virtue, the greater part of their life, even if they have been well brought up, has passed away. Nevertheless, they are in the meanwhile bound to live and preserve themselves as far as they can by the unaided impulses of desire. Nature has given them no other guide, and has denied them the present power of living according to sound reason; so that they are no more bound to live by the dictates of an enlightened mind, than a cat is bound to live by the laws of the nature of a lion. Baruch Spinoza. Tractatus Politicus: Natural Right and the State. 1670.

The clue to understanding fascist tendencies in [nation-states] lies in broad social forces and traditions. In some countries, the authoritarian tradition has been predominant for centuries, whereas the philosophy of democracy is a frail newcomer. As a result, a citizen with fascist tendencies is no outcast and may be perfectly well adjusted to his society. Even when his society explicitly condemns fascism, much in the implicit habits and customs of historic life tends toward the authoritarian way of life, and from authoritarianism to fascism is only a step. The very existence of an authoritarian mass movement like fascism depends on the desire of many persons to submit and obey. William Ebenstein / Edwin Fogelman. Today’s ISIMS: Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Socialism. Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1954, 1980.