"If ideologies are cultures, they need to be learned. You can convert in and out of them, just as with religions."

Fascism is often dismissed as a political phenomenon confined to twentieth-century Europe, but this assumption obscures its enduring ideological structure. Like democracy, fascism abstracts from local history and reappears under diverse conditions, organized around exclusionary nationalism, status grievance, and authoritarian leadership. Treating fascism as merely historical is not only mistaken, it weakens our capacity to recognize and resist its contemporary forms.