She lacks a great leader's ability to envision and compromise. Some of her financial dealings may be questionable. But to my mind, her cosseting by the Eastern media doesn't begin to explain the abuse directed and abetted at her by the radical right's slime machine. Fascism might as well be the political arm of the Romantic movement, like republicanism and the Enlightenment. Yes, Paglia is correct that the Romantics gave nature its due.
Nature is amoral.
And so Romanticism encourages us to see human affairs as well, valuing action and determined will above all else. For the Romantics, the only true expression was action, free of motivation or care for the consequences. Or perhaps she should take another look at Pat Buchanan. There's nothing proto- about his fascist impulses, and no truer Romantic seeks the presidency today. I live in Maine now, but I come from eastern North Carolina and my family lives there still.