Totalitarian government rests on a human experience never before used to found a polity

Evidence

If there is a basic experience which finds its political expression in totalitarian domination, then, in view of the novelty of the totalitarian form of government, this must be an experience which, for whatever reason, has never before served as the foundation of a body politic and whose general mood—although it may be familiar in every other respect—never before has pervaded, and directed the handling of, public affairs. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1037

Categorization

• XREF: Arendt’s search for a ‘basic experience’ beneath a novel form of government parallels the Foundations project’s effort to find the experiential ground of ideology and total domination. — connects to: Totalitarianism’s novelty was so extreme it paralyzed even great minds — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1134