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i simply do not see how a more authoritarian form of government would serve anyone's interests--particularly not a variant of fascism, which is i think what you would get in the states---given the virulent nationalism that is so easily mobilized here. the best you could hope for is yet another instance of a period that everyone who lives through it chooses to pretend never happened. that is the *best* you could hope for.
last time around, there were lots of people who thought fascism just swell--it correlated with "common sense," valorized martial "values," talked about a spiritual renewal of the Youth, gave these folk a sense that they were gettingmore "authentic"...and it had nice flags and lovely uniforms......it appealed in particular to lower middle-class folk, who saw in this nationalist ideology a way to avoid a sense of economic precariousness.
what probably disturbs is the word fascism--it would sell better if it was called something else.
but it would not be something else.
not here.
maybe if the time comes, there will be an emphasis on the christian fundamentalist elements, and this will enable you to call it something else. (looking around, this is the most likely combination that i can see at the moment---this could obviously change, and i have no committment to it beyond what seems most likely now....)
such a total mobilization can always get around matters of differing opinion--mobilize the Nation with an adequately dire set of arguments about threats from without being mirrored by real or imagined threats from within, put it on saturation "news" outlets, and presto macho, you would have miliions of very military americans wrapping themselves in a wide range of fascist regalia. good for small business, that would be.
good for the economy.
good for everyone, no?
fascism last time round was dependant on radio.
radio is nothing compared to television.
of course any such attempt would probably engender civil war.
because you might get around questions of opinion, but you will not get around fundamental political rejection of the turn toward this kind of rule.
and i can tell you that i would be amongst those fighting against right-authoritarian forces.
because if they were to gain anything like popular power, they would create neither a country nor a world i would want to live in.
but i see this as a possibility in the states.
it would be a dismal and ridiculous end to a historical project gone terribly terribly wrong.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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