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Crazy
Location: Silicon Valley, CA, USA, Earth
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Re: Is america becoming fascist?
Quote:
Originally posted by HarmlessRabbit
A. The Fascist Negations
Anti-liberalism.
This should be obvious. The message from every branch of the federal government and from the news media is a rejection of liberalism, usually without sound cause or factual basis. In other words, it's a rightward swing based on rhetoric and heat, rather than any recognized intellectual principle.
Anti-communism.
Telling, isn't it, that Ann "Thrax" Coulter has only recently published a book seeking to turn Joseph McCarthy from forgotten ideologue to modern-day hero. Anything that even begins to touch upon redistribution of power from the ruling elite to the common man is ruthlessly derided as "communist," including Social Security, welfare, progressive taxation, and health care.
Anti-conservatism.
True, when you actually think about it: traditional conservatism has always had at its core fiscal responsibility and foreign policy non-interventionism. The former has been discarded in favor of supply-side economics and massive deficits, the latter has been replaced by neoconservatism's pax Americana.
B. Ideology and Goals
Creation of a new nationalist authoritarian state.
I would believe this to be true, based upon John Ashcroft's frontal assault on civil liberties, and the new version of political correctness, which states that any criticism of the government or dissent from its policies is "un-American".
Organization of a new kind of regulated, multi-class, integrated national economic structure.
Anyone who's seen the Republican Party's list of campaign donors will have no trouble believing this, not to mention the rampancy of political patronage in favor of certain oil connections to whom our government officials have had business connections. One of fascism's key tenets is the integration of business and government; America's been heading this way ever since the doctrine of corporate citizenship was conceived.
The goal of empire.
Please refer to the Project for the New American Century and its publicly stated goals of American military domination of key resource-producing regions, including but not limited to the Middle East.
Specific espousal of an idealist, voluntarist creed.
I'm not sure how to respond to this one, since voluntarism is at the core of American principles.
C. Style and Organization
Emphasis on aesthetic structure, stressing romantic and mystical aspects.
Well-covered by today's neoconservative, with their grand public genuflections in the direction of traditional Judaeo-Christian religion.
Attempted mass mobilization with militarization of political relationships and style, and the goal of a mass party militia.
This, thankfully, hasn't happened. Not to say that it will not, but it has not yet occurred.
Positive evaluation and use of violence.
The various comments upon this board regarding the topic of personal possession of assault weapons and the willful violation of Iraq's sovereignty should be evidence enough for this. I can post links, if anyone really wants to see the rather disturbing particulars.
Extreme stress on the masculine principle.
Today's conservative openly lusts for a return to an idealized world somewhere between the Victorian era in England and 1950's-era America. Both of these cultural waypoints featured significant suppression of women's rights: the Victorians liked to perpetuate the ridiculous notion that women existed only from the neck up, and the atomic family in the 1950's revolved around the working father, while the mother was expected to do little but bear and raise children, and tend to the house.
Exaltation of youth.
This, I can safely say, hasn't really happened yet. While American neoconservativism has numerous willing young practicioners in church youth groups and similar organizations, by and large the youth of America stands somewhere between aggressively apolitical and excessively liberal.
Specific tendency toward an authoritarian, charismatic, personal style of command.
Oh, where to start? Did you know that movements to have public landmarks in every county in America named after Ronald Reagan are actually gaining traction? And that doesn't even begin to touch upon the cult of personality that has grown up around the steely-eyed-flight-suit-wearing-rocket-man-with-the-codpiece-of-three-large-men
President of the United States, whose profoundly limited intellectual gifts are somehow presented to the public as marks of distinction.
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I would recommend reading "Rush, Newspeak, and Fascism", by David Neiwert, in which you can find the points raised here as well as other definitions, including that of Umberto Eco. You can find it at Orcinus, his blog. He takes a slightly different view from me on the topic, but his analysis is excellent.
__________________
Mac
"If it's nae Scottish, it's crap!
Last edited by ctembreull; 08-11-2003 at 07:39 PM..
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