American conservatism has opened the door and let the Texas crime syndicate take over the executive branch of government. American conservatism has also let the foxes of multi-national corporations run the hen house of regulatory agencies designed to protect American citizens. I recently remarked to a friend that we now have a form of American fascism.
Fascism: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
But on further thought I decided we don’t have fascism in America yet, notwithstanding bush’s early dreams of being a dictator. In fascism, the dictator controls the corporations. But in America, the corporations control our government and so we have fascism’s cousin, oligarchy: government by the rich and for the rich. Quoting from Who Rules America, by sociologist G. William Domhoff:
"the owners and top-level managers in large income-producing properties are far and away the dominant power figures in the United States. Their corporations, banks, and agribusinesses come together as a corporate community that dominates the federal government in Washington. Their real estate, construction, and land development companies form growth coalitions that dominate most local governments."
I might add that since Domhoff wrote Who Rules America in 1967, the military-industrial complex, big oil, the pharmaceuticals, insurance companies, and financial corporations have all taken seats at the table of power, along with the media giants and the Microsoft/Intel/telecom empire.
Or, as Paul Krugman recently wrote (Feb 28, 2006): It's not all college graduates who are making more money, Krugman says, it's a small segment of society — an oligarchy:
"...we're seeing the rise of a narrow oligarchy: income and wealth are becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small, privileged elite."
Unfortunately, this small privileged elite, who rules America, is corrupt, and they dominate the Republican Party, a wing of the Democratic Party, and the mass news media. They have used the philosophy of conservatism as a tool to increasingly consolidate their power since the 50s. But the last election has shown that the people of America are now wakening to their loss at the hands of this power elite.
And we now have the ability to demonstrate the SDS 60s concept of participatory democracythru the use of the Internet. In the 60s, participatory democracy was a dream for a better America. Today, in the blogosphere, participatory democracy is becoming a reality.
SDS