A week ago, I bought some sentence strips to make
Sentence Strip Bumper Stickers, and I told my wife that one of my first ones was going to be "So...enjoying fascism yet?"
She was horrified, and quickly replied "You can't say that!" "Why not?" I asked. "Because it's a horrible thing to say." "But it's true," I answered, "we're moving toward fascism." "Are we?" she said, with eyebrows raised. And I knew I had to dig into the question a little deeper.
Here's what I found ...
In doing some research, I found that even defining "fascism" can be a challenge.
- Merriam-Webster defines fascism as "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."
- The American Heritage Dictionary instead describes it as "A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism." (Wikipedia article: Fascism)
These definitions were interesting, but too broad for my tastes, even though I thought the "merging of state and business leadership, with belligerent nationalism" sounded familiar.
Then I found a site with more detail. Remember.org is a site dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust, and to keeping the lessons of that horrible time in front of us all. In the article What Is Fascism?, I found a set of characteristics of Fascism that are quoted by a number of other sites.
So, here are the marks of Fascism, as noted by Remember.org. I've listed them below, along with my read on that marker and our current situation.
The Hallmarks of Fascism
Nationalism and super-patriotism with a sense of historic mission
* Among the neo-cons, absolutely. Too many examples to list, but the "historic mission" sure sounds like the "Iraq as mission for democracy" justification. I'm not sure the rest of the country is still buying it, though.
Aggressive militarism even to the extent of glorifying war as good for the national or individual spirit.
* Pre-emptive war (not just pre-emptive strike). Embed the journalists, show the shock and awe; but heaven forbid we show the coffins, or the wounded. Or the children, both American and Iraqi. Yes, this one is true now, and has often been true for America.
Use of violence or threats of violence to impose views on others (fascism and Nazism both employed street violence and state violence at different moments in their development).
* Thankfully, not yet -- at least, not as far as we know. And don't give me any BS equating Mike's call from "Fox Security" with Kristalnacht.
Authoritarian reliance on a leader or elite not constitutionally responsible to an electorate.
* Absolutely happening, and happening now. Unitary executive, signing statements, NSA -- the list goes on and on. If we add in election fraud and/or stolen elections, it gets worse. And, if we don't insist on verifiable elections, this one will be completely true, even if we have "elections."
Cult of personality around a charismatic leader.
* Many snarky comments possible, of course. Might have been true in 1999, or even 2001, but not now. A smirk and a silly chuckle do not qualify as charisma. I'm struck by one thought, though: How much trouble would we be in if instead of Bush, the Republicans had run, and the nation had elected, a neo-con Clinton?
Reaction against the values of Modernism, usually with emotional attacks against both liberalism and communism.
* Absolutely again. The so-called "values votes" are reacting against modernism/post-modernism, liberalism, individualism, and the value of every individual. The right is reactionary at its core.
Exhortations for the homogeneous masses of common folk (Volkish in German, Populist in the U.S.) to join voluntarily in a heroic mission -- often metaphysical and romanticized in character.
* Possibly, in the early days of the Iraq misadventure. Not so much now (although they'd love to try).
Dehumanization and scapegoating of the enemy -- seeing the enemy as an inferior or subhuman force, perhaps involved in a conspiracy that justifies eradicating them.
* Absolutely. Anne Coulter is just the most vicious example, but there are many, many more. And the "subhuman" part, and the "eradicating" part? Dig around, and you can find those statements as well. Again, we're not to the point of six-sided stars for dKos readers -- but we're moving there.
The self image of being a superior form of social organization beyond socialism, capitalism and democracy.
I'd say almost everyone involved, on both sides -- including myself, sometimes -- sees themselves as superior to the other side. But, I don't think it extends to seeing ourselves, or the right-wingers seeing themselves, as beyond democracy, for the most part. OTOH, I do think some of the PNAC types see themselves and their ideas as more important than democracy itself.
Elements of national socialist ideological roots, for example, ostensible support for the industrial working class or farmers; but ultimately, the forging of an alliance with an elite sector of society.
All that needs to be said -- "What's the Matter With Kansas?" Invite those salt-of-the-earth folk to attend your event and sit on the stage with the Great One, then stick it to them in Washington.
Abandonment of any consistent ideology in a drive for state power.
It's fascinating to me how the traditional Republican values have been completely abandoned as the cabal tries to consolidate and sustain their grip on power. Dems and progressives are more old-line Republican, in many ways, than the current Rethuglicans running the country.
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So, there you have it. We're not Germany or Italy in 1933, not by a long shot. Yet, I think it's clear that certain trends are not promising. In fact, if the power of this executive, and the Executive in general, is not checked at some point, there will be nothing standing in the way of these trends except -- the character of the American people.
I place much faith in the citizenry of this nation. The old Scripps-Howard motto, "Give the people light, and they will find their own way," still rings true for me. So, we struggle, and we fight, and we inform -- and we educate our young. And perhaps, perhaps, if we do all of these, we can not only keep the trends from advancing, but even pull the hands back on the clock.