There's been two different times in my life that I wanted to go to school to study the rise of fascism in Europe during the last century. Neither time did it work out. The first time I got sidetracked studying ancient history and philosophy (I first met up with the Straussians doing that, but didn't really understand how dangerous they were at the time, I'm sorry to say). And I had too many responsibilities and commitments to go back to school the second time.
But watching how so-called "conservatives" have stirred up opposition to . . . well, supposedly to health insurance reform, I think I've figured out what fascism is really all about.
As The Navigator wrote about in an earlier diary, Rush Limbaugh admitted to reading DK, and asserted that "Hitler was closer" to the left than the right. Nice try, but that only works if you don't know the first thing about fascism, except that it's bad, right?
So, what is fascism? Sure, as FDR emphasized, fascism involves private corporate interests being tied to the state. That's definitely a key part of a fascist political system. But at it's essence, I think fascism is this:
Fascism is really all about a relatively small, influential group who attempts to manipulate public policy and opinion by preying on and exploiting the anxieties, fears, anger and resentment of large groups of people. They do it shamelessly and unapologetically and lie without compunction.
And sorry, Rush, it's pretty clear which side is fanning the flames of fear and hate and blatantly lying to people. And when you consider that all of these attempts to frighten the body politic is done to protect the profits of the health insurance industry, you see how dangerous this moment is for our nation.
This the context of the "debate" over health insurance reform. It's about a lot more than health insurance. We are facing opposition that will not relent. They are not open to being convinced. They have no interest in reform. They are out to bring down another President and to scuttle all efforts at reform to protect the profits of their corporate overlords.
Negotiation is futile. Bipartisanship is futile, because there's only one party - if that - that is interested in identifying and solving the problem of health care.
Fascist people don't negotiate.
Maybe we can borrow a line from the right-wingers: no appeasement, Mr. President!
The stakes are clear, we must stand strong in the face of incipient fascists. Reform is desperately needed, but what we've learned is that even beyond the issues tied to reform, we can't surrender to proto fascists like Rush and the "conservatives."
Giving in to their demands will only embolden them and weaken us.
The German and Italian fascists maintained that democracies were inherently weak. Now is our own moment to show that our democracy is plenty strong enough to defeat fascists, even if Weimar Germany's democracy wasn't.
No doubt about it, we live in interesting times . . . .