This will not be a long diary, but it deals with an important question. I was reading the comments in the Washington Post on EJ Dionne's column on the death of Irving Kristol, I was really surprised by the amount of vitriol in the comments. I was also really surprised that the neocorporate Washington Post didn't delete a lot of them. (Not that, by any stretch, I was a fan of Kristol, or his truly awful son William -- my college classmate, btw.)
But this really stood out:
One commenter brought this to our attention. From www.oldamericancentury.org.:
14 points of fascism:
- Powerful and continuing nationalism,
- Disdain for human rights
- Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
- Supremacy of the military
- Rampant sexism
- Controlled mass media
- Obsession with national security
- Religion and government are intertwined
- Corporate power is protected
- Labor is suppressed
- Disdain for intellectuals and the Arts
- Obsession with crime and punishment
- Rampant cronyism and corruption
- Fraudulent elections
Does this remind you of anyone?
The only one I would argue with is that religion and government were intertwined under the Nazis. Although there was support for Hitler from many in the Protestant churches, there was a lot of opposition too, although mostly quiet. (Being outspoken in opposition to Hitler could get you in a lot of trouble.) The record of the Catholic Church in opposition to the Nazis was also mixed. Otherwise, this list is spot on, and a striking reminder of a certain political party of today.
If I were younger, I would be seriously thinking about emigration. The Netherlands sounds nice. We live in scary times. But as I always have, I'll stay here and continue to fight in whatever modest ways I can.