Definition of fascism from my 1963 college dictionary:
"A one-party system of government in which each class has its distinct place, function, and representation in the government but the individual is subordinated to the state and control is maintained by military force, secret police, rigid censorship, and governmental regimentation of industry and finance."
So, some might argue America has a two-party system, class mobility, and that individuals in America aren't subordinated to the state. We don't have secret police in this country! And there's no censorship here either! No fascism here!
Perhaps we're on the way to inventing a "soft" fascism, a comfortable one, a soothing one, not the "hard" fascism that the Nazis enforced.
No, we don't kill people. We may fine them and drive them into bankruptcy. Seize their house and all their possessions. Put them in prison. But we don't kill them. Well, usually we don't kill them. Although you never really know. Because, you see, it's a state secret. And if you reveal a state secret we will fine you and drive you into bankruptcy. Seize your house ......
Today I drove behind a car that had a sticker that said "FUCK OFF" on the back. At a stoplight, I drove up next to the person driving and I said via my open passenger window, "Is that sign you have on the back what you want to say to everyone?" The young woman driving responded telling me that it was a borrowed car. Ok, but she is willing to drive around with it displayed?
This reminds me of a similar incident two decades ago when I saw a sticker on a car that said "What is it about F*CK YOU that you don't understand?" In that case I tracked down the owner and asked her the same question as above. Her response was "You don't know my life!"
I cite these two cases because I believe that a person who would put such a message out to everyone is effectively dead though they still go through the motions of living. This strident rejection of everyone leaves the person dead to society. Community in America is in ruins. Not only are there people going around with the fuck you attitude, but I would say few to none dare to challenge it as I did and so it grows. We've made the individual into a god and the best apology anyone can offer (like our politicians) is not to say "I was wrong to say what I did" but rather, "I'm sorry if someone took offense" which is not an apology to the community.
If there is one thing that people need to get clear on is that words are used now in completely absurd ways in order to elicit negative emotions about whomever or whatever the target de jour is. Everyone in the US government is a capitalist, like the wealthy Clintons, Obamas, Trumps and Bush clan. Saying that anyone in the US government or in US corporations is a Marxist is pure nonsense. In fact, saying any of them is liberal is nonsense. They are all right wing capitalists. There is no other flavor in the power establishment in the US. They use words to get people worked up about a political opponent, like when Trump calls Harris a Marxist. Pure garbage. In case anyone has forgotten, Marx claimed that a mature capitalism would not allow worker exploitation, that it would instead make workers the owners of the corporation so that they all benefitted when the corporation did well. Anyone who claims that Harris is pushing for worker ownership of corporations is just lying. On the other hand, if you define fascism as a collusion between government, the wealthy elites, corporations and the military, then you could easily describe the modern US as a type of fascist state that oppresses workers and uses military force, rather than diplomacy, to get their way. That applies to times when either the Blue Team or the Red Team is in the WH.
No speaker is worth $750K per speech. That's just an attempt to buy influence with the people who are seen running the Democratic Party. And the government. And bypassing rules about campaign contributions along the way. Same thing for hundreds of thousands of dollars given to Hunter Biden for his paintings.
Jimmy Van Gogh. Also known as the kid who asks, "Do you want fries with that?" Of course that was before people found out that Jimmy's Aunt is Aunt Kamala. Now his fries go for $25K a packet. An extra $75K if you also want the burger. (sarc)
I totally believe that Wolin was correct, and that we find ourselves under a system of inverted totalitarianism. We need to keep spreading the message to help more people understand what is happening, to look beyond the MSM headlines. And, we need more and more people helping to form an organized movement of protest. I often wonder if our populace is up to this task, as people have been so blinded by propaganda for so long. Cornel West is working to bring about such a movement.
I certainly agree it is our due diligence to keep trying to spread context where lies abound. Like the Sermon on the Mount, all such good words seem to fall on deaf ears.
A comment on: “Thus we are allowed to fight over issues like abortion, gay rights, and the like because these issues do not threaten corporate bottom lines and state power.”
This isn’t wholly true. We have Chic-Filet, the Pillow Guy, Hobby-lobby red team supported—blue team boycotted. Disney, beer brewers, airlines who “go woke” who then get their butts kicked in the press in the culture wars. We take to the Supreme Court who has to decide who can bake a cake or not for a gay wedding. (I never have figured out why I would patronize anyone who didn’t want my business.) I’ll agree to the point that expect for the small mom and pop shop/restaurant run out of business by such local harassment, corporate bottom lines and state power endure despite all the headlines. The wave moves across the water whichever way the wind blows, but the flood of greed flows on.
The gay wedding cake people weren't really out to get a cake. They were apparently out to get shut down any business whose owners didn't conform to their values on gay weddings. As the store owner argued, they could have easily gone down the street and another store would have made the cake they wanted. One might reasonably call the complainers "fascists".
Wolin's book, first published in 2008, is brilliant in every respect. But, back in 1980, another very prophetic book was published, entitled "Friendly Fascism." Essentially, the basic premise of both books is the same. We have all the trappings of democracy, but, in fact, the US is a full-blown corporate plutocracy, under the control of the military-industrial complex and Wall Street. The media conglomerates manage the indoctrination and propaganda.
You can’t arm a genocidal state into moderation. So why does the West keep trying?
Western governments will never isolate and sanction Israel. The war machine will roll on until either we stop it or its lethal games blow up in all our faces.
There are many reasons Gaza has been mostly off the radar of the western establishment media for months now, even as the enclave turns into an ever-bigger killing zone.
One is that, nearly a year into what the World Court has termed a “plausible genocide”, where Israel has kept out western journalists and killed off most Palestinian journalists, as well as driving out international aid organizations and the United Nations, there is almost no one left to tell us what is happening.
We have only snapshots of individual suffering, but not the big picture. How many Palestinians are dead? We know there are at least 40,000 killed by Israel – the deaths recorded by Palestinian officials before the health system collapsed. But how many more? Double that figure? Quadruple it? Times it by 10? The truth is, no one knows.
The bottom line is WE CAN SEE what's happening in Gaza with our own eyes as reported and shown by the MSM, and seeing it, if that doesn't wake up the MASSES to our COMMON HUMANITY, you can expect the same kind of privation coming to the nominally Christian Societies, including the US and CanaDa.
As I posted here a few times, the US is the BIGGEST ARMS MERCHANT in the History of Nations, making a KILLING off the Ukraine WAR & the Gaza GENOCIDE we can see, and other wars not reported as important by the MSM we do not see.
Americans mirror US POWER in it's love for those Industrial sized KILLING MACHINES that makes so much MONEY all over this MATERIAL World.
There are more guns and machine guns in private American hands and unknown groups in the US, than for any other Nation, Society or People on Earth.
With the American People consenting to the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians and destruction of Gaza making it uninhabitable by their SILENCE, that privation we see Israel is doing to Palestinians and Americans funding it, Divine Justice demands those same conditions Americans are complicit in creating the misery in Gaza, will come home to roost, and with so many guns in American hands, what do you think will happen?
I take no pleasure in seeing the scenario unfolding in our generations. I wish I didn't see it happening in the real World but it is. It's not my imagination.
The Apostle Paul wrote so long ago, paraphrased, 'When it's TIME for STRONG MEAT, the People are fed PABLUM, as it is Today.
The UNITED STATES is an aspirational idea. It can't be imposed or legislated from the top down. It has to come from the hearts and minds of the Individuals at the bottom rising up. It is so apparent in the reality, the United States is not United.
It's a fact in my curriculum vitae, I was highly visible at the 1976 Republican National Convention walking softly and carrying my big stick I still have, through the Lobby of the Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City. I could identify by name tag, every Senator, Representative or Delegate.
For 4 days I walked through the Lobby and approached every Senator, Representative or delegate in every small group within the much larger group with the same greeting to them all, "Good Day! My name is Ray, and I'd like to talk to you about some issues."
Was it the words or the fact I had shoulder length hair & beard wearing my trademark #13 jersey or the stick? Every group I approached in those 4 days immediately dissolved and disappeared within the 1000s of others in the Hotel Lobby without saying a word to me.
Changing tactics, the Day President Ford won the nomination over Ronald Reagan, I entered the Lobby with a pamphlet covering the 3 over my heart of the 13. It had white stars on a blue background with a red oval center reading in script, 'CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES'
For the 1st Time, what Convention Planers call a spontaneous demonstration happened. A crowd gathered around me asking, "Who are you? What's the significance of your actions?" I started to answer when Republican Party Whips appeared on the scene and told me I have to leave the Hotel. Asking why they answered with these exact words I'll never forget. "YOU CAN'T WALK AROUND HERE WITH A CLUB."
My thought was, 'Jesus! They have the POWER and they're so paranoid?' What I said was, "You don't have the Power or Authority to expel me from the Hotel. Call the Manager." The Manager came and told the Republicans I have his permission to be here.
But the Party Whips did their job and the crowd dissolved into the larger crowd.
To my surprise, when I continued walking, there was President Ford himself with a retinue of about 25 people around him. The Mezzanine was only about 15 feet above the Lobby and right below I said, Good Day Mr. Ford! How are you Today, Sir? He acknowledged me saying, "I'm fine thank you. How are you?"
Lifting up the pamphlet toward him, I said, "I'm doing great, but I'd love to talk to you about these UN-United States." On those words, in a nanosecond, The President and his large retinue moved off like a single cell amoeba.
Later that night when President Ford was expected to give a victory speech from the Secret Service protected mezzanine, I was called out of the compressed crowd of delirious Republicans looking up to the mezzanine with the President's podium set up, expecting the President to be standing there any minute to be questioned.
Escorted beyond all the Security check points expecting to be questioned in some anteroom, the Secret Service Agent led me right to the President's podium and questioned me in view of the Republicans below eventually asking me if I was Jesus Christ? Having no illusions about that then and now, emphatically answered, NO! "Who are you then, a Prophet?" was the next question.
A few random thoughts: 1) I do not get these six-figure speaking fees. a) Michelle and company have nothing to say of any substance. b) People paying these ridiculous fees have to be rated among the poorest stewards in history. c) Far better to spend $15 on a book by Wendell Berry where you can learn about actual stewardship. 2) It is amazing how may pieces of legislation are titled the opposite of what they actually enact. No better example than the “Patriot Act.” The only patriotic response to the “Patriot Act” is to oppose it. 3) I confess to getting lost in the fog of our thrown-about terms de jour: fascism; wokeness/DEI; critical race theory; socialism; etc. All I know is they do an incredible job of keeping us divided all the while the people throwing them about lie through their teeth at every opportunity. Distraction their purpose as Bill rightly notes.
My guess is that paying the Obamas $750K for a speech is usually a downpayment with dividends to be reaped in the future when you need the Obamas to lobby on a bill, tax exemption, or other favor that will earn your corporation or business millions, maybe even billons.
I'm sure the Obamas know to return the favor, else those huge speaking fees would dry up.
I'm sure that is the quid pro quo. Money laundering of a kind, I presume. Otherwise, you'd think they say, "Save us your speech. Here is your payout. Now go deliver the goods."
Most Christian America ignores all these teachings of the Christ.
The LOVE of MONEY IS the ROOT of all evil.
You cannot serve 2 Masters. You cannot serve God and MONEY.
Hardly ever will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven.
James the brother of Jesus writes this; Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for THE LAST DAYS.
Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by FRAUD, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord ALMIGHTY.
It's taken 2000 years, but the world is seeing the consequences of disregarding those teachings and perceptions in these last days. So many people are discussing the same religious ideas in secular terms.
Exactly. A democracy is a system where everyone has freedom of speech and everyone has the right to vote. The Supreme Court has ruled that money is a form of speech. We have the 1% with most of the money and the 99% with the rest. This makes a mockery of freedom of speech because the 1% can with discretionary millions of dollars buy campaign advertising in all media, effectively giving them bullhorns when the rest of us are whispering.
Trump is said to be a danger to democracy, but our democracy is already gone with the SC stamp of approval.
The argument that the greatest threat confronting America is "Fascism" ~ as opposed the counter-claim that it is "Marxism,” “Communism,” “Socialism,” “Progressivism”, etc - is based entirely on how the terms "Fascism," "Socialism," and "Marxism" is used.
Nowadays, when most folks [at least on the Left] use the term "Fascism" [or "Fascist"], they are usually referring blanketly to somebody/ anybody/anything who disagrees with what they believe in, stand for, and are trying to accomplish, culturally, socially, economically, and especially politically.
It's the Left's doppelganger for "Marxism/Marxist,” "Communism/Communist" “Socialism/Socialist," etc that those on the Right use to describe those on the Left [and sometimes even in the Muddled Middle] who disagree with Them about what they're up to. Used that way, " Marxism/Marxist," etc, and "Fascism/Fascist" are essentially absolutely meaningless and thus useless terms.
But a little bit of what the ancient Confucians called "rectification"~ the clarification of the meaning of words so that they best describe the reality they name - shows that "Marxism" [and its variants] and "Fascism" are but two very similar systems for the centralization and concentration, the maintainment and sustainment, the perpetration, expansion, consolidation, and perpetuation of Power by one distinctively minority group of Humans over the masses of Others thru the machinations and manipulations of The State, and its executive, legislative, judicial, regulatory, and above all, its police and military or "security" and "defense" functions and authorities.
In both theory and historical fact, there is little difference in Principle between Marxism, etc, and Fascism; only in the specifics of organizational structures and operational systems, and their designated enemies.
In Marxism, etc, the government [more specifically, the "Vanguard," on behalf of "The Party," on behalf of" The People"} owns everything ~ all the public and private facilities, factors, and forces of production, distribution, and consumption ~ and has total control over all economic policies, procedures, and execution, from the national to the regional to the local economic activity level, and even to the individual level. The government is both prime producer and determiner of distribution and consumption. Its enemies are Capitalists, Corporatists, Fascists, Conservatives, Neoconservatives and Neoliberals, and anybody who disagrees with them; especially Classical Liberals, Anarchists, and Libertarians.
In Fascism, there is private [mostly corporate] ownership of business; and that is the only significant difference.
The facilities, factors, and forces of production, distribution, and consumption are indeed under private, corporate ownership and day-to-day managerial direction. However, it is still the government that dictates policy, procedures, goals and objectives, and execution at all levels in all aspects of economic activity. And it is the government that is often a ~ if not the - prime and primary customer. Fascism's enemies are Marxists, Socialists, Communists, Syndicalists and Unionists, Post-Modem Liberals, Proto- And Neo-Progressives, Democratic Socialists, Socialistic Democrats, and anybody who disagrees with them; also especially Classical Liberals, Anarchists, and Libertarians.
The main difference between Marxism, etc, and Fascism is that in Fascism, the concepts of private ownership and, particularly, private profit have not been abandoned, as in Marxism, etc. The similarities between the two are as follows:
a. Both systems place government in the business of meeting Human Needs and satisfying Human Wants, at the inevitable cost of violating Human Rights.
b. Both systems make extended use of state-of-the-art manipulation of the Needs and Wants of those they like to call "The People," and the obfuscation, suppression, and obliteration of those same folks' Rights.
c. Both systems survive and thrive best in the presence of an "Other": a real Enemy, or at least a credible Threat of one. And if they don't have one, they are both very skilled at creating one.
d. Both systems are created, maintained, and sustained for the express purpose of giving Ruling Elites ~ real and/or woulda coulda-shoulda-been Wannabes ~ ready access to Power [the ability to force another Human Being to do something, whether they want to do it or not], and Wealth [the ability to buy and sell Power at a profit].
Given those definitions and descriptions of Marxism, etc and Fascism that clearly differentiate the two ~ based entirely upon whether
ownership of the means of the production and distribution of economic goods, products, and services is by the government or by private
individuals, organizations, or institutions [primarily corporations] ~ it should be very evident that America is much more of a Fascist nation than it is or ever has been a Marxist, etc nation. And it has been that way for a very long time.
While Marxism, etc and Fascism differ most markedly as regards to who owns [and derives profit from] what factors of economic production and distribution, they both are marked by extensive, if not total government control of those factors: the processes by which goods, products, and services are created, distributed, consumed, and ultimately disposed of.
Outside of infrastructure and education, governments at all levels in the United States actually own and operate relatively few economic
enterprises compared to those under private ownership and operation. And they own and operate significantly less than the governments many, if not most other nations on the planet.
On the other hand, the amount of control by executive order, legislative Jaw, bureaucratic regulation and rule, and/or judicial fiat by all levels of American government [particularly at the Federal] of all that private ~ from individual to corporate ~ economic activity is as extensive and intensive here as it is anyplace on the planet, as well. And that speaks nothing of American governments' attempts to monitor and efforts to control the personal behavior of its Citizens, from what they ingest in their bodies, to who they share their bodies with, to what they can and cannot access on the Internet, and so forth.
Extract from: "NOT EVEN WRONG...": A Response to the Question “What are some of the dumbest things ever said by a bunch of American Generals and Admirals?”
Moving beyond mere definitions about systems of Government and Governance, what other basis is there for declaring that America is indeed a nation with very definite Fascist “characteristics”?
Consider the following list of fourteen common features of Fascism exhibited by Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Tojo's Japan, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos 's Greece, Pinochet's Chile, and Suharto's Indonesia. And then ask Yourself whether or not America, its Ruling Political Class, and its Government run by that RPC’s wholly-owned, -operated, -commanded, and -controlled politicians and bureaucrats exhibit any of the same characteristics:
1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.
5. Rampant sexism.
6. A controlled mass media.
7. Obsession with national security.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.
9. Power of corporations protected.
10, Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14. Fraudulent elections.
To which can be added
15. Central Banking and dependency on budget deficits, borrowing, and governmental debt [linked to #s 2, 4, 7, 9, and 13].
16. Political, economic, and military imperialism [linked to #s 1-4, 6-9, and 13].
17. Corruption and militarization of law and regulatory enforcement [linked to Ns2, 9, I0, 12, and 13].
18. Racism, ethnicism, xenophobism, sectarianism, ageism, and classism [linked to #s 1-3, 7, 8, 10, and 11].
19. Restrictions on and/or violations of freedoms of conscience, speech, press, assembly, and association [linked to #s 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9-1I].
20. Violations of freedom FROM ~ along with and as opposed to merely OF ~ religion [linked to #s 2, 5, and 8].
Given those 20 characteristics of classical, traditional, post-World War I-, World War II-, and Cold War I-epoch Fascism, it was easy to characterize THE AGE OF TRUMP and the reign of POTUS Maxximmuss XLV as "Fascist."
But which of those characteristics were and are equally applicable as accurate descriptions of the Obama, Cheney/Bush II, Clinton, Bush I/Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, Roosevelt, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding, and Wilson regimes? To say nothing of Lincoln's. An easier question to answer would be which of those listed properties and attributes of Fascism were and are NOT characteristic of any of those earlier administrations?
And what has changed in Items 1 thru 20 above since the onset of THE AGE OF BIDENOPIA?
It is critical to understand that the Fascism engulfing America is not that 20th century Fascism of Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Franco, Pinochet, Suharto, and the others like Batista, Noriega, The Shah, Somoza, Marcos, etc: American Client-Dictators All.
At least not yet.
Nor is it its 21st century variants like China and Russia with their "State Crony Corporatist Fascism." Or like virtually the entire Middle East from Turkey to Saudi Arabia and Iran, and back to Israel, with their lslamo- and Ziono-Fascisms, respectively. Or elsewhere, in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania, or Europe.
Rather, it is what various scholars have termed "Fascism with 21st century American characteristics," "Fascism with an American Face," "Participatory Fascism," "Democratic Fascism," "Friendly Fascism," and, ultimately, just plain old "Good Fascism." And such is manifest at full throttle in Swampland and the other corridors and labyrinths of political Power at virtually all subsidiary levels of Government and Governance in America today. Particularly since The COVID-19 Event and its economic, social, cultural, and psychological fallout and collateral damage.
Extract from: "NOT EVEN WRONG...": A Response to the Question “What are some of the dumbest things ever said by a bunch of American Generals and Admirals?”
Well before Sheldon Wolin’s DEMOCRACY INCORPORATED published in 2008 cited by Bill, Americans have been being Warned about a "Fascist equivalent" in the United States since even before the Fascist realities of Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo had been destroyed, with three books published in 1944:
Ludwig von Mises’ OMNIPOTENT GOVERNMENT: The Rise of the Total State and Total War; THE ROAD TO SERFDOM by Friedrich A Hayek [dedicated "To the socialists of all parties"]; and AS WE GO MARCHING by John T Flynn.
The Warnings continued in 1975 with Charlotte Twight's AMERICA'S EMERGING FASCIST ECONOMY; in 1980 with FRIENDLY FASCISM by Bertram Gross [as noted earlier by Charlie Kaften]; and in 2013 with FASCISM VERSUS CAPITALISM by Lew Rockwell.
And most recently, Jeffrey Tucker's RIGHT-WING COLLECTIVISM: The Other Threat to Liberty [2017]; and Carl Boggs' FASCISM OLD AND NEW: American Politics at the Crossroads [2018] have brought all those older works up to date and right into the 21st century. At least thru Trump.
These works are strongly recommended to any American ~ but particularly any GenXer, GenZer, and Millennial ~ who wants a very clear look at what America's future could very easily hold, and why.
It is a shame my parents' generation [once the "Greatest," now the "Silent"] didn't read, react and respond to, and act upon Mises, ,Hayek, and Flynn back when they had the chance.
And it is a greater tragedy that my Boomer generation missed those foundational works and that of Twight and Gross when we had our chance, as well. Hopefully, the next Generations of Citizens and those they choose as their political, economic, social, and cultural leaders will not make the same mistakes.
Extract from: "NOT EVEN WRONG...": A Response to the Question “What are some of the dumbest things ever said by a bunch of American Generals and Admirals?”
You say we don't have a dictator, but I would argue that we have the most effective dictator of all, our own unlimited desire for material goods. We are so thoroughly addicted that anything may go on in the world as long as we can have low prices, above all for gasoline. It is no accident that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was opened simply to keep gasoline prices down.
If we could have a time machine that would bring people from even as recently as the early 20th century to our world today they would certainly say - what a madhouse you live in, how do you bear the constant demands for your attention from every direction? You accept mania as normal. Is there no silence anywhere?
I see this in comparison to the 1950's. We are in a blizzard of commercial noise, yet people take it as normal and can't understand why having so much and wanting more doesn't bring contentment. Every company deeply investigates what it is that gets our attention and then exploits it. We swim in the result and cannot see it for what it is, our desires being used to capture us. Our dictator is within us.
So when you see advertising that goes on about it all being about you, they are telling a truth that they themselves don't recognize - that we enslave ourselves.
Fascism comes in a variety of flavors. The simple fact is that capitalism=fascism or fascism=capitalism. The unacceptable concept for either is real democracy. The needs of the citizens is never acceptable to either. The employer uses any means to prevent the employees from any kind of real decision making. Look at the history of American unions! The company master(s) knows best. The same applies to fascism. There the “leader(s) know best. In both cases the employee or the citizen are tools. A closer look at twentieth century fascism shows that the favored political ideology of the capitalist elite in America and Europe was fascism. A number of intellectuals also favored it. This can easily been demonstrated by looking at the way Mussolini, Hitler, Franco (to name the most famous) came to power. The most important role, as I see it, was played by the capitalist elites (in Spain the church also was an important factor). Post WW II “western” policies clearly show that this was the case with the reincorporation of old Nazis and fascists into the newly minted democracies.
Mussolini defined Fascism as such: "The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State – a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values – interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people." (quotation via Wikipedia)
So the question for our time is, who is arguing for a more powerful, totalitarian State? Who is arguing for censorship of social media? That's where you find American Fascism.
Oh wait. Here's an item. Kamala Harris thinks the answer to food inflation is for the State to set food prices.
I would have to say that the term "American Fascism" is fairly accurate given an earlier definition of fascism that has since been suppressed. That definition can be found in the American Heritage Dictionary published by Houghton-Mifflin Co. in Boston, MA, 1969, which defines fascism as follows:
" A philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology of beligerent nationalism."
Our present government meets all three criteria in this definition: extreme beligerent nationalism, total control by the right and the marriage between state and business leadership that precludes any influence from the general population.
And for those who have forgotten, or never knew, the word fascism is derived from the Fascist Party of Benito Mussolini who governed Italy prior to and during WWII in collaboration with Adolf Hitler. Mussolini never would have achieved power had it not been for the wholehearted support of the business community.
And finally, the word fascist is derived from the Latin word fasces which is described as an axe head imbeded in a bundle of sticks bound with a leather thong, which was used as a weapon and became a symbol of war for the Romans. This was adopted by Mussolini as his party's symbol and later as a national symbol.
All in all, I think the word fascist is a fairly accurate label for our government.
Definition of fascism from my 1963 college dictionary:
"A one-party system of government in which each class has its distinct place, function, and representation in the government but the individual is subordinated to the state and control is maintained by military force, secret police, rigid censorship, and governmental regimentation of industry and finance."
So, some might argue America has a two-party system, class mobility, and that individuals in America aren't subordinated to the state. We don't have secret police in this country! And there's no censorship here either! No fascism here!
Perhaps we're on the way to inventing a "soft" fascism, a comfortable one, a soothing one, not the "hard" fascism that the Nazis enforced.
No, we don't kill people. We may fine them and drive them into bankruptcy. Seize their house and all their possessions. Put them in prison. But we don't kill them. Well, usually we don't kill them. Although you never really know. Because, you see, it's a state secret. And if you reveal a state secret we will fine you and drive you into bankruptcy. Seize your house ......
Alex, you say we don't kill people.
Today I drove behind a car that had a sticker that said "FUCK OFF" on the back. At a stoplight, I drove up next to the person driving and I said via my open passenger window, "Is that sign you have on the back what you want to say to everyone?" The young woman driving responded telling me that it was a borrowed car. Ok, but she is willing to drive around with it displayed?
This reminds me of a similar incident two decades ago when I saw a sticker on a car that said "What is it about F*CK YOU that you don't understand?" In that case I tracked down the owner and asked her the same question as above. Her response was "You don't know my life!"
I cite these two cases because I believe that a person who would put such a message out to everyone is effectively dead though they still go through the motions of living. This strident rejection of everyone leaves the person dead to society. Community in America is in ruins. Not only are there people going around with the fuck you attitude, but I would say few to none dare to challenge it as I did and so it grows. We've made the individual into a god and the best apology anyone can offer (like our politicians) is not to say "I was wrong to say what I did" but rather, "I'm sorry if someone took offense" which is not an apology to the community.
We really have only one major party. It has two branches.
If there is one thing that people need to get clear on is that words are used now in completely absurd ways in order to elicit negative emotions about whomever or whatever the target de jour is. Everyone in the US government is a capitalist, like the wealthy Clintons, Obamas, Trumps and Bush clan. Saying that anyone in the US government or in US corporations is a Marxist is pure nonsense. In fact, saying any of them is liberal is nonsense. They are all right wing capitalists. There is no other flavor in the power establishment in the US. They use words to get people worked up about a political opponent, like when Trump calls Harris a Marxist. Pure garbage. In case anyone has forgotten, Marx claimed that a mature capitalism would not allow worker exploitation, that it would instead make workers the owners of the corporation so that they all benefitted when the corporation did well. Anyone who claims that Harris is pushing for worker ownership of corporations is just lying. On the other hand, if you define fascism as a collusion between government, the wealthy elites, corporations and the military, then you could easily describe the modern US as a type of fascist state that oppresses workers and uses military force, rather than diplomacy, to get their way. That applies to times when either the Blue Team or the Red Team is in the WH.
Exactly so, John. Pure garbage.
No speaker is worth $750K per speech. That's just an attempt to buy influence with the people who are seen running the Democratic Party. And the government. And bypassing rules about campaign contributions along the way. Same thing for hundreds of thousands of dollars given to Hunter Biden for his paintings.
No way. Hunter is the new Van Gogh! :-)
Jimmy Van Gogh. Also known as the kid who asks, "Do you want fries with that?" Of course that was before people found out that Jimmy's Aunt is Aunt Kamala. Now his fries go for $25K a packet. An extra $75K if you also want the burger. (sarc)
I totally believe that Wolin was correct, and that we find ourselves under a system of inverted totalitarianism. We need to keep spreading the message to help more people understand what is happening, to look beyond the MSM headlines. And, we need more and more people helping to form an organized movement of protest. I often wonder if our populace is up to this task, as people have been so blinded by propaganda for so long. Cornel West is working to bring about such a movement.
I certainly agree it is our due diligence to keep trying to spread context where lies abound. Like the Sermon on the Mount, all such good words seem to fall on deaf ears.
A comment on: “Thus we are allowed to fight over issues like abortion, gay rights, and the like because these issues do not threaten corporate bottom lines and state power.”
This isn’t wholly true. We have Chic-Filet, the Pillow Guy, Hobby-lobby red team supported—blue team boycotted. Disney, beer brewers, airlines who “go woke” who then get their butts kicked in the press in the culture wars. We take to the Supreme Court who has to decide who can bake a cake or not for a gay wedding. (I never have figured out why I would patronize anyone who didn’t want my business.) I’ll agree to the point that expect for the small mom and pop shop/restaurant run out of business by such local harassment, corporate bottom lines and state power endure despite all the headlines. The wave moves across the water whichever way the wind blows, but the flood of greed flows on.
The gay wedding cake people weren't really out to get a cake. They were apparently out to get shut down any business whose owners didn't conform to their values on gay weddings. As the store owner argued, they could have easily gone down the street and another store would have made the cake they wanted. One might reasonably call the complainers "fascists".
Wolin's book, first published in 2008, is brilliant in every respect. But, back in 1980, another very prophetic book was published, entitled "Friendly Fascism." Essentially, the basic premise of both books is the same. We have all the trappings of democracy, but, in fact, the US is a full-blown corporate plutocracy, under the control of the military-industrial complex and Wall Street. The media conglomerates manage the indoctrination and propaganda.
You can’t arm a genocidal state into moderation. So why does the West keep trying?
Western governments will never isolate and sanction Israel. The war machine will roll on until either we stop it or its lethal games blow up in all our faces.
There are many reasons Gaza has been mostly off the radar of the western establishment media for months now, even as the enclave turns into an ever-bigger killing zone.
One is that, nearly a year into what the World Court has termed a “plausible genocide”, where Israel has kept out western journalists and killed off most Palestinian journalists, as well as driving out international aid organizations and the United Nations, there is almost no one left to tell us what is happening.
We have only snapshots of individual suffering, but not the big picture. How many Palestinians are dead? We know there are at least 40,000 killed by Israel – the deaths recorded by Palestinian officials before the health system collapsed. But how many more? Double that figure? Quadruple it? Times it by 10? The truth is, no one knows.
https://jonathancook.substack.com/p/you-cant-arm-a-genocidal-state-into
The bottom line is WE CAN SEE what's happening in Gaza with our own eyes as reported and shown by the MSM, and seeing it, if that doesn't wake up the MASSES to our COMMON HUMANITY, you can expect the same kind of privation coming to the nominally Christian Societies, including the US and CanaDa.
As I posted here a few times, the US is the BIGGEST ARMS MERCHANT in the History of Nations, making a KILLING off the Ukraine WAR & the Gaza GENOCIDE we can see, and other wars not reported as important by the MSM we do not see.
Americans mirror US POWER in it's love for those Industrial sized KILLING MACHINES that makes so much MONEY all over this MATERIAL World.
There are more guns and machine guns in private American hands and unknown groups in the US, than for any other Nation, Society or People on Earth.
With the American People consenting to the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians and destruction of Gaza making it uninhabitable by their SILENCE, that privation we see Israel is doing to Palestinians and Americans funding it, Divine Justice demands those same conditions Americans are complicit in creating the misery in Gaza, will come home to roost, and with so many guns in American hands, what do you think will happen?
I take no pleasure in seeing the scenario unfolding in our generations. I wish I didn't see it happening in the real World but it is. It's not my imagination.
The Apostle Paul wrote so long ago, paraphrased, 'When it's TIME for STRONG MEAT, the People are fed PABLUM, as it is Today.
The UNITED STATES is an aspirational idea. It can't be imposed or legislated from the top down. It has to come from the hearts and minds of the Individuals at the bottom rising up. It is so apparent in the reality, the United States is not United.
It's a fact in my curriculum vitae, I was highly visible at the 1976 Republican National Convention walking softly and carrying my big stick I still have, through the Lobby of the Crown Center Hotel in Kansas City. I could identify by name tag, every Senator, Representative or Delegate.
For 4 days I walked through the Lobby and approached every Senator, Representative or delegate in every small group within the much larger group with the same greeting to them all, "Good Day! My name is Ray, and I'd like to talk to you about some issues."
Was it the words or the fact I had shoulder length hair & beard wearing my trademark #13 jersey or the stick? Every group I approached in those 4 days immediately dissolved and disappeared within the 1000s of others in the Hotel Lobby without saying a word to me.
Changing tactics, the Day President Ford won the nomination over Ronald Reagan, I entered the Lobby with a pamphlet covering the 3 over my heart of the 13. It had white stars on a blue background with a red oval center reading in script, 'CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES'
For the 1st Time, what Convention Planers call a spontaneous demonstration happened. A crowd gathered around me asking, "Who are you? What's the significance of your actions?" I started to answer when Republican Party Whips appeared on the scene and told me I have to leave the Hotel. Asking why they answered with these exact words I'll never forget. "YOU CAN'T WALK AROUND HERE WITH A CLUB."
My thought was, 'Jesus! They have the POWER and they're so paranoid?' What I said was, "You don't have the Power or Authority to expel me from the Hotel. Call the Manager." The Manager came and told the Republicans I have his permission to be here.
But the Party Whips did their job and the crowd dissolved into the larger crowd.
To my surprise, when I continued walking, there was President Ford himself with a retinue of about 25 people around him. The Mezzanine was only about 15 feet above the Lobby and right below I said, Good Day Mr. Ford! How are you Today, Sir? He acknowledged me saying, "I'm fine thank you. How are you?"
Lifting up the pamphlet toward him, I said, "I'm doing great, but I'd love to talk to you about these UN-United States." On those words, in a nanosecond, The President and his large retinue moved off like a single cell amoeba.
Later that night when President Ford was expected to give a victory speech from the Secret Service protected mezzanine, I was called out of the compressed crowd of delirious Republicans looking up to the mezzanine with the President's podium set up, expecting the President to be standing there any minute to be questioned.
Escorted beyond all the Security check points expecting to be questioned in some anteroom, the Secret Service Agent led me right to the President's podium and questioned me in view of the Republicans below eventually asking me if I was Jesus Christ? Having no illusions about that then and now, emphatically answered, NO! "Who are you then, a Prophet?" was the next question.
I didn't think about it or even KNOW then.
You’ve got guts. Keep up the good work!
Thank you Christopher for your comment. I get so very little encouragement!
We appreciate you here, Ray. Your persistence and fight are both needed.
Thank you, Bill, for your comment. Peace!
A few random thoughts: 1) I do not get these six-figure speaking fees. a) Michelle and company have nothing to say of any substance. b) People paying these ridiculous fees have to be rated among the poorest stewards in history. c) Far better to spend $15 on a book by Wendell Berry where you can learn about actual stewardship. 2) It is amazing how may pieces of legislation are titled the opposite of what they actually enact. No better example than the “Patriot Act.” The only patriotic response to the “Patriot Act” is to oppose it. 3) I confess to getting lost in the fog of our thrown-about terms de jour: fascism; wokeness/DEI; critical race theory; socialism; etc. All I know is they do an incredible job of keeping us divided all the while the people throwing them about lie through their teeth at every opportunity. Distraction their purpose as Bill rightly notes.
My guess is that paying the Obamas $750K for a speech is usually a downpayment with dividends to be reaped in the future when you need the Obamas to lobby on a bill, tax exemption, or other favor that will earn your corporation or business millions, maybe even billons.
I'm sure the Obamas know to return the favor, else those huge speaking fees would dry up.
I'm sure that is the quid pro quo. Money laundering of a kind, I presume. Otherwise, you'd think they say, "Save us your speech. Here is your payout. Now go deliver the goods."
Most Christian America ignores all these teachings of the Christ.
The LOVE of MONEY IS the ROOT of all evil.
You cannot serve 2 Masters. You cannot serve God and MONEY.
Hardly ever will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven.
James the brother of Jesus writes this; Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth eaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for THE LAST DAYS.
Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by FRAUD, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord ALMIGHTY.
It's taken 2000 years, but the world is seeing the consequences of disregarding those teachings and perceptions in these last days. So many people are discussing the same religious ideas in secular terms.
Gandhi studied, understood and lived the Sermon on the Mount to a degree few Christians have ever even tried. He understood its power.
He was reported to have said, 'I like your Christ. Your Christians not so much, they are so unlike your Christ!'
Gandhi also said “Be the change you wish to see.” Keep up the Good Work!
WHOLE LOTTA’ TRUTH HERE as well as in the COMMENTS.
We need to work on reversing the horrible “Citizens United” SCOTUS decision to help reduce the overriding influence of MONEY in American politics.
Either that, or LEARN TO LOVE THE GOOSE-STEP!
Exactly. A democracy is a system where everyone has freedom of speech and everyone has the right to vote. The Supreme Court has ruled that money is a form of speech. We have the 1% with most of the money and the 99% with the rest. This makes a mockery of freedom of speech because the 1% can with discretionary millions of dollars buy campaign advertising in all media, effectively giving them bullhorns when the rest of us are whispering.
Trump is said to be a danger to democracy, but our democracy is already gone with the SC stamp of approval.
The argument that the greatest threat confronting America is "Fascism" ~ as opposed the counter-claim that it is "Marxism,” “Communism,” “Socialism,” “Progressivism”, etc - is based entirely on how the terms "Fascism," "Socialism," and "Marxism" is used.
Nowadays, when most folks [at least on the Left] use the term "Fascism" [or "Fascist"], they are usually referring blanketly to somebody/ anybody/anything who disagrees with what they believe in, stand for, and are trying to accomplish, culturally, socially, economically, and especially politically.
It's the Left's doppelganger for "Marxism/Marxist,” "Communism/Communist" “Socialism/Socialist," etc that those on the Right use to describe those on the Left [and sometimes even in the Muddled Middle] who disagree with Them about what they're up to. Used that way, " Marxism/Marxist," etc, and "Fascism/Fascist" are essentially absolutely meaningless and thus useless terms.
But a little bit of what the ancient Confucians called "rectification"~ the clarification of the meaning of words so that they best describe the reality they name - shows that "Marxism" [and its variants] and "Fascism" are but two very similar systems for the centralization and concentration, the maintainment and sustainment, the perpetration, expansion, consolidation, and perpetuation of Power by one distinctively minority group of Humans over the masses of Others thru the machinations and manipulations of The State, and its executive, legislative, judicial, regulatory, and above all, its police and military or "security" and "defense" functions and authorities.
In both theory and historical fact, there is little difference in Principle between Marxism, etc, and Fascism; only in the specifics of organizational structures and operational systems, and their designated enemies.
In Marxism, etc, the government [more specifically, the "Vanguard," on behalf of "The Party," on behalf of" The People"} owns everything ~ all the public and private facilities, factors, and forces of production, distribution, and consumption ~ and has total control over all economic policies, procedures, and execution, from the national to the regional to the local economic activity level, and even to the individual level. The government is both prime producer and determiner of distribution and consumption. Its enemies are Capitalists, Corporatists, Fascists, Conservatives, Neoconservatives and Neoliberals, and anybody who disagrees with them; especially Classical Liberals, Anarchists, and Libertarians.
In Fascism, there is private [mostly corporate] ownership of business; and that is the only significant difference.
The facilities, factors, and forces of production, distribution, and consumption are indeed under private, corporate ownership and day-to-day managerial direction. However, it is still the government that dictates policy, procedures, goals and objectives, and execution at all levels in all aspects of economic activity. And it is the government that is often a ~ if not the - prime and primary customer. Fascism's enemies are Marxists, Socialists, Communists, Syndicalists and Unionists, Post-Modem Liberals, Proto- And Neo-Progressives, Democratic Socialists, Socialistic Democrats, and anybody who disagrees with them; also especially Classical Liberals, Anarchists, and Libertarians.
The main difference between Marxism, etc, and Fascism is that in Fascism, the concepts of private ownership and, particularly, private profit have not been abandoned, as in Marxism, etc. The similarities between the two are as follows:
a. Both systems place government in the business of meeting Human Needs and satisfying Human Wants, at the inevitable cost of violating Human Rights.
b. Both systems make extended use of state-of-the-art manipulation of the Needs and Wants of those they like to call "The People," and the obfuscation, suppression, and obliteration of those same folks' Rights.
c. Both systems survive and thrive best in the presence of an "Other": a real Enemy, or at least a credible Threat of one. And if they don't have one, they are both very skilled at creating one.
d. Both systems are created, maintained, and sustained for the express purpose of giving Ruling Elites ~ real and/or woulda coulda-shoulda-been Wannabes ~ ready access to Power [the ability to force another Human Being to do something, whether they want to do it or not], and Wealth [the ability to buy and sell Power at a profit].
Given those definitions and descriptions of Marxism, etc and Fascism that clearly differentiate the two ~ based entirely upon whether
ownership of the means of the production and distribution of economic goods, products, and services is by the government or by private
individuals, organizations, or institutions [primarily corporations] ~ it should be very evident that America is much more of a Fascist nation than it is or ever has been a Marxist, etc nation. And it has been that way for a very long time.
While Marxism, etc and Fascism differ most markedly as regards to who owns [and derives profit from] what factors of economic production and distribution, they both are marked by extensive, if not total government control of those factors: the processes by which goods, products, and services are created, distributed, consumed, and ultimately disposed of.
Outside of infrastructure and education, governments at all levels in the United States actually own and operate relatively few economic
enterprises compared to those under private ownership and operation. And they own and operate significantly less than the governments many, if not most other nations on the planet.
On the other hand, the amount of control by executive order, legislative Jaw, bureaucratic regulation and rule, and/or judicial fiat by all levels of American government [particularly at the Federal] of all that private ~ from individual to corporate ~ economic activity is as extensive and intensive here as it is anyplace on the planet, as well. And that speaks nothing of American governments' attempts to monitor and efforts to control the personal behavior of its Citizens, from what they ingest in their bodies, to who they share their bodies with, to what they can and cannot access on the Internet, and so forth.
Extract from: "NOT EVEN WRONG...": A Response to the Question “What are some of the dumbest things ever said by a bunch of American Generals and Admirals?”
Moving beyond mere definitions about systems of Government and Governance, what other basis is there for declaring that America is indeed a nation with very definite Fascist “characteristics”?
Consider the following list of fourteen common features of Fascism exhibited by Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy, Tojo's Japan, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos 's Greece, Pinochet's Chile, and Suharto's Indonesia. And then ask Yourself whether or not America, its Ruling Political Class, and its Government run by that RPC’s wholly-owned, -operated, -commanded, and -controlled politicians and bureaucrats exhibit any of the same characteristics:
1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism.
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights.
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause.
4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism.
5. Rampant sexism.
6. A controlled mass media.
7. Obsession with national security.
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together.
9. Power of corporations protected.
10, Power of labor suppressed or eliminated.
11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts.
12. Obsession with crime and punishment.
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption.
14. Fraudulent elections.
To which can be added
15. Central Banking and dependency on budget deficits, borrowing, and governmental debt [linked to #s 2, 4, 7, 9, and 13].
16. Political, economic, and military imperialism [linked to #s 1-4, 6-9, and 13].
17. Corruption and militarization of law and regulatory enforcement [linked to Ns2, 9, I0, 12, and 13].
18. Racism, ethnicism, xenophobism, sectarianism, ageism, and classism [linked to #s 1-3, 7, 8, 10, and 11].
19. Restrictions on and/or violations of freedoms of conscience, speech, press, assembly, and association [linked to #s 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9-1I].
20. Violations of freedom FROM ~ along with and as opposed to merely OF ~ religion [linked to #s 2, 5, and 8].
[ Source: "Fascism Anyone???" by Laurence Britt https://secularhumanism.org/2003/03/fascism-anyone/ ].
Given those 20 characteristics of classical, traditional, post-World War I-, World War II-, and Cold War I-epoch Fascism, it was easy to characterize THE AGE OF TRUMP and the reign of POTUS Maxximmuss XLV as "Fascist."
But which of those characteristics were and are equally applicable as accurate descriptions of the Obama, Cheney/Bush II, Clinton, Bush I/Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, Roosevelt, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding, and Wilson regimes? To say nothing of Lincoln's. An easier question to answer would be which of those listed properties and attributes of Fascism were and are NOT characteristic of any of those earlier administrations?
And what has changed in Items 1 thru 20 above since the onset of THE AGE OF BIDENOPIA?
It is critical to understand that the Fascism engulfing America is not that 20th century Fascism of Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Franco, Pinochet, Suharto, and the others like Batista, Noriega, The Shah, Somoza, Marcos, etc: American Client-Dictators All.
At least not yet.
Nor is it its 21st century variants like China and Russia with their "State Crony Corporatist Fascism." Or like virtually the entire Middle East from Turkey to Saudi Arabia and Iran, and back to Israel, with their lslamo- and Ziono-Fascisms, respectively. Or elsewhere, in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania, or Europe.
Rather, it is what various scholars have termed "Fascism with 21st century American characteristics," "Fascism with an American Face," "Participatory Fascism," "Democratic Fascism," "Friendly Fascism," and, ultimately, just plain old "Good Fascism." And such is manifest at full throttle in Swampland and the other corridors and labyrinths of political Power at virtually all subsidiary levels of Government and Governance in America today. Particularly since The COVID-19 Event and its economic, social, cultural, and psychological fallout and collateral damage.
Extract from: "NOT EVEN WRONG...": A Response to the Question “What are some of the dumbest things ever said by a bunch of American Generals and Admirals?”
Well before Sheldon Wolin’s DEMOCRACY INCORPORATED published in 2008 cited by Bill, Americans have been being Warned about a "Fascist equivalent" in the United States since even before the Fascist realities of Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo had been destroyed, with three books published in 1944:
Ludwig von Mises’ OMNIPOTENT GOVERNMENT: The Rise of the Total State and Total War; THE ROAD TO SERFDOM by Friedrich A Hayek [dedicated "To the socialists of all parties"]; and AS WE GO MARCHING by John T Flynn.
The Warnings continued in 1975 with Charlotte Twight's AMERICA'S EMERGING FASCIST ECONOMY; in 1980 with FRIENDLY FASCISM by Bertram Gross [as noted earlier by Charlie Kaften]; and in 2013 with FASCISM VERSUS CAPITALISM by Lew Rockwell.
And most recently, Jeffrey Tucker's RIGHT-WING COLLECTIVISM: The Other Threat to Liberty [2017]; and Carl Boggs' FASCISM OLD AND NEW: American Politics at the Crossroads [2018] have brought all those older works up to date and right into the 21st century. At least thru Trump.
These works are strongly recommended to any American ~ but particularly any GenXer, GenZer, and Millennial ~ who wants a very clear look at what America's future could very easily hold, and why.
It is a shame my parents' generation [once the "Greatest," now the "Silent"] didn't read, react and respond to, and act upon Mises, ,Hayek, and Flynn back when they had the chance.
And it is a greater tragedy that my Boomer generation missed those foundational works and that of Twight and Gross when we had our chance, as well. Hopefully, the next Generations of Citizens and those they choose as their political, economic, social, and cultural leaders will not make the same mistakes.
Extract from: "NOT EVEN WRONG...": A Response to the Question “What are some of the dumbest things ever said by a bunch of American Generals and Admirals?”
You say we don't have a dictator, but I would argue that we have the most effective dictator of all, our own unlimited desire for material goods. We are so thoroughly addicted that anything may go on in the world as long as we can have low prices, above all for gasoline. It is no accident that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was opened simply to keep gasoline prices down.
If we could have a time machine that would bring people from even as recently as the early 20th century to our world today they would certainly say - what a madhouse you live in, how do you bear the constant demands for your attention from every direction? You accept mania as normal. Is there no silence anywhere?
I see this in comparison to the 1950's. We are in a blizzard of commercial noise, yet people take it as normal and can't understand why having so much and wanting more doesn't bring contentment. Every company deeply investigates what it is that gets our attention and then exploits it. We swim in the result and cannot see it for what it is, our desires being used to capture us. Our dictator is within us.
So when you see advertising that goes on about it all being about you, they are telling a truth that they themselves don't recognize - that we enslave ourselves.
Fascism comes in a variety of flavors. The simple fact is that capitalism=fascism or fascism=capitalism. The unacceptable concept for either is real democracy. The needs of the citizens is never acceptable to either. The employer uses any means to prevent the employees from any kind of real decision making. Look at the history of American unions! The company master(s) knows best. The same applies to fascism. There the “leader(s) know best. In both cases the employee or the citizen are tools. A closer look at twentieth century fascism shows that the favored political ideology of the capitalist elite in America and Europe was fascism. A number of intellectuals also favored it. This can easily been demonstrated by looking at the way Mussolini, Hitler, Franco (to name the most famous) came to power. The most important role, as I see it, was played by the capitalist elites (in Spain the church also was an important factor). Post WW II “western” policies clearly show that this was the case with the reincorporation of old Nazis and fascists into the newly minted democracies.
Mussolini defined Fascism as such: "The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State – a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values – interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people." (quotation via Wikipedia)
So the question for our time is, who is arguing for a more powerful, totalitarian State? Who is arguing for censorship of social media? That's where you find American Fascism.
Oh wait. Here's an item. Kamala Harris thinks the answer to food inflation is for the State to set food prices.
I would have to say that the term "American Fascism" is fairly accurate given an earlier definition of fascism that has since been suppressed. That definition can be found in the American Heritage Dictionary published by Houghton-Mifflin Co. in Boston, MA, 1969, which defines fascism as follows:
" A philosophy or system of government that advocates or exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with an ideology of beligerent nationalism."
Our present government meets all three criteria in this definition: extreme beligerent nationalism, total control by the right and the marriage between state and business leadership that precludes any influence from the general population.
And for those who have forgotten, or never knew, the word fascism is derived from the Fascist Party of Benito Mussolini who governed Italy prior to and during WWII in collaboration with Adolf Hitler. Mussolini never would have achieved power had it not been for the wholehearted support of the business community.
And finally, the word fascist is derived from the Latin word fasces which is described as an axe head imbeded in a bundle of sticks bound with a leather thong, which was used as a weapon and became a symbol of war for the Romans. This was adopted by Mussolini as his party's symbol and later as a national symbol.
All in all, I think the word fascist is a fairly accurate label for our government.