Well said and considered, Bill. As with any 'ism', there are degrees of manifestation. Fascism need not look completely like Mussolini's or Hitler's State. Nor will it always be tied to a singular birth-moment. It doesn't require a Reichstag fire.
Instead, we have what appears to be a slow, steady march to fascism, in which various facets become 'normalized'. Through what is now called 'narrative control', propaganda is so ubiquitous and dominant that it is called 'the news'; censorship is manifested first in smears, then in 'cancellation'; and with the disappearing of dissenting voices via the dropping of any principled journalists from main stream outlets, deplatforming, and de-ranking in search algorithms, etc.
These are all accompanied by the rising calls for governmental 'disinformation' control. As if somehow, governments that are themselves captive to private capital and the source of most of the pro-war propaganda would be somehow fair arbiters of 'truth' .
If these, along with the militarization of public police forces, and the steady growth of the incarcerated populations are not evidence of creeping fascism, I don't know what to call it.
Excellent column Bill--a worthy exegesis of your months-long effort to provoke a resurgent
Anti-War/Anti-MICC/Anti-Imperial America PEACE movement. You and Tom Englehardt's
TomDispatch are hardy and persistent and nearly alone in the US media in this AWAMICCAIA.
I wish this and your previous columns were studied and taken to heart by the Biden Administration's
Budget group so they could begin a 10-year project of reducing the DoD/MICC allocation by 10%
in 2024, then 5% per year for the next 9 years, re-allocating those taxpayer dollars to desperately-
needed domestic programs, paying on the Credit-Card Wars, adequately staffing and funding the VA--Many of us have advocated for this for years of course, and at present it's an old man's dream,
but you and Tom are to be commended and keep it up ! PEACE in our time !
So the gun [violence] fetishists have co-opted even their supposedly most sacred figure. Appalling, but not surprising.
As for fascism, I agree that the military has begun to embody it, but I also think that's too narrow a scope, Bill. That is, the military hasn't cornered the market on that concept. The wholly-corporate-owned government in its entirety is approaching the fascist level, thanks to the purchasing of politicians to deregulate business, disenfranchise the masses, and ensure that money flows ever upward.
i never thought i would applaud anything that Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene does, but she proved me wrong here.
This action by the US House of Representatives is not merely Wrong. It is absolute, total, pure, unadulterated EVIL.
It ranks right up there with Madame Secretary Albright’s response to 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq back in May of 1996: “We have heard that a HALF MILLION CHILDREN HAVE DIED. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?”
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but THE PRICE–WE THINK THE PRICE IS WORTH IT.
When the American Empire is held accountable for all the pain and suffering ~ all the death, destruction, despair, desolation, and desperation that it has inflicted on this Planet since the end of World War II and particularly, since the end of Cold War I, it ~ and along with it, the Experiment called the United States of America ~ will be consigned to the garbage dump of History. …:
HOUSE OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVES RESOLUTION TO MAINTAIN SYRIA SANCTIONS AFTER EARTHQUAKE: Only Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) voted against the resolution by Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com 030123
The House this week voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution to maintain sanctions on Syria following a devastating earthquake that has killed at least 5,900 people in the country, The Cradle reported on Wednesday.
The resolution was introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and received 51 cosponsors. It passed in a vote of 414-2. Only Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) voted against the measure.
The resolution calls for the Biden administration to remain committed to “implementing the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019,” a law that imposed crippling sanctions on Syria that are designed to prevent the country from rebuilding after years of war.
The resolution said that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was “falsely claiming” US sanctions impeded the aid response to the earthquake. But it’s a fact that US sanctions hurt the relief effort, something that has been detailed by the head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and UN experts.
After initially claiming sanctions wouldn’t hurt the relief effort, the Biden administration issued a 180-day sanctions exemption for transactions related to earthquake relief. UN experts responded by welcoming the move but said it wasn’t enough and called for the sanctions to be fully lifted… .
…
The article concludes: THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION HAS SAID IT’S AGAINST REGIONAL COUNTRIES UPGRADING TIES WITH THE ASSAD GOVERNMENT, EVEN IF IT’S PART OF AN EFFORT TO AID IN EARTHQUAKE RELIEF. On top of the sanctions and opposing Syria’s engagement with its neighbors, THE US MAINTAINS AN OCCUPATION FORCE OF ABOUT 900 TROOPS IN EASTERN SYRIA and backs the Kurdish-led SDF in the region, allowing the US to control about one-third of Syrian territory. THE AREA THE US CONTROLS IS WHERE MOST OF THE COUNTRY’S OIL RESOURCES ARE, KEEPING THE VITAL RESOURCE OUT OF THE HANDS OF DAMASCUS.
thanks this really connects the dots from the MIC to as you say "muscular Christianity." Our nation is going to have to come to grips one day that we have been manipulated so much to the point where the "Prince of Peace" would support our never ending war and war profiteering as the norm.
And may I add that, if one has read Wolin, Diamond, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", Bacevich, McCoy et al as I have and I know you have, and more, you know that we are headed down the same path as empires before us. Could we avoid it? Sure --go to Denmark as I have and see how the Scandinavian nations have forged a balanced, stable national government where a carefully regulated capitalist economy is married to a social democracy that provides universal education,
healthcare, and social support services to all citizens with reasonable taxation, virtually no corruption,
--and it's a monarchy !! --albeit a largely figurehead one with a 13-party Parliament--
I have in-laws there and have first-hand knowledge of the amazing ways that they weathered
the Pandemic--of course, they don't bequeath 60% of their GNP to their military--what a concept !!
I’ve always thought Ike would deserve more credit for naming and warning against the MIC if he hadn’t spent the previous eight years presiding over its creation and entrenchment, and had instead used his peerless prestige to set the country on a different course.
Also, I have to put in a word for the fasces, which are a *really* classic symbol of republican government, which is why they flank the Speaker’s dais in the House of Representatives. (Though, of course, Congress is the C in MIC, so …)
Regarding your efforts and those of outsiders in general, I am encouraged by the impact of David Sirota's "The Lever" in keeping the heat on Buttigieg and the gross capture of regulators by the railroad lobby. The Lever is even being credited in MSM for exposing the outrageous details whereas most "news" outlets simply did what they normally do, show lots of impressive explosion videos and do no digging for background to answer why something happened. There is change going on in what people expect of journalists, that is, asking that they do journalism. You are part of the change.
Very good piece, Bill. Lots to chew on. and, in a few cases, question and/or challenge.
The best part of it was Your acknowledging that You were wrong about “American Fascism” ten years ago in Your article at Huffington Post. One doesn’t see that too often in the blogosphere and on social media.
Like i said, Lots to chew on and, in a few cases, question and/or challenge.
The first point being Your opening statement that “[t]he national security state has become the fourth branch of government and arguably the most powerful one.”
The fourth branch of the US government is the Federal Reserve System, without which the Executive and Legislative branches would not be able to run this government and country the way they have been for a long, long time. The only reason our Presidents, Senators, and Representatives [and their Bureaucrats] can get away with perpetual deficit spending and a ballooning National Debt is because The Fed creates credit and money out of thin air and passes it off as real.
Every dime that has been spent by the national “security” and “defense” state since 9/11 has been put on Uncle Sam’s credit card, with an ever-expanding amount of “available credit,” courtesy of The Fed.
The point being that that all-inclusive acronym MICCIMATT and synonym for The Deep State’s Ruling Political Class needs to be expanded to MICCIFMATT to include the straw that stirs the whole drink, The Fed.
As but one example: You noted the Pentagon’s failure to pass five audits. In its 110-year existence, The Fed has Never had an audit, let alone passed one. What does that tell You about its place in the hierarchy of power in DC?
The second point being Your conclusion: “Again, Ike warned us that the MIC is fundamentally anti-democratic. And, WHATEVER ELSE IT IS, THE MIC IS CERTAINLY NOT COMMUNIST OR LEFTIST. IS IT AMERICA’S VERSION OF FASCISM? THAT CONCLUSION MAY SEEM SHRILLY ALARMIST, BUT THAT IS ARGUABLY WHAT WE NEED: A SHRILL ALARM TO AWAKEN US FROM OUR SLUMBER.” [EMPHASIS added.]
No, Bill. It is NOT being shrilly alarmist. And what the American People need is exactly that: a shrill alarm that does more than just wake us up. It needs to cause us to pull our individual and collective heads out of our collective and individual asses.
Wonderful essay!!! I hope it gets added to CN and Common Dreams and any other web site that publishes comments. I also thank you for the link to Christian Sorensen's column written 2 years ago, and even more important today! His line " When war is business, peace is your enemy". should be enshrined on the doorway of the Pentagon and at the CIA and in the hearts of all our congressmen/women. I hope all your readers will use the link to read his article.
You mention the anti war protest that fell apart recently. Can you explain what happened? I noted that several people who would have spoken didn't because they were more or less asked not to (??) What was going on there? I note too that the turnout was low, which surprised and disheartened me. What sort of bickering was going on ? And how can the organizers be so idiotic?
Good piece, as per usual. I would point out that the welfare state still eats up the lions share of the federal budget-not that I disagree with your assessment of the damage caused by the MIC, economic and in terms of loss of civil liberties. I mean, even Rome had its bread and circuses-they call that SS and Medicare today.
Well said and considered, Bill. As with any 'ism', there are degrees of manifestation. Fascism need not look completely like Mussolini's or Hitler's State. Nor will it always be tied to a singular birth-moment. It doesn't require a Reichstag fire.
Instead, we have what appears to be a slow, steady march to fascism, in which various facets become 'normalized'. Through what is now called 'narrative control', propaganda is so ubiquitous and dominant that it is called 'the news'; censorship is manifested first in smears, then in 'cancellation'; and with the disappearing of dissenting voices via the dropping of any principled journalists from main stream outlets, deplatforming, and de-ranking in search algorithms, etc.
These are all accompanied by the rising calls for governmental 'disinformation' control. As if somehow, governments that are themselves captive to private capital and the source of most of the pro-war propaganda would be somehow fair arbiters of 'truth' .
If these, along with the militarization of public police forces, and the steady growth of the incarcerated populations are not evidence of creeping fascism, I don't know what to call it.
Excellent column Bill--a worthy exegesis of your months-long effort to provoke a resurgent
Anti-War/Anti-MICC/Anti-Imperial America PEACE movement. You and Tom Englehardt's
TomDispatch are hardy and persistent and nearly alone in the US media in this AWAMICCAIA.
I wish this and your previous columns were studied and taken to heart by the Biden Administration's
Budget group so they could begin a 10-year project of reducing the DoD/MICC allocation by 10%
in 2024, then 5% per year for the next 9 years, re-allocating those taxpayer dollars to desperately-
needed domestic programs, paying on the Credit-Card Wars, adequately staffing and funding the VA--Many of us have advocated for this for years of course, and at present it's an old man's dream,
but you and Tom are to be commended and keep it up ! PEACE in our time !
"The vision of Christ as a peacemaker..."
Seems that I recall recent quips from a prominent GOP figure or two to the effect of, "If Jesus had AR-15s..."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lauren-boebert-jesus-ar-15s_n_62aa02e3e4b06169ca93a9a4
So the gun [violence] fetishists have co-opted even their supposedly most sacred figure. Appalling, but not surprising.
As for fascism, I agree that the military has begun to embody it, but I also think that's too narrow a scope, Bill. That is, the military hasn't cornered the market on that concept. The wholly-corporate-owned government in its entirety is approaching the fascist level, thanks to the purchasing of politicians to deregulate business, disenfranchise the masses, and ensure that money flows ever upward.
Couldn't agree more, Bill!
i never thought i would applaud anything that Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene does, but she proved me wrong here.
This action by the US House of Representatives is not merely Wrong. It is absolute, total, pure, unadulterated EVIL.
It ranks right up there with Madame Secretary Albright’s response to 60 Minutes’ Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq back in May of 1996: “We have heard that a HALF MILLION CHILDREN HAVE DIED. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?”
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but THE PRICE–WE THINK THE PRICE IS WORTH IT.
When the American Empire is held accountable for all the pain and suffering ~ all the death, destruction, despair, desolation, and desperation that it has inflicted on this Planet since the end of World War II and particularly, since the end of Cold War I, it ~ and along with it, the Experiment called the United States of America ~ will be consigned to the garbage dump of History. …:
HOUSE OVERWHELMINGLY APPROVES RESOLUTION TO MAINTAIN SYRIA SANCTIONS AFTER EARTHQUAKE: Only Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) voted against the resolution by Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com 030123
The House this week voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution to maintain sanctions on Syria following a devastating earthquake that has killed at least 5,900 people in the country, The Cradle reported on Wednesday.
The resolution was introduced by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and received 51 cosponsors. It passed in a vote of 414-2. Only Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) voted against the measure.
The resolution calls for the Biden administration to remain committed to “implementing the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019,” a law that imposed crippling sanctions on Syria that are designed to prevent the country from rebuilding after years of war.
The resolution said that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was “falsely claiming” US sanctions impeded the aid response to the earthquake. But it’s a fact that US sanctions hurt the relief effort, something that has been detailed by the head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and UN experts.
After initially claiming sanctions wouldn’t hurt the relief effort, the Biden administration issued a 180-day sanctions exemption for transactions related to earthquake relief. UN experts responded by welcoming the move but said it wasn’t enough and called for the sanctions to be fully lifted… .
…
The article concludes: THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION HAS SAID IT’S AGAINST REGIONAL COUNTRIES UPGRADING TIES WITH THE ASSAD GOVERNMENT, EVEN IF IT’S PART OF AN EFFORT TO AID IN EARTHQUAKE RELIEF. On top of the sanctions and opposing Syria’s engagement with its neighbors, THE US MAINTAINS AN OCCUPATION FORCE OF ABOUT 900 TROOPS IN EASTERN SYRIA and backs the Kurdish-led SDF in the region, allowing the US to control about one-third of Syrian territory. THE AREA THE US CONTROLS IS WHERE MOST OF THE COUNTRY’S OIL RESOURCES ARE, KEEPING THE VITAL RESOURCE OUT OF THE HANDS OF DAMASCUS.
Full article at: https://news.antiwar.com/2023/03/01/house-overwhelmingly-approves-resolution-to-maintain-syria-sanctions-after-earthquake/ ; EMPHASIS added.
thanks this really connects the dots from the MIC to as you say "muscular Christianity." Our nation is going to have to come to grips one day that we have been manipulated so much to the point where the "Prince of Peace" would support our never ending war and war profiteering as the norm.
And may I add that, if one has read Wolin, Diamond, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", Bacevich, McCoy et al as I have and I know you have, and more, you know that we are headed down the same path as empires before us. Could we avoid it? Sure --go to Denmark as I have and see how the Scandinavian nations have forged a balanced, stable national government where a carefully regulated capitalist economy is married to a social democracy that provides universal education,
healthcare, and social support services to all citizens with reasonable taxation, virtually no corruption,
--and it's a monarchy !! --albeit a largely figurehead one with a 13-party Parliament--
I have in-laws there and have first-hand knowledge of the amazing ways that they weathered
the Pandemic--of course, they don't bequeath 60% of their GNP to their military--what a concept !!
I’ve always thought Ike would deserve more credit for naming and warning against the MIC if he hadn’t spent the previous eight years presiding over its creation and entrenchment, and had instead used his peerless prestige to set the country on a different course.
Also, I have to put in a word for the fasces, which are a *really* classic symbol of republican government, which is why they flank the Speaker’s dais in the House of Representatives. (Though, of course, Congress is the C in MIC, so …)
Regarding your efforts and those of outsiders in general, I am encouraged by the impact of David Sirota's "The Lever" in keeping the heat on Buttigieg and the gross capture of regulators by the railroad lobby. The Lever is even being credited in MSM for exposing the outrageous details whereas most "news" outlets simply did what they normally do, show lots of impressive explosion videos and do no digging for background to answer why something happened. There is change going on in what people expect of journalists, that is, asking that they do journalism. You are part of the change.
Very good piece, Bill. Lots to chew on. and, in a few cases, question and/or challenge.
The best part of it was Your acknowledging that You were wrong about “American Fascism” ten years ago in Your article at Huffington Post. One doesn’t see that too often in the blogosphere and on social media.
Like i said, Lots to chew on and, in a few cases, question and/or challenge.
The first point being Your opening statement that “[t]he national security state has become the fourth branch of government and arguably the most powerful one.”
The fourth branch of the US government is the Federal Reserve System, without which the Executive and Legislative branches would not be able to run this government and country the way they have been for a long, long time. The only reason our Presidents, Senators, and Representatives [and their Bureaucrats] can get away with perpetual deficit spending and a ballooning National Debt is because The Fed creates credit and money out of thin air and passes it off as real.
Every dime that has been spent by the national “security” and “defense” state since 9/11 has been put on Uncle Sam’s credit card, with an ever-expanding amount of “available credit,” courtesy of The Fed.
The point being that that all-inclusive acronym MICCIMATT and synonym for The Deep State’s Ruling Political Class needs to be expanded to MICCIFMATT to include the straw that stirs the whole drink, The Fed.
As but one example: You noted the Pentagon’s failure to pass five audits. In its 110-year existence, The Fed has Never had an audit, let alone passed one. What does that tell You about its place in the hierarchy of power in DC?
The second point being Your conclusion: “Again, Ike warned us that the MIC is fundamentally anti-democratic. And, WHATEVER ELSE IT IS, THE MIC IS CERTAINLY NOT COMMUNIST OR LEFTIST. IS IT AMERICA’S VERSION OF FASCISM? THAT CONCLUSION MAY SEEM SHRILLY ALARMIST, BUT THAT IS ARGUABLY WHAT WE NEED: A SHRILL ALARM TO AWAKEN US FROM OUR SLUMBER.” [EMPHASIS added.]
No, Bill. It is NOT being shrilly alarmist. And what the American People need is exactly that: a shrill alarm that does more than just wake us up. It needs to cause us to pull our individual and collective heads out of our collective and individual asses.
Wonderful essay!!! I hope it gets added to CN and Common Dreams and any other web site that publishes comments. I also thank you for the link to Christian Sorensen's column written 2 years ago, and even more important today! His line " When war is business, peace is your enemy". should be enshrined on the doorway of the Pentagon and at the CIA and in the hearts of all our congressmen/women. I hope all your readers will use the link to read his article.
You mention the anti war protest that fell apart recently. Can you explain what happened? I noted that several people who would have spoken didn't because they were more or less asked not to (??) What was going on there? I note too that the turnout was low, which surprised and disheartened me. What sort of bickering was going on ? And how can the organizers be so idiotic?
Fascism is exactly what it is.
Good piece, as per usual. I would point out that the welfare state still eats up the lions share of the federal budget-not that I disagree with your assessment of the damage caused by the MIC, economic and in terms of loss of civil liberties. I mean, even Rome had its bread and circuses-they call that SS and Medicare today.
Sadly I share your take on the Christian silence in the face of this monstrous violence, as I wrote about a few weeks ago: https://believeandobey.net/the-christian-peace-movement-is-awol/