Fascism in America: coming or already here?

[Q]

A Brief (But Creepy) History of America's Creeping Fascism

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Maureen Farrell

Dec 5, 2002
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"Public health officials want to shut down roads and airports, herd people into sports stadiums and, if needed, quarantine entire cities in the event of a smallpox attack".- the Boston Herald, Nov. 8, 2001
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/
americas_new_war/pox11082001.htm

"Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be 'enemy combatants' has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace." -the Los Angeles Times, Aug. 14, 2002 http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/08.15B.ashcr.camps.htm

The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects -- U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike -- may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system. . . . " - the Washington Post, Dec. 1, 2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58308-2002Nov30.html

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Dec. 13, 2000: Al Gore concedes the presidential election after the Supreme Court installs George W. Bush President of the United States. Alan Dershowitz later writes that this unprecedented decision "threatens to undermine the moral authority of the high court for generations to come."

Sept. 11, 2001: President Bush activates a Cold-War era shadow government, installing cabinet members in underground bunkers. When this plan is uncovered months later, members of Congress claim they were not consulted.

Oct., 2001: The Patriot Act is railroaded through Congress and the Senate, without the benefit of committee hearings or extended debate, shortly after Democratic legislators are targeted in yet-to-be solved anthrax attacks.

Nov. 2001: The Bush administration issues executive orders allowing for the use of special military courts and empowering Atty. General John Ashcroft to detain non-citizens indefinitely; the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MEHPA) is introduced to governors of all 50 states. MEHPA calls for mandatory vaccinations and allows for confiscation of citizen's real estate, food, medicine and other private property; and outlines plans to herd afflicted citizens into stadiums.

Feb. 13, 2002: Iran-Contra criminal John Poindexter is chosen to head the Pentagon's Total Information Awareness Program, giving this five-time felon power to monitor citizens' internet use, e-mail, travel plans, credit-card purchases and other personal data. On Feb. 18, London's Guardian newspaper runs a story on the implications of Poindexter's appointment. The American media follows suit nine months later.

April, 2002: The US military creates a Northern Command to assist in homeland defense. Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge encounters difficulties studying Reagan's national security plans for using the military for law enforcement, since Bush #43 sealed Reagan's presidential papers in Nov., 2001.

Summer, 2002: Former presidential counsel John Dean writes an article asking, "Could terrorism result in a constitutional dictator?" A month later, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Bush administration might employ Reagan-era security initiatives, installing "internment camps and martial law in the United States." The LA Times reports on Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's "desire for camps."

Fall, 2002: During the midterm elections, Vietnam veteran and triple amputee Max Cleland is shamelessly depicted as "unpatriotic" for voicing concerns over homeland security legislation. Questions regarding Paul Wellstone's plane crash, voting machine irregularities or exit poll glitches remain taboo.

Nov. 25, 2002: After the 32 page Homeland Security Bill ballooned to nearly 500 pages overnight, and was railroaded through the Senate and Congress, it is signed into law. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) says the bill "expands the federal police state," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) says it represents "the most severe weakening of the Freedom of Information Act" in 36 years and Sen. Robert Byrd worries amendments "expand the culture of secrecy." Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) claims that "the ability of a special interest group to secretly insert provisions into law for its own narrow benefit and to the detriment of the public interest raises fundamental questions about the integrity of our government."

Nov. 27, 2002: Cover-up King Henry Kissinger is chosen to head the Sept. 11 independent Commission. Robert Sheer reports that "history puts credibility at zero in the 9/11 probe."

Dec. 4, 2002: Solicitor General Theodore Olsen goes before the Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the Miranda decision, which has restrained police interrogations for decades. "This is a case to be concerned about,'' University of California law professor Charles Weisselberg says. "To see the solicitor general arguing that there's no right to be free from coercive interrogation is pretty aggressive."

Thomas Jefferson warned, "When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny." It's difficult to fathom what we're stuck with now, when we consider from whence we came. As the Constitutional Convention came to a close, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin what type of government had been formed. "A Republic, if you can keep it," he replied.


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http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/2002/12/05_Fascism.html

[freetobegay]

1. Already here!

eom

[Q]

6. Students of history could see it coming...

...and as the hair stands up on the back of their neck they are finally forced to admit it's already here.

- Is it a temporary phase the US is going through in response to Bush* fear mongering? Or has our government been permanently changed to reflect the ruling class's desire for everlasting war and a rise of the corporate state?

[JaySherman]

2. Not here yet. There's still time.

Whether or not it comes to pass will be determined within the year.

[Q]

16. What do you see changing that will prevent it?

- Do you really think that electing someone besides Bush* will put an end to the march towards fascism? We're talking about a 'system' that's fully entrenched in our government.

- Take Clinton and Gore as a lesson: both were character assassinated and Gore kept from taking office by a partisan SC. The very structure of our government has been perverted, our elections manipulated and our congress turned into a rubber stamp for the Bush" agenda.

[JaySherman]

24. I suggest you read this:

http://www.cursor.org/stories/fascismintroduction.php

For an instruction in what fascism really is.

We are headed toward fascism, but fascism in its full form has not yet manifested itself in America. The fascists are making their big power play now but there is still time to stop them.

Personally, I think recent events show there are already cracks in their armor. They are already blowing it. Iraq, the crux of their plan, is an unmitigated economic and military disaster. The American people are starting to turn on them despite their best efforts at public manipulation. 911 is becoming a scandal even they can't cover up. Their desperation showed in the pResidential press conf today. Even members of their own party are beginning to jump ship.

They haven't been defeated by any means yet, but they definitely appear to be on the ropes. Some potential knockout blows I see.

- May 1: The anniversery of "Mission Accomplished."
- The tragic day that we hit 1000 KIA in Iraq. At this pace that day will be soon.
- The Rethug Convention in NYC.

Think how much has changed in the past year (just look at the approval ratings). Our greatest threat as I see things right now is BBV. But if they keep going in the direction that they are, even that may not be enough to save them.

[ithacan]

3. when it comes most will not notice

Most people think fascism will come suddenly, Nazis taking over, and of course that could never happen here...

What they do not realize is that it comes on very slowly, bit by bit, and most people do not notice until it's too late.

We are well on the way, that is true. But most Americans are unaware. The steps taken so far are all so "normalized" that nothing seems amiss.

It's like the frogs in the water, if the temperature is slowly increased, they'll stay in even as the temperature starts to kill them.

That's what fascism is like. That's how it comes about.

The fact that so few called Bush out on the disastrous "performance" last night is one sign that we're on the path.

The steps you point to, Q, have indeed been paving the way...

[Q]

8. Please note that the above is only PART of the timeline...

...of our slide into fascism. Read the rest of the article for more information about secretive legislation and allowing 'crimes against the state' to go unpunished in Iran/Contra, etc.

[Daisey Mae]

4. It is already here,,,,,a merging of Corporate and Big business with

the Government...

[Q]

12. Let's not forget: the energy and defense industries...

...literally writing our domestic and foreign policies.

[ixion]

5. Already here. (Since Ray-Gun)

The 'War on Drugs' was the gateway to a facist 'Murika.'... that started in 1985.

[mikey_1962]

7. Talk to some Eastern Europeans if you think this is a Fascist State

My grandfather lived under Fascism, it ain't here yet

[Q]

10. Your grandfather experienced a 'different' kind of fascism...

...so I'm not so sure you could use him as an example. You need to look at what has happened over time: how our Constitution/Bill of Rights has been eroded to the point of uselessness in protecting citizens from a tyrannical government.

- The media is state-controlled. Coequal branches of government and checks and balances have been eliminated. The list goes on and on.

[mikey_1962]

17. Right; it was kinder, gentler... I'll tell him of you views

[TN al]

11. Correct me if I am wrong...

...but wasn't eastern europe under communism, not fascism?

[JohnLocke]

14. Communism in name only

Most were just fascist-totalitarian bureaucracies.

[mikey_1962]

15. No they were under Socialism... Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics

The Nazis called them themselves Socialists too. The party the ran the government was communist.

[TN al]

18. I am sooo confused

are fascism and communism not polar opposites and traditional enemies of one another? Does not one call for extreme nationalism to the detriment of the individual while the other calls for power to the individual worker? Because socialism is in the title of the nazi party does that make it socialist? My lord it feels like I walked into an aol chat room.

[mikey_1962]

25. Democrats is the name of our party... does it make us democrats?

[TN al]

9. I told my wife the day after the election...

... that history books are going to title this chapter "America Turns to Fascism" so yes it is already here.

[bicentennial_baby]

13. We're getting there, but not quite yet

In Int'l Politics yesterday, we went over the basic characteristics of a fascist state and compared them to things going on here in the United States. The verdict was that it meets a number of them, but not all of them yet. Most likely a matter of time, imho, if things keep up like this.

[JCMach1]

19. We are there ideologically, but we are that delicate

tipping point where it could go one way or the other.

We are at the point right before Hindenberg promotes Hitler to Chancellor.

That close...


Wake up America!

[mikey_1962]

22. No this isn't the Weimar Republic... Kerry will win everything will be fin

[bicentennial_baby]

23. Will Kerry throw out the Patriot Act?

Methinks not.

[mikey_1962]

27. Doesn't have to; It has a sunset clause and automatically dies

unless re-enacted by Congress with his approval

[bicentennial_baby]

29. Not the whole thing

The sunset clauses only apply to specific sections of the Act, and Bush is pushing hard to get those sections made permanent before the election.

[Michael_UK]

20. Chomsky refers to

America being in a pre-fascistic stage (like Germany in the 20s)

[BiggJawn]

21. Slowly being installed....

Like the "frog boiling" analogy in another post.

USA PATRIOT act-Done.
DARPAnet-Done
"Predator"-Done.
Visits from the SS concerning reported "threatening artwork" to the Shrub? Done.

Oh, I know, Poindexter says he isn't in charge anymore, and DARPA is NOT tracking us, and the Predator technology isn't in operation, but you know what? This government lies like a rug.

I watched Ashcroft yesterday. what struck me was the man's appearent frustration at having to follow laws while trying to do what he wants to. He would be SO happy if the Law didn't apply to him.

It's gonna take a lot more work that just dropping John Kerry in a happy little bundle into the chair in the Oval office....

[Q]

26. More information and insight...

Is it appropriate to label the Klan of the 1920s "fascist"? Surely it is one of the most overused terms in contemporary discourse. Yet, Paxton points to the first Klan as "the earliest phenonemon that seems functionally related to fascism." "In its adoption of a uniform (white robe and hood), as well as its techniques of intimidation and its conviction that violence was justified in the cause of the group's destiny, the first version of the Klan . . . was a remarkable preview of the way fascist movements were to function in interwar Europe." Nancy MacLean, in Beyond The Mask Of Chivalry: The Making of the Second Ku Klux Klan (1994), makes a similar argument: "Not only in its world view, but also in its dynamics as a social movement, the Klan had much in common with German National Socialism and Italian Fascism." Klan leaders of the 1920s and 1930s acknowledged this kinship themselves, she points out.

Further, as we will see, the second Klan espoused all of the "mobilizing passions" Paxton identifies as characteristic of fascism:

Feelings propel fascism more than thought does. We might call them mobilizing passions, since they function in fascist movements to recruit followers and in fascist regimes to "weld" the fascist "tribe" to its leader. The following mobilizing passions are present in fascisms, though they may sometimes be articulated only implicitly.

1. The primacy of the group, toward which one has duties superior to every right, whether universal or individual.

2. The belief that one's group is a victim, a sentiment which justifies any action against the group's enemies, internal as well as external.

3. Dread of the group's decadence under the corrosive effect of individualistic and cosmopolitan liberalism.

4. Closer integration of the community within a brotherhood (fascio) whose unity and purity are forged by common conviction, if possible, or by exclusionary violence, if necessary.

5. An enhanced sense of identity and belonging, in which the grandeur of the group reinforces individual self-esteem.

6. Authority of natural leaders (always male) throughout society, culminating in a national chieftain who alone is capable of incarnating the group's destiny.

7. The beauty of violence and of will, when they are devoted to the group's success in a Darwinian struggle.

http://www.assumption.edu/ahc/1920s/Eugenics/Klan.html

[Dark]

28. It's still coming, but

the more Patriot Acts Dumbya and Asscroft propose, the more worried I become. I used to think it was a conspiracy theory, but, more and more, I'm becoming convinced. It's scary. But I think the war in Iraq has slowed their machiavellian initiatives.

[Q]

30. The question has to be asked:

...Are we refighting the civil war by other means?

- The forces that intend to replace democracy with fascism are the same anti-government forces that wants to see an end to government for and by the people...to be replaced with government for and by the ruling class.