Proposal: Let's all use the word "Fascist" more often, because

[patrice]

fascism IS getting stronger.

I have been publicly active on the war issue for over a year now (though I've done environmental actions since the mid '70s). I wish I had kept track over the last year of the number of times that someone said or did something for the sole purpose of preventing me from doing what I was doing. You could also count in the media how often such things are being said, as for instance, against hollywood celebrities.

Yesterday, while leafleting for Dean at a big art fair here in Kansas City, it happened again. *ONE* of the booth "owners" told me to get out of there, that he and others had paid several hundreds of dollars for their booths, and I had no right to "annoy" his customers. I was simply talking about the environment and giving people Dean fliers, many people stopped and wanted to talk about the candidates. His booth had 6-8 customers and there was at least 30 feet in front of it for pedestrian traffic.

Anyhow, that was just the last straw for me. They say "liberal" like it is a dirty word. Now they are cranking up the word "socialist". We must fight back. We should use the word "Fascist" at every opportunity.

Oh, BTW, I didn't leave that art fair. I handed out about 300 fliers in less than 2 hours, with many people coming up to me and asking me for them. Lots of others wanted to talk about the candidates.

[gratuitous]

1. Good for you

For not being intimidated, that is. I've worked the booth for friends at various fairs, as well as for some organizations that I belong to, and anything that brings more traffic by my booth is welcome, as far as I'm concerned. I can't understand a vendor (I've usually been in not-for-profit, informational booths) being upset that you're drawing a crowd in front of his booth. Unless he doesn't want to sell anything.

[wyldwolf]

2. Well, here is my take...

...I believe people who have lived through fascism can define it best.

As I worked a Democratic booth at a festival this weekend, an elderly couple came by. The man was Italian I think. The woman's accent indicated Eastern European heritage to me.

They both spoke of fascism in our government today.

Oh, Kucinich fans will be happy - they were decked out in Kucinich flair.

[Flying_Pig]

3. "If it walks like a duck" ......I just finished reading Scott Ritters new

book, "Frontier Justice", where he eloquently outlines the Bush regime's fascist tendencies. More importantly, these "tendencies" have been adopted by many hard-right Republican types.

Fact is, since the installation of the Bush cabal, this country has been marching down the fascist path, with fascism embraced by our government, our media, and part of the populace. It smells so much of pre-war Nazi Germany, the parallels are truly frightening.

[izzie]

4. Well they fit the bill only corp are running the gov.

It is sort fascist with a MBA's twist.I think the people should put laws in for business to go by as they would rob us blind but I fell the business still should be owned by the stock holders. I also think their are some business that should be controls by the masses, like water and lights, even if owned by the stock holders. At the rate we are going Bush will be selling off the interstate roads to his pals.

[Karenina]

7. Bush will be selling off the interstate roads

THAT is, after they privatize the power. Check out an LBN thread on the latest attemps to drill in Alaska. NSMA kept trying to direct attention to the fine print in the bill... :shrug:

[phiddle]

5. I agree that the label fits,

and that we should use it, but name-calling can only go so far.
We MUST get people thinking about the SUBSTANCE of the issues--about what is happening to the democratic process, the enormous fiscal deficits, the strangulation of the middle class, the doctrine of pre-emptive war, and the legacy of environmental destruction, just to name a few.

[DBoon]

6. Quotes from Il Duce himself...

"Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern"

"The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom"

"For Fascism, the growth of empire, that is to say the expansion of the nation, is an essential manifestation of vitality"


See:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/mussolini-fascism.html