Do you know the 14 characteristics of a fascist government?

[Bouncy Ball]

14 characteristics of fascism in government:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

4. Supremacy of the Military

5. Controlled Mass Media

6. Obsession with National Security

7. Religion and Government are Intertwined

8. Corporate Power is Protected

9. Labor Power is Suppressed

10.Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

11.Obsession with Crime and Punishment

12.Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

13.Fraudulent Elections

14.Rampant Sexism

http://www.veteransforpeace.org/The_14_characteristics_030303.htm

Also, does this sound familiar to you?

Reactionary: makes policy based upon current circumstances rather than creating policies to prevent problems; piles lies and misnomers on top of more lies until the truth becomes indistinguishable, revised or forgotten.

That's reactionary fascism. Fascism can operate within a republic. See this article for more:

http://www.couplescompany.com/Features/Politics/Structure3.htm

Educate yourself, and then educate others. Fascism does not spring up overnight in a republic/democracy. It happens slowly, but steadily. By the time most people's alarm bells are going off, it's probably too late.

[JRob]

1. I've read this somewhere else as well... KICK

[Bouncy Ball]

4. The last paragraph of the second article I linked to

is this:

"An interesting note to end this article: As of January 2004, the United States fulfills all fourteen points of fascism and all seven warning signs are present. But we're not alone. Israel also fulfills all fourteen points and all seven warning signs as well. Welcome to the new republic, redefined, revised and spun. It is not too late to reverse this in either country, but it will be soon. The first step is realizing it. The second step is getting involved. As the propaganda slogan disguising our current war goes, "Freedom isn't free." But our war for freedom isn't abroad; it's here at home."

[Coastie for Truth]

15. The definitions also describe the Oil States

(Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,), and most Islamic States, and a healthy fraction of the "banana republics" with "School of the Americas"-trained military leadership.

Britt says "Israel also fulfills all fourteen points and all seven warning signs as well. "

Since Britt enumerates only the US and Israel - let's look at, e.g., Saudi Arabia--

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism

-Yes

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

Rights of women, rights of even secular Muslims? Free speech, free press, freedom of religion"

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

They're still publishing "The Secret Protocols of the Elders of Zion"

4. Supremacy of the Military

Numerous security and military forces

5. Controlled Mass Media

Par5t of the Royal family - and cronies

6. Obsession with National Security

Yes

7. Religion and Government are Intertwined

Sharia and Dhimmi

8. Corporate Power is Protected

9. Labor Power is Suppressed

No unions, no collective bargaining

10.Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts

Except for architecture and engineering, and Islamic studies - no scholarship

11.Obsession with Crime and Punishment

Beheadings, public floggings, woemen stoned to death for sexual "crimes", gays executed.

12.Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

By definition - the Houe of Saud

13.Fraudulent Elections

What elections?

14.Rampant Sexism

Women are not allowed to drive, must be accompanied by a male relative in public, "modest clothing," stoning to death for "sexual crimes" -- even if the victim.

I haven'tgone into the other Arab States -- or even the US during the "Gilded Age" that Bush wants us to return to.

[helderheid]

2. if you watch nothing else, watch this flash narrated by M. Malloy

www.bushflash.com/14.html

[helderheid]

9. WATCH THIS FLASH FILM

and kick
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html
http://www.bushflash.com/14.html

[Bouncy Ball]

10. Kick

I've seen it. I love his stuff.

[BrklynLiberal]

3. We are just about there, folks. Be very careful.

"First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me."
Martin Niemoller

[Bouncy Ball]

5. My students used to ask me

"Could that happen here?"

And I told them "it could happen ANYWHERE."

[BrklynLiberal]

13. That is exactly right. There was/is a book called "It Can't Happen Here"

that is exactly about that ..
Sinclailr Lewis...about a Fascist takeover of the US
Here is a review from amazon.com. sound familair???

Surprisingly, Sinclair Lewis' darkly humorous tale of a fascist takeover in the US, "It Can't Happen Here," is not merely out-of-print, but also quite hard to find. As dated as it is (1935), its themes will be quite familiar to Americans today. It starts with the highly contested election of an oafish yet strangely charismatic president, who talks like a "reformer" but is really in the pocket of big business, who claims to be a home-spun "humanist," while appealing to religious extremists, and who speaks of "liberating" women and minorities, as he gradually strips them of all their rights. One character, when describing him, says, "I can't tell if he's a crook or a religious fanatic."
After he becomes elected, he puts the media - at that time, radio and newspapers - under the supervision of the military and slowly begins buying up or closing down media outlets. William Randolph Hearst, the Rupert Murdoch of his times, directs his newspapers to heap unqualified praise upon the president and his policies, and gradually comes to develop a special relationship with the government. The president, taking advantage of an economic crisis, strong-arms Congress into signing blank checks over to the military and passing stringent and possibly unconstitutional laws, e.g. punishing universities when they don't permit military recruiting or are not vociferous enough in their approval of his policies. Eventually, he takes advantage of the crisis to convene military tribunals for civilians, and denounce all of his detractors as unpatriotic and possibly treasonous.
I'll stop here, as I don't want to ruin the story -- I can imagine that you can see where all this is going.

[Coastie for Truth]

17. In the era between the End of the Civil War and the New Deal

the US definitely displayed these symptoms/signs. Even down to the "National Quotas Immigration Act" to enforce ethnic homogeneity (and even Oregon's attempt to ban Catholic schools). This was the era of the "Robber Barons" and their "Coal and Iron Police" strike breakers and Father Coughlin. GOP hegemony.

My own bias is that FDR's New Deal, and the Norris-Laguardia Act (National Labor Relations Act) pulled us back from the brink -- and that the combination of the WW2 GI Bill and the Norris-Laguardia Act created the American Middle Class.

Have you noticed the GOP's not so subtle attacks on the Norris-Laguardia Act (Starting with the Taft-Harley Act, and the Landrum-Griffin Act, and Reagan breaking the PATCO union) and the ever reduced funding for GI Bill type education benefits.

[FlemingsGhost]

6. The supreme irony, regarding fascism:

The appalling thing about fascism, is that one must use its very methods in order to shake oneself from its grip. Fascism is a disease of the mind, and quite often an inoculation is a small dose of the disease itself.

[Bouncy Ball]

8. Wow.

That's something to think about.

[proud patriot]

7. I have this list posted in my kitchen

big poster

[really annoyed]

11. I Wonder

What the neo-cons think of this list.

[Bouncy Ball]

14. I wonder

if the neo-cons think.

[AuntPatsy]

12. It is very on target and yet when I have put this mirror in front

of those who follow these golden rules without protest, they just outright refuse to see how much they resemble the fascist image...

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. Sounds familiar

[Bouncy Ball]

18. Kicking just because.