If Sinclair Lewis was correct, fascism is here.

[Atticus]

"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross"---IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE, Sinclair Lewis(1935).

Uh, folks, there was this big rally in DC this past weekend. Reality was suspended. Bullshit, fantasy, sacrilege and rank hypocrisy flowed freely as its substitute.

There was everything a newly-minted goose-stepper could want: religion offered as authority for discrimination; calls for a return to the better simpler days of yore(when certain types---you know the types---knew their place); glorification of militarism as the norm; confirmation that a woman can do no greater thing than produce warriors for the fathe---uh, "homeland".

Got your heads out of your asses yet?

This IS happening. Responding to it can't be put off until we have more time or less on our plate.

If we lose Congress, these bastards intend to impeach our president. That's while they are amending the Constitution by statute, doing away with social security, the EPA and the IRS. Just 26 years late, "1984" will have arrived.

Maybe then we will unite.
Maybe then we will put all else aside and oppose the theofascists who are coming for your ass and mine.
Maybe then "we" will become "WE!"

Maybe then will be too late.

We need to kick-start the enthusiasm we showed in 2008. It IS justified and it IS necessary.

They say we have money to spend. We'd better find a way to make it clear that conservatism produced this economic crisis and and the Big Money Boys want to return to the same policies so they can make more money on the blood, sweat and tears of the middle and lower classes.

We need action and we need it yesterday. We should let every Democrat with any national authority or influence know that if they simply ALLOW the pundits' predictions of a "Tea Party Tsunami" to become self-fulfilling, we will be after large pieces of THEIR
flabby asses! We need knife fighters, not "nice guys".

That's what I think.

[Fuzz]

1. I posted this as a response to a right wing relative's Beck post on FB and his response

was "He was an alcoholic"

I said, so is Beck!

[Lil Missy]

2. Where have you been? It started in 2000.

[bherrera]

4. Fascist tendencies prevail

One can argue the Bush administration had a fascist pedigree. But fascism is used for both those on the left and the right. After all, wasn't Hitler's party defined as the National Socialist Party? I consider Bush a fascist. But I think others, such as President Chavez of Venezuela, can also be considered fascists.

[mikehiggins]

6. National Socialism was a pre-rovian Rove move

The Nazis said it best. Tell a lie long enough and loud enough and people will come to beleive it is the truth.

In terms of the BushCo folks and fascism, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, its a duck.

As far as CHavez and anyone else being considered fascists, well, they don't run this country, dude, so who the hell cares. Our problems are ours and immediate. Additionally, by this point we as a people and as a nation should be ready to concede that we should stop poking our noses into other people's governance.

How many US GI's have died since September 2, 1945, and for what reasons?

[Marr]

8. There's a difference between authoritarianism and fascism.

And if you're really trotting out that "National Socialist" line to suggest the Nazis were socialists, I have to ask-- do you think China is a Republic? It's right there in the name, after all.

The Nazis were not socialists. Hitler made it a specific point to exterminate socialists, unions, etc.

[mmonk]

10. That was its name. But it was basic crony capitalism and was

considered by most historians as right, not left. And they were virulent anti-communist. Glenn Beck, Rush Limabaugh, et al are pushing Nazism as left and much of the nation is falling for it.

[backscatter712]

12. The Nazis pretended to be socialists to get votes from the working class.

As soon as Hitler got power in 1933, he got to work purging the socialists, and folks like Ernst Röhm that had more socialist tendencies in the NSDAP ended up on the wrong end of the long knives.

After that, the Nazis were pretty much hard-right-wing crony-capitalists. The socialists got thrown under the bus.

[Prophet 451]

13. National Socialism was socialist in name only

It was a fairly transparent attempt to recruit a working class that were considering communism. Once power was achieved, actual socialists were ruthlessly purged. Fascism is on the extreme-right, always has been and always will be.

[Mrs. Ted Nancy]

5. I disagree a little

I think it was in 1980.

[donheld]

11. yes indeed.

[AlinPA]

3. I agree 100%, Atticus. BTW, that book's characters are alive in Palin and Rove,

and the situation is very close to today. Ignorant electorate, Buzz wrote a book (as Palin did), Rove is Lee Sarason brought to life, and the Minute Men are the same as the teabaggers.

[Raster]

7. Not only is facism here, it's signed a long-term lease.

[OHdem10]

9. Fascism is the merger of Business and the Government.

The process of giving Business more and more power
started under Reagan and the complete takeover was
completed under Bush. The name of the process sounds
harmless enough -- Free Market Capitalism. "The Invisible
hand of the market will right all wrongs" .

[backscatter712]

14. or palingenetic, ultranationalist populism.

Take a look at Whitestock - the official title was "Restoring America" - that's palingenesis, the national-rebirth-from-the-ashes mythology that walks hand-in-hand with fascism.

I'm not going to tell you you're wrong on the definition, but that there are multiple definitions, and the PhDs in academia don't agree on what the definition of fascism is. That's probably because fascism is more of a politics based on raw emotion than on intellectual ideology - fascism is politics coming directly from fear, anger and hate. I think the business-elite/authoritarian-government merger definition and the palingenetic-ultranationalist-populism definitions are both valid interpretations.

I think we're definitely in agreement that fascism is a serious problem in this country.

Anyways, I discuss palingenesis at the Beckapalooza rally in a Daily Kos diary I published this morning...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/30/897356/-Glenn-Becks-Rally-of-Palingenesis.Why-does-Restoring-America-make-me-nervous

[Nexus7]

15. Sure, it's here. And who've we got to fight it?

Who have we selected to fight this? Obama - who is more interested in currying favor with the "undecideds" and "moderates" via the Republicans and Blue Dogs. Taking a pen to a knife fight.

[Flying Squirrel]

16. If they try to impeach Obama, we should immediately indict Bush and Cheney.

We should do it anyway, but y'know...