OT: Here ya go
- From: kissitoff <lordkoos@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:36:16 -0700
It is a truism in the blogosphere that one more terrorist attack will
turn America into a fascist state. People speculate about what fascism
in America will look like, or how they might fight it. Others boast
that they plan to flee the country ahead of the coming fascist
takeover of the United States. One cannot read these posts without a
sense of bitter irony, because one thing is clear to those who are
watching carefully:
The United States of America is already a fascist state.
The United States turned fascist on December 11, 2000. On that day,
the Supreme Court essentially appointed George W. Bush president of
the United States, stopping the recount of Florida votes, and, hence,
the democratic process. The justices of the court then slipped away by
night, ashamed of their role in murdering America's great experiment
in democratic rule.
The Supreme Court decision of December 11, 2000 is the modern American
equivalent to German President Hindenburg's swearing in of Hitler as
chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. By swearing in Hitler as
chancellor, Hindenburg set in motion a process which led to the Nazi
dictatorship and World War II. In the case of the Nazis, the Reichstag
fire of February 27, 1933 was the catalyst they needed to cement their
grip on power. In the case of Bush and his backers, the tragedy of
September 11, 2001 was the catalyst they needed to complete their full
takeover of the American government.
When one looks at present-day America and reads plaintive musings
about if and when America will turn fascist, it is useful to ask
oneself the following question: When do you think the average German
realized that he or she was living under a fascist dictatorship? How
about the Japanese or Italians of the same period? Do you think that
Hitler, Mussolini or Tojo made a public announcement to the effect of,
"Dear Citizens: Please be advised that you no longer have any rights
or political power. We have taken control of the government.
Opposition and resistance are futile and will be punished."
The fact is, most of the "good" citizens of these countries clung
desperately to the notion that it was business as usual long after
constitutional government was dead and buried. Sure, they knew that
their governments were a little further to the right than normal, but
as long as they kept earning money and eating well, they ignored the
grim realities of fascism.
It's easy to understand why: the "good" citizens weren't members of
officially scapegoated groups or political activists, and thus they
never felt the iron first of fascism. It's not like the government
just suddenly started rounding up people at random and trucking them
off to camps and executing them. No, it was only the "bad ones" who
were carted off. It was the John Walker Lindhs, the Jose Padillas, the
illegal immigrants and the Muslim Americans of their day who were
carted off.
In fact, for the average citizen of Germany, Japan or Italy, it was
only when the military adventures of their fascist governments started
to go seriously awry did the reality dawn on them. Until then, if
anything, they merely felt the stirrings of extreme patriotism and
perhaps even satisfaction as their countries expanded outward. Indeed,
for many, it was only when their countries lay in ashes did they fully
understand what had happened. Only then could they see that a kind of
cancer had run wild in their countries and come perilously close to
destroying them.
In 2007, the average American is in exactly the same position as the
typical German, Japanese or Italian citizen of the early to mid-1930s.
Unless you happen to be a Muslim, a left-wing political activist, or a
regular reader of left-wing political websites or journals, you could
be forgiven for thinking that it's business as usual in the United
States of America. You rise in the morning, read the morning paper,
commute to work, get a paycheck, hit the ATM and watch the usual shows
on television in the evening. Sure, we're officially "at war" but
other than a few news stories and the usual yellow ribbons and bumper
stickers, this doesn't really intrude into our realities.
But while all of us go about our lives like nothing has changed, the
Constitution of the United States has been suspended, and with it, the
democracy that it enshrines. Sure, Bush has never announced that he
has suspended the Constitution. Rather, he has subjected it to a death
by a thousand cuts. For, at last count, George W. Bush has appended
139 signing statements to laws passed by Congress, containing
challenges to over 750 individual laws. These signing statements
amount to 139 written declarations that George W. Bush and his allies
consider themselves to be unconstrained by the law of the land and the
will of the people. Or, to quote Mr. Bush: "(The Constitution) is just
a goddamned piece of paper!"
On top of this, the Bush administration has repeatedly ignored
subpoenas asking for information and directed aides not to comply with
requests for information. And, more broadly, the Bush administration
has made it clear that it will respond neither to the will of the
people nor the will of Congress. Thus, in word and deed, the Bush
administration is a dictatorship. And a country under the rule of a
dictator is, at least by the definition at the start of this article,
a fascist country.
Thus, in the last seven years, the United States has gone from a weak
democracy, in which the people had weak but nominal control over their
government, to a system where the government is under the control of
"a unitary executive." And, of course, "unitary executive" is how you
say "fuhrer" in modern American English.
Of course, this is not news to those unfortunate Americans who are
presently languishing in military prisons without access to lawyers or
due process. But, for most Americans, it seems absurd or even
hysterical to declare that we are living in a fascist state. Arguments
about signing statements, unitary executive theory or past Supreme
Court decisions are mere abstractions and gain little traction.
Perhaps this is because fascism is like pornography: it's hard to
define, but you know it when you see it. Indeed, the best way to
distinguish pornography from art is not logical but aesthetic.
Similarly, I would suggest that the best way to determine if a country
is fascist is not intellectual at all, but aesthetic.
Fascism has a style, a language and a mood all its own. When enough of
these outward signs of fascism are present, you can reasonably
conclude that the country in question is fascist. For this reason, I
have put together this short guide to some of the more obvious
distinguishing features of fascism.
A Brief Guide to the Aesthetics of Fascism:
--Hypnotized by symbols: Whether it be the swastika of the Nazis, the
rising sun of imperial Japan or the fasces of the Italian National
Fascist Party, simple, visually striking and endlessly repeated
symbols are the "look" of a fascist government. Check out any Bush
speaking engagement, from his "mission accomplished" speech on the
deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Republican National Convention,
and you will see him surrounded by the Stars and Stripes. And where
Nazi leaders wore swastika armbands, American fascists wear American
flag pins on their lapels. Sinclair Lewis observed that, "When fascism
comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a
cross." The symbols may be different, but if it looks like fascism,
it's probably fascism.
--Impoverished language: Umberto Eco wrote that, "All the Nazi or
Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an
elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and
critical reasoning." George W. Bush's tortured syntax is perfectly
suited to speaking this language. In describing Newspeak, Orwell
declared that words will be "not merely changed into something
different, but actually contradictory of what they used to be." Bush's
speeches are peppered with words like freedom and democracy, when in
fact, he means slavery and tyranny. Moreover, Bush is fond of accusing
countries like Iran of illegally interfering in the affairs of other
countries, much as Hitler accused other European countries of
aggression as his armies overran the continent. The language may be
different, but one fact is inescapable: if it sounds like fascism,
it's probably fascism.
--Mood of pervasive fear: In Bush's America, people rightly believe
that you may be subject to violence, harassment, arbitrary arrest or
even torture if you challenge authority figures or speak out against
the government. Since I started writing articles on political topics I
have heard the comment repeated time and again: "You're going to be
put on a list." Americans of all stripes live in fear of their
government and few, if any, would dare question any authority figure,
even if faced with the most blatant and unwarranted abuse of power. It
is a sad fact that Americans are the only people in the developed
world where citizens actively fear their own government. The tools of
torture may have changed, but the essential fact remains: if it feels
like fascism, it's probably fascism.
--The nation as homeland: The exaltation of the nation state as a
promised land is perhaps the most basic sign of a fascist state.
Twenty years ago, it would have been unimaginable to refer to the
United States as a "homeland." The word would have stuck people as
both antiquated and overtly totalitarian. Now, it is bandied about
freely and we actually have a Department of Homeland Security. The
strikingly fascist overtones of the word itself are troubling enough,
but more troubling still is the thinking behind the word: America is
an island in a hostile sea, surrounded by enemies who we must either
vanquish or be vanquished by. Once again, if it sounds like fascism,
it's probably fascism.
At this point, it is clear that America is in the early stages of
fascism; it hasn't yet metastasized into the outright jackbooted
fascism of Nazi Germany. But the country is poised like a boulder at
the top of a slope, ready to roll into the abyss. In fact, it will
take a miracle to keep this from happening. Consider the factors that
could easily unleash outright fascism in the United States: the
accelerating collapse of the US dollar; the follow-on effects from the
subprime loan debacle; soaring energy prices (peak oil); catastrophic
weather events caused by global warming; and, of course, the one thing
that Bush's entire foreign policy seems almost guaranteed to bring
about: another large-scale terrorist attack on American soil. Any one
of these by itself could trigger outright fascism. Combine two or
more, and American fascism is 100% certain.
We must realize that the full machinery of outright fascism is already
in place. Private security firms like Blackwater are ready and willing
to serve as the new Blackshirts. Patriot Act II has been written and
provides the full "legal" framework for completely revoking the
Constitution and the Bill of Rights and establishing martial law. The
Pentagon has established Northcom to organize military operations in
the United States and Canada. The Posse Comitatus Act has been gutted
to allow the National Guard to serve in police actions all across the
country. And detention centers have been built across the land and
plans have been laid to intern millions of Americans.
History teaches that there is a point of no return in the evolution of
a fascist state. Once that line is crossed, there is no turning back
until the country lies in ashes and millions lie dead both inside and
outside the country. If you don't think it could happen in the United
States of America, then you don't remember how easily Americans let
themselves be robbed of their precious civil liberties in the
aftermath of 9-11.
Thus, a presidential candidate who does not make restoration of
constitutional government the centerpiece of his or her campaign
should not even be considered. The first and most pressing order of
business must be to repeal the Patriot Act in its entirety. Provisions
that Democratic lawmakers deem essential to national security can be
restored on a piece-by-piece basis as parts of other legislation. The
Military Commissions Act of 2006, which suspended habeas corpus, must
be repealed. The Department of Homeland Security must be downsized and
brought under full and transparent civilian control.
In the longer term, meaningful campaign finance reform and public
funding for elections must be enacted in order to put political power
back into the hands of the people and to take it out of the hands of
the Pentagon and allied industries. Because ultimately, it is the
military-industrial complex, working with the electoral support of
right-wing religious fundamentalists, that is behind American fascism.
A final note:
The least discussed news story of recent history appeared in the New
York Times on February 4, 2006:
"The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract worth up to
$385 million for building temporary immigration detention centers to
Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary...KBR would build the
centers for the Homeland Security Department for an unexpected influx
of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or
for new programs that require additional detention space."
Since it seems unlikely that cruise ships loaded with illegal
immigrants are likely to wash up on American shores any time soon, one
has to wonder what they mean by "new programs that require additional
detention space".
For the love of God, IS THIS AMERICA?
.
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