Re: What's wrong with American Type Fascism?

On Dec 23, 1:24 pm, middle class warrior <eelder...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Raymond wrote:
God Bless America, the Neo Fascist Nation
America is now a Fascist Plutocracy

The term "plutocracy" is formally defined as government by the
wealthy, and is also sometimes used to refer to a wealthy class that
controls a government, often from behind the scenes.

Example
The Carlyle Group
http://www.hereinreality.com/carlyle.html

More generally, a plutocracy is any form of government in which the
wealthy exercise the preponderance of political power, whether
directly or indirectly.

http://www.progressiveliving.org/plutocracy_defined.htm

It is arguable whether the US is a plutocracy or an oligarchy. The top
5,000 families have more than half of the wealth and income. The only
way to really control these people is with taxes. This, of course,
explains whey the GOP is so anti-tax. The top 5,000 families patronize
the GOP and Blue Dog Democrats to maintain their strangle hold on the US.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Perhaps the combination of a plutocratic oligarchy is a better
description of what form of government the U.S.has become.

Corporations play a larger role in a plutocracy than the few
individuals in an oligarchy

Who's Whipping up the Power, You?
Published on 10/18/07 at 08:52:57 MST by Gary

Oligarchy Rule in the United States
By Gary Wood
(c) October 18, 2007

An oligarchy is defined as "a form of government in which all power is
vested in a few persons or in a dominant class or clique; government
by the few." Some dictionaries define it further as rule by a few
persons or families. The first time I heard the United States was
very much becoming an oligarchy with a shadow government controlling
much of the power, carrying titles and leadership roles none of the
people voted on nor could the positions be found in the Constitution I
rolled my eyes. Initially, the notion of some shadow government fell
on deaf ears as I was nearly too quick to simply label the idea some
conspiracy theory with no foundation. Finally, oligarchy stuck with
me and I started to research in an effort to determine if there was
any such few with power enough to run the government.

There is a level of plutocracy going on, that of the government being
ruled by the wealthy as it is nearly impossible to gain access into
the system, especially at the Federal and State level, for citizens of
less wealth. The entire election process has grown immensely
expensive. On a discussion board not long ago a poster, 'alamo1836,'
came up with the combination of a plutocratic oligarchy being a
possible better description of what form of government the U.S. is
morphing in to. However, oligarchy still requires finding these few
persons or the dominant class or clique.

Listening to some commentary on the Iraq war by Senator Harry Reid,
the current Senate Majority Leader, it started to come into a clearer
focus on where some of these few may be controlling the government
from. He was mentioning what a disastrous foreign policy gaff the
Iraq war was yet he did not lead the Senate in fulfilling their
responsibility to either declare or not declare war there, which the
Congress passed off to the Executive Branch. He was not apologizing
for not fulfilling his duty, nor taking any responsibility but
pointing blame in other directions. It's like watching a magician's
shell game or a quick round of three cards Monte.

His title kept coming to my mind, Senate Majority Leader. Is that
position on any ballot any of you voted on? The citizens of Nevada
elected Harry Reid as one of their Senators but where were the voices
of the people in assigning him the powerful title of Senate Majority
Leader and where in the Constitution is this position defined? This
is not the only position of this nature in the Legislative Branch,
there are over 20 extremely powerful positions between the House and
the Senate that control much of the Federal government's Congress.
Less than 4% of the elected officials wielding amazing influence
complete with whips to keep everyone in line.

Take a look at who a few of these people are this year. In the Senate
you have the Majority and Minority Leader titles held by Harry Reid (D-
NV) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) due to the Democrats holding a majority
of seats. That's the tradition, if your party holds the majority of
seats your party gets to pick someone to play majority leader and it
is a highly coveted and powerful role to play. Then, of course, every
good leader needs to wield a skillful whip to keep the beasts of the
circus in line. To help with this we have the Majority and Minority
Whip held by *** Durbin (D-IL) and Trent Lott (R-MS) cracking it for
their leaders.

From the United States Senate's website the definition of party floor
leaders is, "The Majority Leader and Minority Leader are elected by
their respective party conferences to serve as the chief Senate
spokesmen for their parties and to manage and schedule the legislative
and executive business of the Senate. By custom, the Presiding Officer
gives the floor leaders priority in obtaining recognition to speak on
the floor of the Senate." The following definition for the position
of whip is given. "Assistants to the floor leaders who are also
elected by their party conferences. The Majority and Minority Whips
(and their assistants) are responsible for mobilizing votes within
their parties on major issues. In the absence of a party floor leader,
the whip often serves as acting floor leader."

Again, none of these positions were mandated in the Constitution yet
began to emerge around the turn of the 19th and 20th century. Today
they are merely accepted traditional and extremely powerful
positions. Remember, the Senate was to be presided over by the Vice
President and the House by a Speaker of the House. Note very clearly
who the floor leaders speak for, their parties with priority in
speaking. Nevadans may have elected Harry Reid but it is his job to
speak for his party. Kentucky counted on being represented by Mitch
McConnell but he is busy speaking not for Kentucky but for the
Republican Party.

Look closely at the whips (and their assistants!) job which is to
mobilize votes within their parties. In other words they are to
insure there is enough of their party's Congressional delegation in
place at each vote to cast that vote not as the people would want but
as the party wants. Illinois sent *** Durbin to represent them and
instead he, and his assistant, is charged to make sure there are
enough Democrats at every important vote to cast that vote the
Democratic Party way. The actual term, whip, comes to us from the
position in a fox hunt known as the 'whipper-in.' The whipper-in
assisted the huntsman in keeping the pack of dogs all together and
stop the pack from running riot or chasing something other than the
fox.

After the leaders, the whips are considered the second most powerful
position in the House and Senate. Stop and think about how these
positions have been created as a part of our government legislature
through tradition and yet are now considered powerful, highly coveted
titles to hold. It reminds me of aristocracy titles of old in many
ways. Again, these are only 4 of the more than 20. There is the
Conference Secretary and Conference Chair, each party has a Policy
Chair, and finally each party has a Senatorial Committee Chair. The
Senatorial Committee Chairs are not the same as each party's National
Chairman, that is another powerful position not elected by the people
but the person filling the National Chair role is not a sitting
elected representative of the people within the legislative branch.

In the House of Representatives you get another Majority and Minority
Leader, Whips(one for each of the two parties), a Caucus and
Conference Chair, one each Policy Chair, the Steering Chair and
finally one each Congressional Committee Chair. Each of the positions
again focuses on the issues of the party, the positions are selected
by the party conferences and the duties are performed above and beyond
any responsibility the person may have to the people who elected them
initially with the idea of representing their, not the party,
interest.

This may well be the fruition of the warnings voiced over 200 years
ago regarding the dangerous, tyrannical nature of party politics. The
power is shifted back and forth between only two parties, Republicans
and Democrats. In the current structure there is no way any person
elected from outside the two majority party powerhouses in the United
States could ever hope to land one of these power positions. It would
be easier to get elected as a third party Presidential candidate than
win a seat at the inner circle of Congressional power. Anytime there
is a shift in the control of Congress the parties merely switch
majority and minority hats and the hunt continues.

We the people now accept these titles, listen closely when these
people speak, follow the drama of who will rise and who will fall in
these positions when there is a party shift in control of Congress.
They are not mandated by the Constitution and they serve the party
first and foremost. This short article has only scratched the surface
of the plutocratic oligarchy running the United States. There are
others in the Executive and Judicial branches and many of these same
traditional positions are mimicked in State level governments across
the country. This is the shadow government; cast the light on it and
it becomes apparent there are a few, rich and powerful people
governing this country. We the people may believe we are in control
but that tradition seems to have been brought nearly to an end.

When we wonder why there is less and less difference between the
Democrats and Republicans overall this appears to be a very strong
reason. There has to be, for a time, a facade maintained allowing the
people to think they are getting a choice but the two-party system has
a stranglehold on the power of government and over time really care
less and less who is in the majority and who is in the minority as
long as the shadow positions are selected by the parties and not the
people. Who's whipping up the power? The two-party system is, not
you.
.