Is the U.S. on the Brink of Fascism?
source: http://www.alternet.org/politics/141819/is_the_u.s._on_the_brink_of_fascism
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- remanns
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All through the dark years of the Bush Administration, progressives watched in horror as Constitutional protections vanished, nativist rhetoric ratcheted up, hate speech turned into intimidation and violence, and the president of the United States seized for himself powers only demanded by history's worst dictators. With each new outrage, the small handful of us who'd made ourselves experts on right-wing culture and politics would hear once again from worried readers: Is this it? Have we finally become a fascist state? Are we there yet?
And every time this question got asked, people like Chip Berlet and Dave Neiwert and Fred Clarkson and yours truly would look up from our maps like a parent on a long drive, and smile a wan smile of reassurance. "Wellll...we're on a bad road, and if we don't change course, we could end up there soon enough. But there's also still plenty of time and opportunity to turn back. Watch, but don't worry. As bad as this looks: no -- we are not there yet."
In tracking the mileage on this trip to perdition, many of us relied on the work of historian Robert Paxton, who is probably the world's pre-eminent scholar on the subject of how countries turn fascist. In a 1998 paper published in The Journal of Modern History, Paxton argued that the best way to recognize emerging fascist movements isn't by their rhetoric, their politics, or their aesthetics. Rather, he said, mature democracies turn fascist by a recognizable process, a set of five stages that may be the most important family resemblance that links all the whole motley collection of 20th Century fascisms together. According to our reading of Paxton's stages, we weren't there yet. There were certain signs -- one in particular -- we were keeping an eye out for, and we just weren't seeing it.
And now we are.
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unclecharlie
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It started in a small way with Clinton, followed by Bush who really started to implememnt, and it is reaching the state of "nirvana" under Obama. I notice that those who disagree with Obama are often labeled "haters"- debate and dialogue is discouraged, often outright rejected- because those that support fascist policies realize they don't have a leg to stand on, and use labels in an attempt to marginalize and silence the opposition. But ignorance is bliss, and those who believe that government has their best interests at heart are sadly deluded.
- 2 years ago
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unclecharlie
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dariusvons
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it's too late. they've won.
look at the nazis. they tried to pull if off in a single decade, that was their mistake... the 'new american century' will take a few more decades before it's finnished... otherwise we'd all figh against it... but it's creeping up and the NWO is in control.
- 2 years ago
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dariusvons
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remanns
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I turn to Mencken;
“All government, of course, is against liberty.”
“The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear - fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety.”
“The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality”
- 2 years ago
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remanns
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RaceBannon
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Who knows America has the capability to bring fascism to its people better than any dictator could've in history. The American people accept a worsening standard of living, and worse have become reduced to all consuming wage slaves with a belief in the American "dream". Amazingly its a fragile superficial system, but even more amazingly is how easily people comply with it. You couldn't ask for a more malleable group of people. Is there a chance of course, but you're going to need a system malfunction to get people back to a counter culture mindset (even most that is superficial now).
- 2 years ago
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RaceBannon
