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-Caveat Lector-
When America Went Fascist
by _Chris Rowthorn_ (http://www.smirkingchimp.com/user/chris_rowthorn) | Sep
25 2007 - 9:48am |
_http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/10121_
(http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/10121)
"Fascism: a system of government marked by centralization of authority under
a dictator"
-- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.
2000
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_
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvrqcxNIFs&mode=related&search=) 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_ (http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm) . 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_
(http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/17383leg20030328.html) 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_
(http://www.northcom.mil/) to organize military operations in the United
States and Canada. The
_Posse Comitatus Act_ (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/18/211033/23)
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_
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_84) .
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_
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4es8mOiI2Io) , 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_
(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/national/04halliburton.html) :
"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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