10-10-2020, 10:04 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-11-2020, 01:08 AM by Eric the Green.)
This essay was prompted by seeing Rick Steves' program on fascism, and his warning that it can still happen here.
https://youtu.be/JU1IVW6uqM0
We now have a leader who wants to abolish democracy, and he is on the ballot. Trump is the reincarnation of Mussolini, and he is using his playbook. Trump wants to "get rid of the ballots" and install himself in power. He and his henchmen under McConnell have filled the Courts with reactionaries who will install him in power. Some of them have already restricted ballots in Wisconsin, and made qualified people pay to vote in Florida. More rulings may be coming. McConnell and Trump are now ramming through a fascist Christian ideologue onto the Supreme Court before the election so she can join 4 other reactionaries already appointed by him and Bush to install him in power.
Our new fuhrer/duce, our dear leader, has called on his brown shirts to "stand by." He has sent his goons to gas protesters in DC for a photo op, to execute a prisoner without trial in a hail of bullets, and to stoke riots in Portland and other cities. He has asked that they defend his stand to stay in power in Washington and in his White House bunker. He has called on his Attorney General not only to defend him against charges about his personal behavior, and hold him above the law in his dispute with New York, but now to explicitly arrest all his political opponents and put them in jail. "Why haven't Hillary, Obama and Biden been arrested yet?" he cries, almost sounding like Hitler who shouted "Is Paris burning yet?" in 1944.
And yet this dictator, this fascist tyrant, is still on the ballot, and currently still has 42% of deceived, angry, fearful, prejudiced Americans like Classic Xer at his beck and call, ready to march and, as Classic Xer says, wipe out all his opponents. The new fascist ideology, though it has much in common with those a century ago and others around the world today, is also uniquely American. It not only subordinates everything to the state, but conceives this state according to supposed "Americanism." It is called neo-liberalism, which has not hestitated to support dictators like Pinochet in the past, as long as they keep big business from being taxed and regulated and keep an established economic elite in power. That is the fascist goal, an untrammeled "free enterprise" system that takes away all real freedom. Only people of "good Christian character" who oppose abortion and believe in a totalitarian God above us are capable of being good capitalist Americans, who are willing and able march in lockstep with whatever their bosses command. I have described this plague in my essay on free market ideology
This neo-liberalism is largely based in racism, using it as a dog whistle or a TRUMPet to appeal to resentment against taxes for welfare for "those people" who "depend on government" and "don't work," and the neo-liberals thus encourage and stoke white supremacy. Fear of America's increasing diversity through immigration and civil rights movements is the easiest and most reliable fear and prejudice that the oligarchs and their believers can appeal to in order to get support for their all-out attack on democracy, Nature and civilization. They empower and encourage their police to kill innocent young people of color, and when these people of color and their allies object and sometimes lash out, it is the first excuse to impose martial law on everyone. Along with that is the always reliable misogyny, which they can call upon to preserve male values and keep women in subordination.
This American fascist ideology is especially anti-intellectual and against individualist thinking. Since the 1970s one of its chief goals has been to denigrate education and privatize schools. They demolish Jefferson's and Horace Mann's ideals of an informed citizenry able to attend good schools and learn civics no matter what economic class or religion you belong to, and instead insult and demean teachers and restrict their funding and their unions. More recently they have targeted America's universities, the most outstanding in the world and the source of our economic wealth and scientific prowess, as "an elite" that seeks to impose political correctness and suppress free speech. Using this phony attack, they aim to relegate our universities to oblivion and to attack, demean, insult and fire our professors. They substitute this "elite" for the real one that they support and bankroll, the real elite which seeks to put our country lock, stock and barrel under the control of a few rich plutocrats who call all the shots, and who own our congress and our government through their supreme court decisions which equate money with free speech. Using their ownership of economic power to shut down all reform in congress, and block it in our Courts and through voter suppression, American fascists increasingly allow their oligarchic leaders to impose lousy working conditions, depress wages, replace workers with robots, shut down factories, swallow up real free businesses, cut social programs, health care and safety nets, ruin the economy with unregulated speculation justified by anti-socialist slogans, despoil our environment beyond repair, keep enormous profits for themselves, and send jobs overseas. They attack the media as the enemy of the people, and eagerly get on board with rising anti-scientific conspiracy theory culture to instill substitution of fantasy for real research and data, thus furthering their own ability to deceive the people.
People must decide now whether to allow this American fascism to succeed. Are we to go the way of fascist Germany and Italy? Franco's Spain or Chile's Pinochet? Donald Trump the fascist must be defeated at the polls by the largest margin we can muster, perhaps even dwarfing previous landslides, and flip his Senate Democratic too. Trump's project of getting legislators to substitute loyal trump electors for those elected by the people must be stopped, and his Court decisions overturned if possible. His fascist project of sending his armed "poll watcher" brown shirts in MAGA hats to intimidate voters at the polls must be exposed and countered. His plan of sending his proud boys and militias to invade Washington to prop him up in power must be defeated. His new fascist supreme court must be blocked and reformed by any means necessary, and the Senate filibuster reformed, so that the people can pass the needed reforms to stop this emerging fascism, and to free our society from 40 years of trickle-down, free-market, neo-liberalism ideology which has led us to this moment of potential doom.
The people need action. It is urgent not only because of the fascist threat that could end our democracy and our republic, but the threats to our future, our safety and our prosperity that 40 years of incipient neo-liberalism has created since the charming faux-macho actor created the culture and ideology that is now out there clamouring for their new dear leader and their nation under their exclusive "God" and against "communism." The defeat of American fascism offers the momentum and the chance to build back better: to support sustainable, renewable energy and other measures to restore our climate and revitalize the Nature which restores and supports us, to jump-start our public and civics education, to create new jobs in new industries, science and health care, to unleash full prosperity by opening up our democracy and economy to all, to cure the pandemic in which Trump has imprisoned us, and to free us from division and resentment, and foster instead a new American life of openness, love, art, spirit and celebration.
It is not at all clear now that fascism (now called the Trumpist Republican Party) can be defeated and put out of power. All hands on deck, democrats and Democrats! Now and through the 2020s and beyond if necessary!
Fourteen Defining Characteristics of Fascism
https://www.bremertonschools.org/cms/lib...slides.pdf
https://youtu.be/JU1IVW6uqM0
We now have a leader who wants to abolish democracy, and he is on the ballot. Trump is the reincarnation of Mussolini, and he is using his playbook. Trump wants to "get rid of the ballots" and install himself in power. He and his henchmen under McConnell have filled the Courts with reactionaries who will install him in power. Some of them have already restricted ballots in Wisconsin, and made qualified people pay to vote in Florida. More rulings may be coming. McConnell and Trump are now ramming through a fascist Christian ideologue onto the Supreme Court before the election so she can join 4 other reactionaries already appointed by him and Bush to install him in power.
Our new fuhrer/duce, our dear leader, has called on his brown shirts to "stand by." He has sent his goons to gas protesters in DC for a photo op, to execute a prisoner without trial in a hail of bullets, and to stoke riots in Portland and other cities. He has asked that they defend his stand to stay in power in Washington and in his White House bunker. He has called on his Attorney General not only to defend him against charges about his personal behavior, and hold him above the law in his dispute with New York, but now to explicitly arrest all his political opponents and put them in jail. "Why haven't Hillary, Obama and Biden been arrested yet?" he cries, almost sounding like Hitler who shouted "Is Paris burning yet?" in 1944.
And yet this dictator, this fascist tyrant, is still on the ballot, and currently still has 42% of deceived, angry, fearful, prejudiced Americans like Classic Xer at his beck and call, ready to march and, as Classic Xer says, wipe out all his opponents. The new fascist ideology, though it has much in common with those a century ago and others around the world today, is also uniquely American. It not only subordinates everything to the state, but conceives this state according to supposed "Americanism." It is called neo-liberalism, which has not hestitated to support dictators like Pinochet in the past, as long as they keep big business from being taxed and regulated and keep an established economic elite in power. That is the fascist goal, an untrammeled "free enterprise" system that takes away all real freedom. Only people of "good Christian character" who oppose abortion and believe in a totalitarian God above us are capable of being good capitalist Americans, who are willing and able march in lockstep with whatever their bosses command. I have described this plague in my essay on free market ideology
This neo-liberalism is largely based in racism, using it as a dog whistle or a TRUMPet to appeal to resentment against taxes for welfare for "those people" who "depend on government" and "don't work," and the neo-liberals thus encourage and stoke white supremacy. Fear of America's increasing diversity through immigration and civil rights movements is the easiest and most reliable fear and prejudice that the oligarchs and their believers can appeal to in order to get support for their all-out attack on democracy, Nature and civilization. They empower and encourage their police to kill innocent young people of color, and when these people of color and their allies object and sometimes lash out, it is the first excuse to impose martial law on everyone. Along with that is the always reliable misogyny, which they can call upon to preserve male values and keep women in subordination.
This American fascist ideology is especially anti-intellectual and against individualist thinking. Since the 1970s one of its chief goals has been to denigrate education and privatize schools. They demolish Jefferson's and Horace Mann's ideals of an informed citizenry able to attend good schools and learn civics no matter what economic class or religion you belong to, and instead insult and demean teachers and restrict their funding and their unions. More recently they have targeted America's universities, the most outstanding in the world and the source of our economic wealth and scientific prowess, as "an elite" that seeks to impose political correctness and suppress free speech. Using this phony attack, they aim to relegate our universities to oblivion and to attack, demean, insult and fire our professors. They substitute this "elite" for the real one that they support and bankroll, the real elite which seeks to put our country lock, stock and barrel under the control of a few rich plutocrats who call all the shots, and who own our congress and our government through their supreme court decisions which equate money with free speech. Using their ownership of economic power to shut down all reform in congress, and block it in our Courts and through voter suppression, American fascists increasingly allow their oligarchic leaders to impose lousy working conditions, depress wages, replace workers with robots, shut down factories, swallow up real free businesses, cut social programs, health care and safety nets, ruin the economy with unregulated speculation justified by anti-socialist slogans, despoil our environment beyond repair, keep enormous profits for themselves, and send jobs overseas. They attack the media as the enemy of the people, and eagerly get on board with rising anti-scientific conspiracy theory culture to instill substitution of fantasy for real research and data, thus furthering their own ability to deceive the people.
People must decide now whether to allow this American fascism to succeed. Are we to go the way of fascist Germany and Italy? Franco's Spain or Chile's Pinochet? Donald Trump the fascist must be defeated at the polls by the largest margin we can muster, perhaps even dwarfing previous landslides, and flip his Senate Democratic too. Trump's project of getting legislators to substitute loyal trump electors for those elected by the people must be stopped, and his Court decisions overturned if possible. His fascist project of sending his armed "poll watcher" brown shirts in MAGA hats to intimidate voters at the polls must be exposed and countered. His plan of sending his proud boys and militias to invade Washington to prop him up in power must be defeated. His new fascist supreme court must be blocked and reformed by any means necessary, and the Senate filibuster reformed, so that the people can pass the needed reforms to stop this emerging fascism, and to free our society from 40 years of trickle-down, free-market, neo-liberalism ideology which has led us to this moment of potential doom.
The people need action. It is urgent not only because of the fascist threat that could end our democracy and our republic, but the threats to our future, our safety and our prosperity that 40 years of incipient neo-liberalism has created since the charming faux-macho actor created the culture and ideology that is now out there clamouring for their new dear leader and their nation under their exclusive "God" and against "communism." The defeat of American fascism offers the momentum and the chance to build back better: to support sustainable, renewable energy and other measures to restore our climate and revitalize the Nature which restores and supports us, to jump-start our public and civics education, to create new jobs in new industries, science and health care, to unleash full prosperity by opening up our democracy and economy to all, to cure the pandemic in which Trump has imprisoned us, and to free us from division and resentment, and foster instead a new American life of openness, love, art, spirit and celebration.
It is not at all clear now that fascism (now called the Trumpist Republican Party) can be defeated and put out of power. All hands on deck, democrats and Democrats! Now and through the 2020s and beyond if necessary!
Fourteen Defining Characteristics of Fascism
https://www.bremertonschools.org/cms/lib...slides.pdf