Hank Hill, George W. Bush, and Benito Mussolini

[Vexatious Ape]

The other day I overheard my 12-year-old son call Hank Hill a fascist. “Shut up fascist.” He snarled at the TV. Good grief, I thought am I raising a bomb-throwing anarchist and if I am, can that be all that bad? Of course he had overheard me drop the F-bomb with regularity since the dreadful 04 election. So I asked him if he knows what a fascist was. “A Republican.” He replied.
“Something like that.” I replied back.
So I did some digging around the Web, and here’s what I learned: Defining fascism is a very, very, complicated and contentious thing to pull off—but it shouldn’t be. Benito Mussolini, the Grand Poobah of fascism himself, described fascism as being a right-wing ideology in opposition to socialism, liberalism, democracy and individualism. This of course means my son nailed it—kind of.

The American Heritage Dictionary gives us the following: A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. b. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government. 2. Oppressive, dictatorial control.
What’s that? Centralization of authority? Stringent socioeconomic controls? Mmmmm. Belligerent nationalism—we’re up to our nipples in belligerent nationalism. And let’s not forget corporatism—here’s a juicy Mussolini quote:
“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”
That brings to mind the legion of industry insiders Dear Leader has appointed to cabinet positions and regulatory agencies. The list of all the former big business lobbyists, corporate lawyers and CEO’s running our distressed nation is long enough to make my fingertips bleed
My guess is, we are in a state of, well, creeping fascism. In post WW1 Europe, fascism attracted much support from farmers, big and small business types, nationalists, (Think Hank Hill) intellectuals, conservatives, and the working class whom they promised food and work. Today the fascists promise and end to abortion and a whole lot of god stuff, and a lot of feel good bombing of brown people in order to get the working class to support them. However, George Bush is no Mussolini but after a few drinks they can sometimes sound alike, indeed they can almost be considered soul mates or something like that. Here’s Benito on being Italian: “I am desperately Italian I believe in the function of Latinity.” And here’s George:
I like my buddies from west Texas. I liked them when I was young, I liked them then I was middle-age, I liked them before I was president, and I like them during president, and I like them after president." —George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Feb. 1, 2006 Huh?

Here’s Mussolini on Democracy: “Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy.”

And George: "A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about It." —George W. Bush, July 27, 2001

Enough said, for now.

[maxsolomon]

1. hank hilll is a good guy.

not a fascist. he's just ignorant & insular.

[Vexatious Ape]

2. That was my 12 year-old who said it, but...

Did't Hank vote for Bush?

[malmapus]

4. He took off for Mexico with Dell

Had a problem with George's hand shake. Apparently George doesn't have a manly hand shake heh.

[TalkingDog]

5. That was never decided

He was really torn over the exceedingly unmanly handshake of Mr. Bush. Real men have manly handshakes. Mr. Bush's was like a wet limp fish.

The scene where Hank watches the tape over and over and over, obsessing on that handshake is incredibly funny.

All you know is that Hank voted his conscience. Whether that means he could forsake is ideology of handshakes and character judgement and vote for Bush anyway is not known.

[Warpy]

7. No, he went to a campaign appearance

and found Stupid had a wimpy handshake. I think Hank stayed home.

[aquart]

6. And he liked Bush until he shook his hand.

Then.......he just couldn't.

[htuttle]

3. Hank Hill is just trying to make a living selling Propane...

...and Propane accessories.

Though Hank is a conservative, he wasn't thrilled by Bush since he had a weak handshake, and was also a big fan of LBJ (his dog is named 'Ladybird', after all). He also supports unions.

He might be a Texas-style 'Reagan Democrat'.

[Rageneau]

8. Hank Hill is a redneck wingnut Republican with a heart.

Lots of heart, but no brain.

There was an episode in which Hank discovered that Smirk's handshake is weak and unmanly and it depressed him severely. He WANTS to like Bush.

Anybody who WANTS to like Bush is a wingnut.

[bklyncowgirl]

9. Jimmy Carter appeared in one episode as a peacemaker.

Hank had volunteered for a Habitat for Humanity project. Hank's son meets Jimmy Carter who he invites home to help solve a dispute between Hank and his cranky WWII Vet dad, Cotton.

It's a great show with alot of humanity in it. Hank, like Archie Bunker before him, is your basic working class guy trying to make a living in a world which is rapidly changing around him but unlike Archie, he's no racist and the humor is far more gentle as Hank tries to find his way and stay true to his convictions.

Why is it that the best shows about ordinary Americans these days are cartoons?