Are we living under a Fascist Regime?

[Willy Lee]

Sorry if this has already been posted. I found this on the Free Speech Zone websiote (link at the bottom). The 14 signs you are living under a Fascist Regime come from an essay by Dr. Lawrence Britt (http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/britt_23_2.htm)

Chilling. I think we are 14 for 14.

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

6. Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes the media are directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media are indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

http://www.thefreespeechzone.net/

[radwriter0555]

1. Yes. Welcome to Uhmurrikkka Under a Bush. The New Americanazis are

alive and thriving and growing daily!

It's a good thing to be a a Republicanazi in Uhmurrikkka!

[Englander]

2. Yes, 14 for 14. Next stop, death camps & "disappearances"..

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

[MatrixEscape]

3. Yes ...

But their are rules to obey:

1st RULE: You do not talk about FASCIST CLUB.

2nd RULE: You DO NOT talk about FASCIST CLUB.

3rd RULE: If someone says "stop" or goes liberally limp, taps out, the election is over.

4th RULE: Only two partys to a FASCIST political fight.

5th RULE: One political lie at a time.

6th RULE: No union shirts, no union shoes.

7th RULE: Fights will go on as long as Rove wants them to, unless we say they must stop.

8th RULE: If this is your first night at FASCIST CLUB, you HAVE to cower and govel and sign an Oath of Loyalty to our Fearless Leader.

[GreenArrow]

14. first rule is

"First rule is- The laws of Germany
Second rule is- Be nice to mommy
Third rule is- Don't talk to commies
Fourth rule is- Eat kosher salamis"

[Cheswick2.0]

4. sure

can any one dispute any of the points above?

[mattclearing]

7. I would like to think

that labor is not suppressed, but the right strike at the wrong time would bring down the wrath of the National Guard, I'm sure. As it is, the Bush policies toward labor are atrocious.

14 for 14. That's some scary shit.

[Cheswick2.0]

24. labor is suppressed

How many right to work states are there. How many states have laws telling teachers they can't strike?

[southpaw]

12. Hard to argue against the facts...

Yet the proprietor of Wage Slave Journal.org refused to post information on the paper-clip campaign to his website because he is "vehemently opposed" to anything that compares the Bush administration to the Nazi's.

Sad that even many on our side can't see the obvious... or they choose to explain it away.

[Cheswick2.0]

26. I have a brother in Law who said once

that fascist kill jews. That was his standard for Fascism, not just Naziism. People will come around if we keep insisting. Remember even in Germany the Jews were in denial for many years.

[goddess40]

5. Is the Pope Catholic?

I'm afraid so

[RafterMan]

6. Sorry but

I don't find this line of reasoning particularly helpful.

First, the 14-point list is questionable. A good case could be made that many of those points apply to the majority of governments through all of history, diluting the definition of fascism beyond usefulness.

More importantly, it changes the terms of the debate to a semantic argument about the definition of fascism and whether the US meets it from the more simple consideration of whether the current government is good for America. To my mind, the first question is just elitist Platonic navel-gazing which obfuscates, rather than enhances, the real challenge of the second.

[bowens43]

8. there are none so blind........

[RafterMan]

9. That, back at you

[mattclearing]

10. What a lame criteria.

The Nazi Government was great for Germany until that whole Allied Forces thing happened.

[RafterMan]

11. So you are seriously saying

that the Bush government is good for America?

No wonder we lost...

[mattclearing]

18. No.

I am saying that whether or not a regime is good for its country is not a criteria on which to decide whether or not that country's government is fascist.

That is a spin that only a Republican could love.

[RafterMan]

23. The question of whether a government is good for the country

is the central question of the governance of the country.

Deciding which labels apply to a government is an ancillary intellectual exercise.

[rman]

15. "great for Germany" - where did you get that idea?

Anyone critical of the Nazi regime was either killed or send to a concentration camp. Millions of 'unwanted' people died in concentration camps. Civilians found themselves at the receiving end of allied reprisals for the Nazis agression. Many, many German soldiers died on the battlefield.

It was great for those in power and for big corporations, including some American corporations.

The Nazi regime was bad for the vast majority of the German people, how does that make it great for Germany?

[mattclearing]

19. It was sarcasm.

eom.

[rman]

16. you may be right that it applies to the majority of governments

you may be right in that most governments throughout history were/are in fact despotic to some extent.
That does not diminish the fact the the Bush regime is one of the most despotic regimes in recent history. Also it does not deminish the fact that it is the first global despotic empire.

[Cheswick2.0]

28. Here is a whole page of google giving definitions of fascism

check it out.

[RafterMan]

31. I'm not engaging in a discussion about definitions of fascism

or how they apply to Bush -- I simply don't care.

The central question, which is happily also the most important and most saleable question, is whether Bush is good for America. If academics want to put Bush in a certain pigeon hole, they're welcome to. I just want to get rid of him and his kind.

To put it more bluntly, I don't want to get rid of Bush because of any ways in which he resembles or fails to resemble regimes past or academic categories. I want to be rid of him for the specific destructive outrages which he has committed.

My feeling is that the attempt to tie him to fascism does not strengthen the critique by weighing him down with the baggage associated with the word "fascism", but weakens it by imperfect analogy and generalization. "Is Bush a fascist?" is not a useful question, because the reasons to oppose or support him do not derive from an answer to that question. It is at best intellectual masturbation, at worst a distraction. Hence my post.

[AngryAmish]

13. Bush is Hitler

[Donna Zen]

17. Yes

n/t

[Huckebein the Raven]

20. I'm convinced

[bobthedrummer]

21. Now we are indeed into true fascism and TREASON in this American's

opinion.
:nuke:

[hughee99]

22. For the most part, you have described the WWII period

in America under FDR. He wasn't 14-14, but he wasn't far off. Was he a fascists? While I don't like what's going on here, I think anyone who has actually lived under a fascist regime would laugh at this comparison. It's just hyperbole.

[GOPBasher]

25. It seems so. My sig line says it all.

[ibegurpard]

27. Not quite yet

but we're well on our way...so far that I'm not at all confident that it can be stopped.

[DistressedAmerican]

29. Saddam Wasn't Worth It!

Old graphic but, still true! Can't believe that we didn't send him back to Texas where he fucking belongs!


http://www.seedsofdoubt.com/distressedamerican/main.htm

[Gold Metal Flake]

30. It is a nascent fascist state.

It can go actively totalitarian at any time. All it takes is Martial law, and then a purging of those elements in the military leadership that would resist making permanent that state of Martial law.

It is so close, I can smell it's breath.