Can we finally...call it Fascism?

[Q]

fascism noun an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. • (in general use) extreme right-wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice. The term Fascism was first used of the totalitarian right-wing nationalist regime of Mussolini in Italy (1922–43), and the regimes of the Nazis in Germany and Franco in Spain were also fascist. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one national or ethnic group, a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach.

It's not the 'end' of America...but it's getting pretty damn close.

[tk2kewl]

1. yes

[SteppingRazor]

2. I'd go so far as to call our current governmental policies "proto-fascism"

But given that we can still come to DU and exchange these ideas without the site getting shut down and/or all of us being hauled off to camps, we can't really call it fascism per se.

We are, however, on the slippery slope....

[Q]

3. DU is a great place...

...to blow off steam and exchange ideas. But it's hardly a threat to the current 'administration'. We're no more than gadflys to these animals.

You see...the fascists own or have intimidated a majority of the 'free press'. This means they can print lies and call it the truth. That WE know it's not the truth matters not.

Nothing will change until we stop mincing words about the state of the union.

[Gwerlain]

4. The Fascists have been trying to take over...

for a long time. Look up Smedley Butler, and note who was running the show. Find out what Fritz Thyssen did with Brown Brothers Harriman, and note who was in charge of that relationship from the Harriman side. Make sure you understand the connections between Wall Street and the CIA. That's good for starters.

[Dr Fate]

5. Holy shit- he's back!!!

And yes, we can call it that.

A spade is a spade. Period.

[rhett o rick]

6. Some one should bring back the Declaration of Independence. I want to

sign it now. Don't want to be pessimistic but we need to be prepared if we loose in November. Remember nothing is for sure fighting tyranny (republicans). If we don't win the HOR and no junta occurs, it will be time to dump tea in the harbor. I do not condone violence but some are talking about it. The question to ask yourself, how far will I let them go before I decide it is too far? Warning, civil disobedience can now be punished by indefinite detention and torture.

[Q]

20. That would be a good campaign idea...

...The Democratic party could stage a re-signing of the Declaration of Independence as a way of committing the party to its ideals. There would probably only be about a dozen or so Democrats there...but it would still be good theater. The DLCers and Lieberman might protest...but they're leaving the party anyway.

Growing up in America...many of us knew our neighbors...the family living next door. But today...no one seems to know their neighbors and thus there lacks a connection that would lead to communities fighting back on a local level. There is no 'base' for political action. The web is too anonymous...too impersonal to bring people together against the enemy of their Constitution and laws. The Bushies pay (with taxpayer bucks) the media to get Americans to hate each other. Hitler might well have succeeded if he had the media resources back in the 30s/40s that the Bushies have today.

Many Americans make the mistake of thinking that they're free as long as they're able to bitch and moan about the government on the internet. But the Bushies couldn't care less what we write. They have the White House, Senate, Congress, judicial branch and many Governors paid off to do their bidding. They know the internet keeps us distracted and busy making NOISE.

[FormerDittoHead]

7. Not until they put at least 4 million to death. that's the 'threshold'...

The "civil war" threshold, for example, the point where you are "allowed" to call it a "civil war", means having to lose at least 20,000 in a single "battle" - THEN you can call it a "civil war"...

:sarcasm:

Your history textbook / dictionary definitions do no apply to the brainwashed...

[goddess40]

17. might be why they stopped counting the dead Iraqis

Actually they never really did count them, they just pull some number out of W's ass.

[IndianaGreen]

8. It is a dictatorship!

Bush has put himself above the law as an American emperor.

[cadmium]

9. Fascism is too mild a term

I thought we had fascism back in 2004. Now I think we are past fascism. I agree with Indiana. Dictatorship is accurate.

[Tyo]

10. Sure can

It's Fascism in a blue suit and a red, white and blue flag lapel pin rather than a spiffy uniform but it's still fascism. The window dressing that Hitler and Mussolini and Franco used to sell the program in their time and place wouldn't work here but the program itself is pretty much textbook spot on. They've just updated the marketing for 21st century America.

[rhett o rick]

11. Fascism, tyranny, dictatorship, whatever. The point is what are you

going to do about it?

[Q]

13. For the fascists...the beauty of it...

...is that the collective voice of the American people no longer exists. Those few still able to broadcast the truth are branded as nuts and dismissed by a government that actually uses taxpayer funds to buy off 'reporters'.

One of the first things to go was the 'free press'...both in 40s Germany and 90s America. Once the press is bought off...the political opposition is easy to smear and demonize. Hell...THESE Fascists even have their own television network (Fox) and Newspapers.

What am 'I' going to do about it? I've been doing all a citizen CAN do since the 90s...when the Fascists tried to overthrow the Clinton government with a phony impeachment and began buying off the media. I protested. But at the same time...the Democratic party was 'changing'. The DLC turned the party into a bowl of mush...too afraid (or complicit) to challenge the growing corruption in our government. They became the Appeasers that let Reagan, Bush and Bush turn the US government into a cash cow for their friends.

Our government has been corrupted to the core. Can Democrats repair it once in office? Only if they recognize, admit and do something about the corruption that has enveloped every level of government.

[rhett o rick]

16. Can't argue with that. Maybe there are still some loyal Americans

in the government. Maybe there is a plan for a junta. Maybe we can save democracy, but I doubt it. You can never go back. No more Beaver Cleaver. We broke the fragile balance of power. All the Kings men can't put it back together again. The Neocons and their corporations don't need us except for canon fodder and cheap labor. And they want our money. We have no bargaining power against them.

[Jack Rabbit]

12. It is fascism

To be a patriot in Bush's America requires that one be seditious.

Normally, such a statement would be nonsense. These are not normal times.

[enfield collector]

14. not fascism, fascism implies nationalism and * is more concerned

with with promoting one-world .gov than America.

[rman]

15. I think there are fewer differences than commonalities between

fascism and the Bush regime.

Any one-world government that the neocons help establish will serve the interests of the same large transnational corporations who's interests are now served by the US and by the contemporary version of colonialism: globalization.
Fascism is more about serving Big Money interests than it is about serving the interests of the nation (certainly if you take "the nation" as being equivalent to "the people").

Nationalism is such an ambiguous term; the current breed of conservatism that supports Bush can be said to be nationalism ("America über alles"), but the nationalization of resources as for instance Venezuela is doing, is also said to be nationalism - yet these two examples are completely different.

[leftofthedial]

18. undeniably fascist

until last week, it was at least theoretically constrained by the rule of law.

that is no longer the case.

[KoKo]

19. well...it seems TIME! How could any intelligent Person Deny? ...........

what we've here in the "Fever Swamps" have been saying for so many years..

It's time. Will ANYONE STAND UP AND CALL IT WHAT IT IS?...though? :shrug: that's the question. HOW LONG will this be ALLOWED TO STAND?

[mdmc]

21. no

now fall in line. Go Dems 2006!

[Q]

22. I can't fall in line...

...and most 'liberals' will have trouble doing the same. Liberals have become the so-called 'jews' to the fascist right and their friends...the 'new' Democrats.

[mdmc]

23. I really like posting on DU

Go 2006! :dem:

[Q]

24. RWingers are already acting like 'Brownshirts'...

...can you imagine what America would be like if they hold the WH and congress for another 4 or 8 years?

Bush sounds like Hitler at the podium...talking about liberals and Democrats like they were inferior to his 'master race'.

But what breaks the heart more than the mad rantings of America's Hitler...are the appeasers who rubber stamp his fascist agenda.

[mdmc]

25. stay strong bro

that broken heart ain't all that bad...

[Q]

26. It's America'a heart...

...and I'm reminded of these times as I watch a series on the History channel called "Hitler's Manager".

Have we become the 'good Germans' that sat by and did nothing as Hitler TOOK power and then used it to cause the death of millions?

It's in front of our eyes.

[Marie26]

27. If they steal this election, yeah. nt

[Q]

28. That they outright cheated in 2000...

...forever brands them as fascists. The tactics they've used ever since practically guarantees that they will NEVER 'play fair' because they detest Democracy. Of course they will TRY to steal the next election...and the next and the next. Who will stop them? The ONLY way they can be stopped is if the entire Democratic party admits the truth and works together towards a common goal: to restore the Democratic process and put an end to the widespread corruption in our nation's capital.

[Marie26]

29. But is the US?

Well, I think they are Fascists, but the question is whether America is a fascist country. And I don't believe we're there (yet). If an election is out-right stolen, I think we'll have turned a corner toward that end. Hopefully the Democrats can prevent that.

[Q]

30. Not every German in the 40s were Nazis...

...just as not everyone in America is a Fascist. But there should be no doubt by now that this country is being run by Fascists and their 'collaborators'. There are many men and women who have the power to do something about it...but choose not to for their own self-serving reasons.