Is There A THREAT Of FASCISM In The USA?

[Segami]

:smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke:


IS THE PAST PROLOGUE?

Does Fascism Lurk Around The Corner In The USA?




"...Radical activists on the left have never been hesitant to label their opponents with this "F word" whenever governments support laws that limit opposition or overdo national security or abuse human rights. Government paranoia turns critics paranoid.


One example: writer Naomi Wolf forecast fascism creeping into America during the Bush years accelerated by the erosion of democracy, writing:


"It is my argument that, beneath our very noses, George Bush and his administration are using time-tested tactics to close down an open society. It is time for us to be willing to think the unthinkable - as the author and political journalist Joe Conason, has put it, that it can happen here."


Wolf feared Americans couldn't see the warning signs:


"Because Americans like me were born in freedom, we have a hard time even considering that it is possible for us to become as unfree - domestically - as many other nations. Because we no longer learn much about our rights or our system of government - the task of being aware of the constitution has been outsourced from citizens' ownership to being the domain of professionals such as lawyers and professors - we scarcely recognize the checks and balances that the founders put in place, even as they are being systematically dismantled. Because we don't learn much about European history, the setting up of a department of "homeland" security - remember who else was keen on the word "homeland" - didn't raise the alarm bells it might have."


Now, those bells are now being rung by John Hall, an outgoing Democratic Congressman from upstate New York. His fear of fascism has less to do with repressive laws and militarism than the influx of corporate money into politics, swamping it with special interests that buy influence for right wing policies and politicians.


"I learned when I was in social studies class in school that corporate ownership or corporate control of government is called Fascism," court decision goes unchecked?"


Reports New York's Observer, "The court decision he is referring to is Citizens United, the controversial Supreme Court ruling that led to greater corporate spending in the midterm elections, much of it anonymous. In the wake of the decision, Democrats tried to pass the DISCLOSE Act, which would have mandated that corporate donors identify themselves in their advertising, but the measure failed amid GOP opposition. Ads from groups with anonymous donors were particularly prone to misleading or false claims.



Hall said the influx of corporate money in the wake of Citizens United handed the House of Representatives to Republicans "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."




cont

<http://www.opednews.com/articles/IS-THERE-A-THREAT-OF-FASCI-by-Danny-Schechter-110115-202.html>

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[Catherina]

1. A threat? Just a threat? n/t

[girl gone mad]

2. It's more than a threat at this point.

[DinahMoeHum]

3. Yes.

.

[baldguy]

4. Saying there's a threat of fascism in America

is like saying there's a threat of snow in Buffalo in January.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Is there a threat of drought in Death Valley?

[Newest Reality]

6. I think we are about three

steps into the process already.

Of course, the news will never be reported on the M$M, nor will you be told by anyone officially. It is robed in many colors of clothing, but well-hidden in plain sight.

[kestrel91316]

7. A "threat"? Seriously?? It has already arrived.

[justabob]

8. we are pretty far down that road now

I guess I am glad more people are seeing it, but this has been obvious for quite some time. It is frustrating that more folks haven't had this revelation.

[deutsey]

9. I think the same interests that attempted a fascist coup against FDR

learned from their miserable failure and have been smashingly successful since the '80s at least (I think they imploded briefly with Vietnam and Watergate).

Unfortunatley, there's a shortage of Smedley Butlers these days.

[freshwest]

16. Pretty well established it's the same players. It's a 1930's remix.

[Autumn]

10. We are damn near there already

and getting closer all the time.

[Flubadubya]

19. And the irony is that the teabagger types...

believe the lefties are going to be the ones responsible for it. Go figure. :shrug:

[Segami]

23. They'll never know what hit them.

[mahina]

11. Hello.... This Just In

Yes, there is a dire threat, and it is not new, but Citizens United moved it to the forefront of our current political reality.

If you had asked DU if Feingold could have been defeated by an unknown candidate, we would have said NO. Look what happened.

We'd better get really organized and get our ground game together really, really fast.

[RKP5637]

12. The line has already been crossed, now the pilings are being driven to make sure it

stays and is the 'new' America. And many citizens are still asleep at the wheel, ever so lame. Many Americans are pretty clueless, they grew up with too much and don't have the smarts to understand and pay attention to the erosion of this democracy. Many take democracy for granted and fall for all of the propaganda.

[Cerridwen]

13. Nawwww. It's already here. It's just that for some of us, we've not

yet been personally impacted.

"We" are the 'good Germans' who aren't aware of what's happening at Buchenwald Guantanamo. "We" haven't yet been asked for our "papers" at the border or had our property confiscated. "We're" still capable of paying our bills and have a roof over our head. "We" don't have security tracking us around the store and/or mall. "We" haven't been stopped by the cops because we "look" suspicious. "We" haven't been rounded up for our political activities.

"We" are fine. It's those "other" people who have to worry. "It can't happen here."

[snagglepuss]

14. k & r nt

[jody]

15. Mussolini’s view of fascism, a phrase he adopted from another author, was "Fascism should more

appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."

Several historians point out that Mussolini wanted a military controlled state that combed leaders from corporations and labor.

One author pointed out that Americans who wanted to copy Mussolini’s apparent success in Italy and overthrow FDR approached John L Lewis who was to have led labor unions. Labor would have joined corporate leaders (American Liberty League?) and replace FDR.

[Initech]

17. We're *IN* a fascist state! Citizen's United made it official!

[Faryn Balyncd]

18. K and R. The Citizen's United ruling must be overturned.

[Cleita]

20. The threat was a decade ago when the Supreme

Court appointed GWB as President. We are pretty much into it now. When they knock out the last vestiges of our progressive society, Social Security and Medicare, the takeover will be complete.

[Richard Steele]

21. Threat my ass- this has been a fascist nation for years now. nm

[eridani]

22. Is a bear Catholic? Does the Pope shit in the woods? n/t

[lonestarnot]

24. Done.

[ck4829]

25. You can find plenty of it on Huffington Post's comment board

There was a good story on there yesterday about how employers are using code words in order to conceal racial and gender discrimination and about how more and more employers are only hiring people who are currently employed.

Now, most of the comments on there were smart and made sense, but there were a couple that were along the lines of "So what?", "Employers have the right to do this.", "Too bad", and "Uppity liberals need to shut up."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/14/unemployed-job-applicants-discrimination_n_809010.html

[mdmc]

26. also- threat the sun will set in the west

[bluestate10]

27. No.

Anyone that tries it will have their head handed to them. Americans are like a heard of cats, that is until a very clear danger confronts them. Once a danger is clear, Americans as a group destroys it. That has been our history. Politicians like Sarah Palin come on to the scene regularly during our nation's history, they shine brightly for their 15 minutes then vanish into the dustbin of history. 100 years from now, no one will remember Sarah Palin as anything other than a footnote, but they will remember President Obama and most like Representative Giffords - especially Giffords is she makes a recovery enough to resume public service.