Is the USA headed towards fascism?

[Jager]

Here is a list of some characteristics of fascist states. Laurence W. Britt wrote about the common signs of fascism after researching seven fascist regimes: Hitler’s Nazi Germany; Mussolini’s Italy; Franco’s Spain; Salazar’s Portugal; Papadopoulos’ Greece; Pinochet’s Chile; Suharto’s Indonesia.

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism
2. Disdain for human rights
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats
4. Supremacy of the military
5. Controlled mass media
6. Obsession with national security
7. Religion and government are intertwined
8. Corporate power is protected
9. Labor power is suppressed
10. Didsdain for intellectuals and the arts
11. Obsession with crime and punishment
12. Rampant cronyism and corruption
13. Fraudulent elections
14. Rampant sexism

Do your own checklist and see how many of those you think are happening in the USA today...

Do you think it's time for a change of direction?

[Vargas_4]

Yeah, they've needed a change of direction for the last 50 years.

[Zaphod]

A lot of folks here don't like to hear it because they think fascism is the same as saying "Hitler," but there's no doubt we've been experiencing creeping fascism over the past 25 years or so (at least since the onset of the Reagan Administration). The conservative/fascist "movement" dates back to the 1970s when a group of conservative intellectuals such as Paul Weyrich and Bill Kristol began to form "think tanks" to push policies that were a backlash against what they considered the "socialism" of The Great Society, the anti-war feelings stemming from Vietnam and what they considered the general "moral decay" of the 1960s. But Dwight Eisenhower (Republican president and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during WWII) warned against the military-industrial complex in his farewell address in 1961, so he saw the dangers of the influence of corporations in our society even then. Sadly, not only for the U.S. but for the world, it took the extremism of the Bush Administration to open people's eyes a bit. I'm really hopeful that the tide is starting to turn because even many in the Republican Party are listening to the message of non-interventionalist foreign policy and tempering of corporate power being espoused by Ron Paul. And aside from Hillary Clinton, most of the Dems (particularly Obama, Edwards and Kucinich, who unfortunately doesn't have a chance) are talking about changing our more fascist policies.

[Vargas_4]

Originally Posted by Zaphod

A lot of folks here don't like to hear it because they think fascism is the same as saying "Hitler," but there's no doubt we've been experiencing creeping fascism over the past 25 years or so (at least since the onset of the Reagan Administration). The conservative/fascist "movement" dates back to the 1970s when a group of conservative intellectuals such as Paul Weyrich and Bill Kristol began to form "think tanks" to push policies that were a backlash against what they considered the "socialism" of The Great Society, the anti-war feelings stemming from Vietnam and what they considered the general "moral decay" of the 1960s. But Dwight Eisenhower (Republican president and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during WWII) warned against the military-industrial complex in his farewell address in 1961, so he saw the dangers of the influence of corporations in our society even then. Sadly, not only for the U.S. but for the world, it took the extremism of the Bush Administration to open people's eyes a bit. I'm really hopeful that the tide is starting to turn because even many in the Republican Party are listening to the message of non-interventionalist foreign policy and tempering of corporate power being espoused by Ron Paul. And aside from Hillary Clinton, most of the Dems (particularly Obama, Edwards and Kucinich, who unfortunately doesn't have a chance) are talking about changing our more fascist policies.

I'm really glad you live in the United States. It's hard to find people who can actually think and see how things are without being blinded with all the bullshit that it is thrown at the population.

I'd be more than glad to rep you for this post but stupid thingie tells me i have to rep more people before i can rep you again

[Zaphod]

Originally Posted by Vargas_4

I'm really glad you live in the United States. It's hard to find people who can actually think and see how things are without being blinded with all the bullshit that it is thrown at the population.

I'd be more than glad to rep you for this post but stupid thingie tells me i have to rep more people before i can rep you again

Thanks Vargas! I've always been one to question authority and try to think things through. It probably helped, also, that I spent some time in Costa Rica, so I got a bit of perspective looking from the outside in. But yes, too many people accept what we're told without giving it proper thought: the U.S. is good and everything -- even the curtailing of our own rights and our use of torture against others -- is justified because it's in the name of freedom and democracy. If you think otherwise, you're obviously un-American (or part of the "blame America first crowd" as the Limbaughs and Hannitys like to say). Most of the people here are good, but they're apathetic and just don't want to stop and think things through. I hate to make the Hitler comparison, but there were a lot of good people in Germany during WWII who supported their government for noble, patriotic reasons, but because they -- as Jack Nicholson might say -- couldn't handle the truth, they became complicit in The Holocaust. In much the same manner, we (not just in the U.S., but also in the U.K. and other countries that have blindly supported U.S. policies for their own selfish reasons) are complicit.

And don't worry about the rep thing. No problem.

[Deuce]

Viva libertarianism...sadly we were extinc a long time ago...