I think I need to write
this essay, not because I want to, but because Americans don’t truly understand
what a Fascist is. There are a lot of vague ideas floating about, but there are
a lot of misconceptions, especially since the right-wing spin machine is in
full tilt nowadays. After all, there are a lot of people who think Bernie
Sanders must be a Fascist because he is a Socialist. The NAZI’s were the
National Socialist German Worker’s Party, so they had to be Socialist lefties,
which means they were all lefties and commies right? Wrong. Just because they
had Socialist in the name doesn’t make them a left leaning organization.
However, they did have Socialists in the beginning of the organization. When Hitler
came to power he changed the direction and focus of the organization away from
the socialist foundation and into the Fascist organization it became. In truth,
the NAZI’s were a far right organization, not far left organization when Hitler
led them into World War II.
So, what exactly is a Fascist organization? Well, there
is a lot of history I can go into and bore the living hell out of you with it.
However, I don’t need to do that. I actually stumbled upon an interesting
article that gives point by point Fascist tendencies by Lawrence Britt. It
gives 14 characteristics that every Fascist regime from Mussolini, Hitler,
Franco, Pinochet, and Suharto all had in common. I am going to point them out to
you, and let you draw your own conclusion as to whether or not any faction in
America is trying to push this ideology. Are you ready?
1. Fascists make constant plays to Nationalism.
“Let’s make America great again.” It’s not as if we aren’t great now,
but it isn’t as great as it could be because I said it isn’t. National fervor is
constantly stoked, especially with flags. You’ll get to see the flag
everywhere. I like our flag, don’t get me wrong after all I’m from a long line
of veterans, but these people will never miss the chance to have a flag and
bring up something about national pride.
2. The need
for security can override other rights, even human rights in certain cases. It
is the peoples “need”, they say. Terrorists attacked us. He was no
“saint.” Any excuse will do in a pinch, so long as it is believable and
the people swallow it.
3. Everyone
needs a scapegoat for their worries and their disdain. We all know that Hitler
used the Jews for his, and we know what he did to them. Every single time a
nation is in need though they do the exact same thing. They find a scapegoat to
blame for their troubles. The thing is, the scapegoat is never the true cause.
So while some like to blame the immigrants they are not the cause of our problems,
no more than the Jews were the problems when the NAZI’s blamed them in the
1920’s or 1930’s.
4. “The
military must be strengthened because it is so weak. It isn’t strong enough.
Our current President isn’t funding it enough”. Nevermind that it is still
funded more than the next ten nations put together. Only a Fascist would think
that we need to put even more funding into the world’s best funded and
certainly the world’s best equipped military.
5. In the
perfect government traditional family values are upheld. Women are home makers,
there is no such thing as gay marriage, and abortion is illegal. Men are
allowed to be men and run the country as they are meant to do.
6. Fear is a
driving factor, especially as it concerns national security. We need this law.
We need this wall. Otherwise the terrorists can get in and do awful things to
us.
7. Have you ever thought that maybe the media
doesn’t exactly tell you everything? Is it really fair and balanced? Can a
media that is owned by six major corporations be telling you the total and
complete truth about things, especially since they don’t have to anymore? I
suppose it doesn’t matter when you consider that one party will mostly only
appear on one station since their message is pushed exclusively on that station.
It’s almost as if the public were being indoctrinated or something. It’s almost
as if a party were controlling the media or at least working on concert with
it.
8. This one is
a bit of a head puzzler in America and shouldn’t even come into question, and
yet recently in American politics it comes up quite often. We used to believe
in the separation of church and state, but recently we have people who think
that only people of “true” faith should occupy the highest office in
the land. This is also something that people of all Fascist nations have in
common, and something we would never have put up with before. Will we start
instituting religious tests and requirements for public office?
9. Whether we
like it or not we already exist in this state. Corporate power is already protected.
10. Again,
whether we like it or not, we are actively living in this world now. Labor
union’s power is being diminished and repressed in almost every state. The only
place right now where they haven’t lost most of their power is federally, and
if Congress has their way that will change.
11. Listen to
talk radio sometime, especially people like Rush Limbaugh. Hardly a day goes by
when you won’t hear them complain about the “liberal intellectuals”
and their evil art programs that defame their religion and the common man.
Often it is couched in language as if the educated people are talking down to
everyone else, so that everyone should hate people who went to college or even
went to school. Nevermind the fact that Rush Limbaugh and the rest of these people
who are on the radio talking about this stuff also went to college. They just
want you to hate anyone who disagrees with them and to hate education. After
all, art and education opens up the mind and allows you to think for yourself,
and a Fascist hates that more than anything else.
12. Every
Fascist state is obsessed with controlling the population through the police
forces. The police are imbued with almost unlimited power to fight what is
considered rampant crime. Whether that is drug crime, or violent crime, or
whatever the news says it is. The police enforce it and mass incarceration
begins. Ever wonder why we have the largest prison population on the planet?
13. Corruption
and cronyism runs rampant through Fascist states. I’ll admit that our nation
hasn’t quite come to this state, though I will say that both political parties
are certainly guilty of this.
14. There is
no doubt that in a Fascist nation that the elections are dubious. The thing is,
our elections in the last few years have also come under great scrutiny as well
from both sides. Democrats and Republicans have cried foul in various elections
in recent years. Maybe we are a lot closer to a Fascist state than we realize,
but the question arises then of who is in control?
Before I end this I would like to point out that Republican
and Democrat are just a simple label and don’t mean a damn thing. Look at your
core beliefs for once. If these are your core beliefs, you aren’t a Democrat or
a Republican. If you need more clarity, please go here: http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html.
This is the site I mentioned at the start that gives the tenants of Fascism. It
will spell it out in detail for you. If you think that your party is Fascist
and you don’t want to belong to that party, then by all means don’t be. If you
don’t know what’s wrong with Fascism, try Googling images of the Holocaust.
I’ll warn you right now that it is very disturbing and not for the squeamish.
If you’d rather not see it, just read about it. However, it won’t make as much
of an impact as images of Auschwitz.