This is frightening!

[Guest guest]

It sure is, and it's been apparent for some time, IMO. Only problem is, it

seems like so many of those who fought against it 60 years ago are now enmeshed

in blindly supporting it. Fear can make it so hard to see clearly.

Namasté

Sam in Texas §(ô¿ô)§

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little

statesmen and philosophers and divines.

Essays. First Series. Self-Reliance.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

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You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything.

Tippin

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You do not lead by hitting people over

the head -- that's assault, not leadership.

--Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Terrorism is the war of the powerless,

War is the terrorism of the powerful.

[Guest guest]

Fox quoted this in Saturday workshop in Kansas City.

http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

" Whitlow " writes:

> Fox quoted this in Saturday workshop in Kansas City.

>http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/fasci14chars.html

This seems a bit sloppy to me. Many of these points are redundant. Of course

mass media is controlled in the fascist state, _everything_ is controlled in

the fascist state. The recognized characteristics of fascism are much

simpler and already well known.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism

quote ---

* exalts nation and sometimes race above the individual,

* uses violence and modern techniques of propaganda and censorship to

forcibly suppress political opposition,

* engages in severe economic and social regimentation, and

* espouses nationalism and sometimes racism (ethnic nationalism).

unquote ---

The 'severe economic and social regimentation' is the key, because more

important than the particular excuses used bring it about is the fusion of

state and corporate authority. As the originator of the ideology (Mussolini)

himself said, it is about merging the state and the corporation:

quote ---

In its Corporativist model of totalitarian but private management, the

various functions of the state were trades, conceived as individualized

entities making up that state. Further, it is in the state's interest to

oversee them for that reason, but not direct them or make them public

because such functioning in government hands undermines the development of

what the state is. Private activity is in a sense contracted to the state so

that the state may suspend the infrastructure of any entity in accordance

with their usefulness and direction, or with health to the state.

unquote ---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi

quote ---

Quoting Benito Mussolini: " Fascism should more appropriately be called

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

unquote ---

Does this sound familiar? We've got more " private contractors " (mercenaries)

in Iraq today than any of our allies have in regular forces. And of course

we're all familiar with the push to 'privatize' every function of civilian

government here in the US, by handing it over to the corporations that are

really just facets of the NON-elected government.

This is probably the single strongest distinguishing characteristic of

fascism. This was present in Hitler's Nazism, as well, which is why it is

included under the umbrella of fascist ideologies even though it was

different in some ways. All of the major German corporations became arms of

the state.

But that follows from the basic philosophy that nothing can exist seperate

from the state. In order to continue to exist, corporations have to merge

with it. Anyone with reasonable knowledge of what fascism really is (as

opposed to simple familiarity with the cartoonish foaming-at-the-mouth

dictators of the movies) has seen the trend in US politics since at least

the election of Reagan. The rhetoric was all about 'freedom' and

individualism, but the actions were about consolidating power. Bush the

Elder wasn't very energetic in advancing the program, but he didn't

dismantle it either. Bush the Younger is presiding over a pretty clear

transition to naked fascism. If he wins re-election I suspect we won't have

a 2008 election. The 'excuse' will be 'national security' of course. And

even if Kerry wins I wonder if he can reverse the trend. The government is

now riddled with 'neo-cons' (the code word by which the fascists identify

themselves) and it would take something akin to a purge to get remove them.

It's exactly what Eisenhower warned us about. The 'military-industrial

complex' is the same as fascism, but I guess he didn't want to use the word.