Friday, June 14, 2019

We Are In Full Blown Fascism in America

Given that most of our media are reluctant to tell you that America has descended into Fascism, I am sharing a scholarly work defining its characteristics.  This was written 13 years before Trump, so it is not a hit job on him.

 Fourteen Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Source Free Inquiry.co
5-28-3



Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:
 
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays. MAGA, rallies featuring bigots and authoritarianism 
 
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.Detention camps and Incarceration policies
 
 
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc. Libertards, Muslims, Migrants
 
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized. His Pentagon Budget and Desire for a Military Parade
 
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.  Grap them by their "parts", demeaning women, discrimination of Trans and LBGTQ
 
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common. Turning Fox News into the State Media, abandoning White House press briefings, labeling factual news as "Fake News"
 
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses. Use of exaggerated National Security Threats for border control and other desired executive actions
 
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions. Pandering to Evangelical, Conservative Christians
 
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite. Look at his cabinet and cult of corporate influence
 
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.  Suppression of collective bargaining
 
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked. Withdrawal of funding for the parts, public broadcasting, undermining of public education
 
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations. Police brutality, especially of minorities, militarization of policing, ICE
 
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders. His cabinet, family corruption and emoluments violations
 
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.  Minority voter suppression, gerrymandering and denial of Russian interference
 
Historically, it starts with authoritarian rulers, sometimes elected, who begin the process by undermining democratic norms and laws in place.  This certainly is the case with both the Trump administration and his unprincipled colleagues  in both congress and the judiciary.  We are no longer the republican democracy we adopted 250 years ago in history's grand experiment that grew out of the enlightenment.
Hopefully, you will share this with the clueless among us.  Particular those supporting Trumpism and declaring themselves Republicans.