"Fascism is a radical totalitarian political philosophy that combines elements of corporatism, authoritarianism, extreme nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism, anti-communism and anti-liberalism."
This seems to me to be a pretty darn good definition of what our current administration has done to this country in the wake of and name of 911. However, it seems to this administration, the best defense is a good offense and a whole bunch of projection to boot.
"Fascism is associated by many scholars with one or more of the following characteristics: a very high degree of nationalism, economic corporatism, a powerful, dictatorial leader who portrays the nation, state or collective as superior to the individuals or groups composing it." Wikepedia "Facism"
That seems pretty darn accurate too, in describing how it feels to live in America today.
"Fascism New Buzz Word Among Republicans
By TOM RAUM
AP
WASHINGTON (Aug. 30) - President Bush in recent days has recast the global war on terror into a "war against Islamic fascism." Fascism, in fact, seems to be the new buzz word for Republicans in an election season dominated by an unpopular war in Iraq.
Bush used the term earlier this month in talking about the arrest of suspected terrorists in Britain, and spoke of 'Islamic fascists' in a later speech in Green Bay, Wis. Spokesman Tony Snow has used variations on the phrase at White House press briefings.
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., in a tough re-election fight, drew parallels on Monday between World War II and the current war against 'Islamic fascism,' saying they both require fighting a common foe in multiple countries. It's a phrase Santorum has been using for months.
And Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday took it a step further in a speech to an American Legion convention in Salt Lake City, accusing critics of the administration's Iraq and anti-terrorism policies of trying to appease 'a new type of fascism.'"
So according to this, we now are fighting not just terrorists, but "Islamic radical totalitarian political philosophy that combines elements of corporatism, authoritarianism, extreme nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism, anti-communism and anti-liberalism." Hmmm, when was the last time the world was threatened by Islamic Corporate greed and the religious leaders just also happened to be the leaders of multinational corporations that were sucking the life blood out of the economy and the individual? This definition of Islamic Fascism sounds an awful lot like a very good definition of America under the Republican party agenda as played out over the past five years to all our harm. Aren't these the guys who used to run for less government and responsible spending? No, we are not one bit better off today than we were five years ago...a whole lot worse with heartache over the loss of where the soul of America went.
Let's see, we have a President that said he didn't mind dictators as long as "I am the dicatator." You see I have this gut feeling that when people say funny things like that, it's really not so funny and their subconscious mind is running the show. That has to be a form of a radical totalitarian political philosophy. He is definitely "the decider," so that qualifies for the same. I'd think that letting most corporations off one hook or the other over the past five years, along with giving the few chosen ones that personally benefit many in the current administration all the contracts from Iraq, to Afghanistan and New Orleans, might qualify for corporatism. And aren't all the real leaders in this administration the once heads of really big corporations? And am I wrong, or are these not men that were ever prone to the draft, war or military service of any kind, but know how to make war against the planet? And wasn't it just yesterday that Don Rumsfeld intimated that to speak out against the war or the President was a kind of disloyalty and almost siding with the terrorists themselves? Sounds like extreme nationalism and anti-anarchism to me. I don't know. I wasn't all that political until about five years ago so I might be misunderstanding. I used to pray just for the Kingdom of God to come but now it's more "God save me from your followers!" Well to me anyway, but I don't really know much.
And then there is this thing we call projection. That's where one tends to label others the very things that they fear they might be involved in themselves. It's like a minister railing on the adulterers in the congregation, only to find out later, he was, well you know. He laid on them his own shortcomings and sins. I have seen ministers rant and rave against homosexuals and "queers", only to find out, well you know.. So when George Bush Sr. calls Sadaam the "new hitler," it makes me wonder. When George Bush Jr does the same or throws that at the current leadership in Iran, it makes me feel that there is some projection going on here. Maybe it's just me. What do I know?
In this administration it seems that peace is just around the corner when it isn't. Help is just around the corner, when it isn't. Victory is just around the corner when it isn't. Hostilities have ceased, when they have only just begun and "they hate our freedom," when I think sometimes He hates our freedom and the people of Islam really just want to be left alone and not be taken advantage of. And of course, staying the course is a bit like digging a grave these days. Just keep at it long enough and you'll never be able to climb out of the pit you have dug. You can take credit for "staying the course," but of course, you'll never see the light of day again.
Continuing in the article, "Stephen J. Wayne, a professor of government at Georgetown University, suggested White House strategists "probably had a focus group and they found the word `fascist.'
"Most people are against fascists of whatever form. By definition, fascists are bad. If you're going to demonize, you might as well use the toughest words you can," Wayne said.
After all, the hard-line Iranian newspaper Jomhuri Eskami did just that in an editorial last week blasting Bush's "Islamic fascism" phrase. It called Bush a "21st century Hitler" and British Prime Minister Tony Blair a "21st century Mussolini."
See what I mean, projection again! I think someone got tired of being called "fascist" so they decided to just turn it all around and accuse everyone else of the very thing that seems to be unfolding in our own country since 911.
Oh well, what do I know. I'm just the average American watching this show, paying the price, agonizing over the losses. Let's face it...it was not "WE" the American people who blew it when the world stood with us after 911, it is "THEM", the administration that blew it. Of course, if there is an agenda the "WE" get left out of knowing about, then "THEY" did what they really intended to do in the first place. Shhhhhhhhh, they are listening.
I think if you don't want your own people to suspect that one has turned our beloved country into a fascist regine of sorts, you accuse everyone else of being that and call them names like Hitler, when down deep you might suspect you yourself are acting out that role. The public does not seem to know much about nor care about the concept of Presidential Signing Statements, and I didn't know the President could sign something into law, and then, behind the scenes, sign something else that said it didn't apply to him if so chose. Wow, that's amazing. Sounds Nazi-like to me.
I don't know. I scare myself sometimes seeing what I see. All my friends see it too. I live in the Republican State of South Carolina and it's a lot easier to speak up now than it was just two years ago. I imagine the Internet drives those who have less than our best interest in mind nuts.
I even have 01-20-09 on the back window of my car now. It's my open secret code that I enjoy watching the people behind me in traffic try to figure out. I can always tell when they get it. They smile. I never would have done it had I not noticed that "Fascism, a radical totalitarian political philosophy that combines elements of corporatism, authoritarianism, extreme nationalism, militarism, anti-anarchism, anti-communism and anti-liberalism." had seemingly takine over my beloved country in the past ten years and really had more to do with what was going on at home than anywhere else. Sheesh...that's a darn good definition of most fundamentalist churches too!