Saturday, September 16, 2006

The Fourteen Characteristics of Fascism: Is it Too Late for America?

This is pretty scary stuff. For weeks now, liberals have been trumpeting this research into the Fourteen Characteristics of Fascism, warning anyone who will listen that America is on the brink of a fascist takeover--if it hasn't happened already (just google "fourteen characteristics of fascism" and you'll see what I mean). At first, I just assumed that it was the typical hysteria and/or paranoia of the reality based community, but as I read each characteristic carefully, a cold chill wind blew across my spine.

Take a deep breath. Here we go, with my comments:
 
1. “Powerful and Continuing Nationalism; fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia.”

Oh my God! This is only the first category, but who hasn’t heard liberals mindlessly chanting about how dissent is “the highest form of patriotism” or seen the countless patriotic mottos and slogans such as “Proud of My Country, Ashamed of My President,” “Dissent: Patriotism in Action,” "You Don't Have to Like Bush to Love America,” “Patriot Act Too: Dissent," and “While You were Watching the War, Bush was Raping America.” Let's be honest--who is more prickly about his questionable patriotism being questioned than a liberal? And let's not even get into their many fervently patriotic songs, like this childish work of breathtaking numbskullery by that doddering old hippie, Neil Young, who hasn't taken a new cognitive imprint since 1968:

Let's impeach the president for lying
And leading our country into war
Abusing all the power that we gave him
And shipping all our money out the door

Let's impeach the president for spying
On citizens inside their own homes
Breaking every law in the country
By tapping our computers and telephones

Let's impeach the president
For hijacking our religion and using it to get elected
Dividing our country into colors
And still leaving black people neglected

2. "Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights; people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored. The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc."

Wow. I hadn’t thought about this before, but now I understand why liberals don't care one whit about Bush liberating 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq from two of the greatest human rights abusers in history. This also explains why feminists groups have “looked the other way” with respect to Bush’s liberation of Muslim women from the hideous conditions that prevailed in Iraq--the rape rooms, murdering children in front of their parents, Uday and Qsay kidnapping and raping brides on their wedding day, etc.
 
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."

Boy, does this one ring a bell! The constant frenzied drumbeat from the left that George Bush is the source of all the world's problems, and that if we can just eliminate him, we will live in some kind of leftist utopia. The fear also extends to “neocons," a code word for some sort of secret Jewish cabal that is supposedly pulling the strings behind world events.
 
4. "Supremacy of the Military; soldiers and military service are glamorized."

This is getting scary. As we all know, and are reminded of every day, nobody supports the troops more than liberals! Indeed, some of their deepest and most emotion-provoking slogans, mottos, and bumper stickers concern just this: “Support Our Troops: Impeach the President,” “I Support our Troops: That’s Why I Question Our Leaders,” “Want to Support Our Troops? Then Support the Truth.”
 
5. "Rampant Sexism."

Yikes. Sadly, it’s “Men Need Not Apply” in the Democratic party. The left has been almost entirely taken over by the ovary tower feminist gynocracy of man-hating women and girlie men. I don’t see how an actual man has a snowman's balls chance of getting anywhere in the Democratic party. If you show the slightest signs of testosterone, they kick you out, like Joe Lieberman. If you don't toe the phallophobic feminist line, you can forget about any political aspirations.

 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."

Yes! This would explain the obsession with Fox. The left has a near monopoly on the mainstream distribution of disinformation, and can’t stand the idea that there is a single populist network that goes against liberal orthodoxy. Dissenting voices like Rush Limbaugh are hounded by rogue prosecutors, while demagogues and pathological liars like Joe Wilson are held out as great patriots. And just last week we saw the frightening specter of government officials trying to pressure a major television network not to air a program critical of their point of view.
 
7. "Obsession with National Security; fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses."

Let me count the ways! If you listen to fear-mongering liberals, you'd think it was the end of the world: “I Fear Bush More Than I Fear Terrorism,” “Bush Crime Family--Using Fear to Sell Protection,” “Got Fear?--Thank Bush,” “The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Bush-Cheney," “Terror is Fear--Bush Delivers,” “Bush: Category 5 National Disaster,” “One Nation, Under Surveillance,” “I Love My Country--But I Fear My Government.” And let's not even talk about all the environmental fear-mongering--first global cooling, now global warming, China Syndrome, nuclear winter, overpopulation, running out of natural resources, etc.
 
8. "Religion and Government are Intertwined."

Wo. This explains the constant attack on religious freedom by big government, and the utter failure to protect the first amendment--you know, the important part: "congress shall make no law prohibiting the free expression of religion." But everywhere we look, we see this unhealthy mixture of church and state, as liberals try to impose their kooky secular religious values on the rest of us and interfere with the freedom to express our religiosity in the same unencumbered way Americans were allowed to in the past, without fear of the legal terrorists of the ACLU.
 
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."

We all know that the Democratic party has many more wealthy donors than the Republican Party, and that the Republicans have many more small donors. Just a few wealthy elites like George Soros and Steven Bing are responsible for funding the nutrooots, Air America, and all those 527 groups that illegally skirt campaign finance reform. Not to mention the entrenched corporate interests of Hollywood, the trial lawyers, corrupt unions, and other powerful special interest groups that benefit by having Democrats in power.
 
10. "Labor Power is Suppressed."

Until I read this, I had never connected the dots, but now I see why the left is so in favor of unlimited immigration, as it constantly suppresses wages, hurting all working people. Why hire a union guy for $25 an hour on a construction site, when you can pay an illegal $5 an hour under the table? The left always says that illegals are only taking jobs Americans won’t do, but this is a ridiculous argument. Without the influx of cheap labor, wages would just rise until people did take the jobs.
 
11. "Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts; fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked."

Political correctness. Campus speech codes. The destruction of our primary school system by the liberal educational establishment and teacher's unions. Textbook guidelines that demand cultural and moral relativism. 90% of faculties in elite universities being radical leftists and tenured wackademics. Deconstructionists who are hostile to the idea that truth even exists. No intellectual diversity on college campuses. And of course, there is no subhuman garbage so vile that it cannot be promoted as “art” by postmodernists who have no appreciation of, or ability to, produce genuine art.
 
12. "Obsession with Crime and Punishment."

It's true! Liberals are obsessed with crime and punishment, aren't they? They just can't wrap their minds around the idea that bad people need to be punished, and that punishment deters criminal behavior. How often have we seen that perennially mystified (and mystifying) headline in the New York Times: “Crime Down Despite Increase in Prison Population”? Or how about the obsession with granting the full panoply of civil rights to terrorists, or abusing the Geneva Convention by insisting that it protects unlawful combatants? For that matter, how about the nutty obsession that President Bush is engaging in criminal activity by spying on terrorists, something he might as well be mandated to do in war time if you take the constitution seriously?
 
13. "Rampant Cronyism and Corruption."

Yes, I suppose cronyism and corruption did reach its zenith (or is it nadir?) in the Clinton administration. Think of all the dubious records set by that corrupt administration: the only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance, the most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates, the most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation, the most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify, the first president sued for sexual harassment and accused of rape, the first First Lady to come under criminal investigation, the largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case, the first president to establish a legal defense fund, the first president to be held in contempt of court, the greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions, the first president disbarred from the US Supreme Court and a state court, not to mention the presidential pardoning of large campaign donors just before leaving office, such as Mark Rich.
 
14. "Fraudulent Elections; sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham."

Boy howdy! As John Fund wrote in Stealing Elections, when it comes to election fraud, Republicans are rank amateurs. The vast majority of election fraud and stolen elections has always come from the Democrats--illegal aliens registered to vote, corrupt urban political machines, dead voters swaying elections, etc.

As I said, I am scared. Real scared. This country is clearly in danger of becoming a left-wing fascist state--if it hasn’t already done so. As Sean Penn ominously warned us the other night on Larry King, "Fascism will come to America, but likely under another name... perhaps anti-fascism."

*****

All kidding aside, philosophically and spiritually, it actually does make much more sense that fascism would come from the left, because that is the source of its intellectual genealogy: Modern Fascism. It was communists who defined nazism--which was actually an alternative and competing form of socialism--as "right." But relative to classical American liberalism, both communism and fascism are left.

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

Refreshing. I am most thankful that your writings are published and that you write, unashamed, of your spirituality. We are spiritual beings, period. Everyone views the world from his or her "spiritual" perspective. An unrealized (i.e. natural, not born again) man or woman fills that world view in his or her soul with a completely distorted view of God (hint, it's their reflection in the mirror) and as you state so well, it's only a disappointing, truncated, dark view of an endlessly disappointing reality. Without a relationship with God, all is lost and transitory. Thank you again Gagdad, for all your time and effort, it is very much appreciated. Oh, and by the by, since allah is the supposed author of every single incident and issue of life, death, cahos, etc., is not he the author of sin and evil?? Is that a god even worth considering? I think not.
Tim Bell
Virginia

Joseph said...

It is certainly good to see secular liberalism questioned from a spiritual perspective. (You might like David R Hawkins' 'Truth vs Falsehood'). But aren't you a little bit one sided? Whilst secular relativism is a threat, is not far right fundamentalism just as much as a problem? Anyway, thanks for your insight.

Lisa said...

Right on, brother! Speak truth to power!

Anonymous said...

Re: the fascist characteristics of "Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause" and "Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool" - we might consider the ubiquitous currency of moonbat 9/11 conspiracy theories, particularly those that dovetail with anti-Semitism. Such theories are not only for domestic consumption. The fascist Hugo Chavev is now parroting them, as are many Mideast Muslims/Arabs.

Gandalin said...

Let us also remember that fascism is a form of leftism, that Mussolini was raised as a socialist and remained a socialist statist even as a fascist, and that Hitler was an enthusiastic revolutionary socialist, as well. The "corporations" that were em-bodied in the "corporatism" of the unifed body-like state of fascism included the labor unions. Fascism, communism, and national-socialism are three forms of the same statist ideology.

Anonymous said...

Jeez Bob, you seem to be 100% opposed to the enemy viewpoint. That's logically not very likely unless you don't really care what the enemy says anymore, except to contest it.
For instance, do you really not believe in global warming? And is the world flat, too?

Anonymous said...

Wow! A 14 point fascialist power presentation!
Thanks Bob!
The fascialist movement has tried,
once more, to divert our attention from the
carpet-bombing leftwaffe.
But unbeknownst to the author(s) of
this little piece of fasciganda, it actually fits the left to a T(yranny)!

Dr. Sanity said...

Boy howdy, indeed. I don't know about you, but I am very very afraid.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the Leftist fascists who dominate the American intellectual, political, and media landscape threaten to destroy us from within (as well as collude with the Islamofacist enemy abroad to destroy us from without), and we should use our justifiable fear to motivate and inspire us to devote virtually every post and comment in this blog to combating this grotesquely evil menace.

Gandalin said...

Dear Anonymous,

To my ear, it sounds as if you are trying to be sardonic and sarcastic.

Howsoever that may be, from the perspective of the hundreds of millions of the victims of socialism who were deliberately starved, tortured, and worked to death, sent to horrific gulags, gassed, shot, and massacred with all of the cruelty imaginable by the perverted minds of those who were convinced they were struggling only for the common good, reminding ourselves of the threat of leftism is not necessarily the most irrational activity in the world.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Gandilin, there is absolutely nothing irrational in the fact that, after reading literally hundreds if not thousands of posts and comments on this blog that deride and denounce the monstrously evil Leftist American fascists for the imminent and grave threat that they pose to life and liberty, we need to remind ourselves with countless more posts and rounds of comments about this godawful menace.

Anonymous said...

This blogsite is under official boycott by the ACLU as of today, September 16, 2006. ACLU members should not read or respond to it.

Anonymous said...

One could certainly understand if the leadership of the morally perverted, Leftist ACLU actually were to forbid its deluded members from encountering the unassailble truths advanced by Gagdad Bob and his intrepid band of Bobbleheads lest it lose its membership to the Light of Goodness, Truth, and Beauty.

Anonymous said...

Hey all!!

Bravo on the post Bob.

Alnd as I see it:

>12. "Obsession with Crime and Punishment."

is even more frighteningly accurate. You could add all of the howls that 'Bush Lied!!!' and should thus be 'held accountable;' the fixation of the 'ILLEGAL!!!!' war against Iraq; pushing for everyone to be punished under "International Law;" the obsession with getting 'legal' approval from the UN....and on and on.

Anonymous said...

Oh, BTW, on a note related to recent posts:

It's time for a Frisco Moonbat Report!!!

The other night a couple of moonbats sat near me at a bar. I couldn't help but overhear their conversation:

Mr. Moonbat: "I just can't understand it, it doesn't make any sense!. How does a liberal turn into a conservative??????? How is that possible??
Moonbatette (shaking her head in dismay): "I know, I know. It's terrible. Terrible! All I can come up with is that it's some kind of illness...I mean, for that to happen something must be terribly wrong.
Mr. Moonbat: You know, it's funny you should say that...I was just reading a book on autism and...
Moonbatette: Autism! So you think that's it???
Mr. Moonbat: Well, as a matter of fact...

You get the idea. And, in case you're wondering, I didn't chime in. It was far more amusing to just listen than to engage them. Besides, I was trying to have a quiet drink away from the cafe where I normally can't help but get sucked in to political jabber.

Anonymous said...

Yes, kahntheroad, it's absolutely inconceivable that any right thinking American could believe for even a nanosecond, much less feel upset over the possibility, that Bush lied to us about WMD's and other things concerning his reasons for ordering an attack on Iraq; could ridiculously trouble himself over such trivial matters as whether the Bush administration is obeying the rule of domestic law in its inexorable pursuit of truth, justice, and father...I mean homeland security; and could be the tiniest bit concerned with our flouting international law and losing international goodwill. After all, we are aligned with the forces of all that is good and pure and holy, and everyone who isn't with us is against us and alinged with the powers and principalities of evil and deserves our unbridled and contemptuous defiance and, if necessary, ballistic persuasion regarding their error of their unholy ways.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Anonymous, you have pretty much defined "false dichotomy." I know it makes it easier to deal with people's arguments when you can just exagerrate them out to whatever point suits you, but you may need reality someday, so don't leave it too far behind. You might be almost as smart in actual reality as you are in your enhanced one, after all.

Anonymous said...

Bob (and Dr. Sanity, too)-- would like to see either or both of you comment on the goodness of fit between those 14 points and Islamofascism. That's surely cause for concern too.

Chip said...

I'm reading Through Hell for Hitler written by a landser who served in panzers on the Eastern Front. They could be shot for listening to the BBC. Hey, not a bad idea, but I digress...

We're nowhere near, not in spitting distance, or approaching, fascism. Not to get all Tim McVeigh or anything, but the assault on Waco with military vehicles was about as close as we've been since FDR's war powers, which still wasn't close.

Like porn, you'll know real fascism when it appears. But of course it's usually too late by then. So everyone panic, abandon reason, and act paranoid all the time!

Ah, I see the Left is ahead of me on that one.

"Lied about WMD's..."

It's the largest conspiracy in world history, I tell you. Even the French thought Saddam had more than the chemical warheads found in Iraq.

Van Harvey said...

Gagdad - LOL!
Anonymous & moonbat speaks - LOL! (oh... sorry, you two were serious weren't you?... LOL!)

Anonymous said...

believe for even a nanosecond, much less feel upset over the possibility, that Bush lied to us about WMD's and other things concerning his reasons for ordering an attack on Iraq

Anonymous, perhaps if there was the slightest bit of credible evidence that Bush actually "lied us into a war," let alone an actual motive - plausible outside the Marvel Comics Universe - for why he would do such a thing and what he had to gain.

I know many conservatives who had reservations about the Iraq war, and I've heard - from both sides - many reasonable critiques of how the war and post-war was handled, etc. I hate to break it to you, but it is possible to oppose Bush's policies without resorting to mindbending conspiracies. Seriously, try it. Take any one of your favorite allegations against Bush - "He wanted oil!!!" "He wanted to make money for Halliburton!!!" "He wanted to avenge his Daddy!!" "The Jews are controling his mind!!!" - and think it through for a few minutes, ponder what would actually be involved in such plans, and sincerely ask yourself if there's, perhaps, a simpler explanation. Such as that Bush - for better or worse - believed this was the appropriate action to take for the country and you - and many others - happen to disagree.

But yeah, I know, it's not nearly as much fun as pretending to live in a Scooby Doo cartoon; where there's a big scaaaaaary conspiracy going on and only you, your stoner friends and your favorite musicians and celebrities are smart enough to uncover it.

flouting international law and losing international goodwill.

After all, we are aligned with the forces of all that is good and pure and holy, and everyone who isn't with us is against us and alinged with the powers and principalities of evil and deserves our unbridled and contemptuous defiance and, if necessary, ballistic persuasion regarding their error of their unholy ways.

Wow! It's refreshing to hear a liberal so candid with his true attitude towards conservative ideas!!

Anonymous said...

AVI, whose position have I exaggerated and how?

Nancy Reyes said...

Overblown rhetoric by those who ignore reality.
EVen in the Philippines, where reporters who insult people are sometimes assassinated, the press is free, and you can talk against GMA without arrest...
In a true fascist regieme, you are put in a concentration camp for making a joke, deported for treating a wounded man, or sent to prison for preaching an anti government sermon, or "disappear" for writing a blog...

OBloodyHell said...

> For instance, do you really not believe in global warming?

No one with the slightest semblance of a brain believes in man-made global warming based on any currently available evidence, and most of the ones who *actually* know anything of the subject (i.e., specialists in the field of causal climatology) question even the generalized notion of it.

OBloodyHell said...

> we need to remind ourselves with countless more posts and rounds of comments about this godawful menace.

As you yourself may serve to demonstrate, one can never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

All those vast postings to draw from, yet the best retort you can come up with is mindless sarcasm without a whit of rational refutation.

Pope said it best:

Sir, I admit your gen'ral rule,
that every poet is a fool;
but you yourself may serve to show it,
that every fool is not a poet.

- Alexander Pope -

OBloodyHell said...

> any right thinking American could believe for even a nanosecond, much less feel upset over the possibility, that Bush lied to us about WMD's

Any *right* thinking American certainly wouldn't.

Any *correct* thinking American actually grasps the difference between statements made in error and lies.

You, of course, are neither.

I guess it all depends on what you mean by "lies" -- right?

"No, I did not get **multiple blowjobs** from that woman".

Yeah, one can see the source of your confusion.

OBloodyHell said...

> and think it through for a few minutes,

Kahntheroad, your mistake is in using the above word.

S/He has no better grasp of the concepts surrounding the word "think" than S/He does of those surrounding the word "lie"

Anonymous said...

I just snorted an entire mug of coffee. I blame Rumsfeld and an uncaring Bush administration.

(*&^% Fascists...

Anonymous said...

OBH, what makes you think I'm being sarcastic? What have I stated with which you and Gagdad and every single Bobblehead worthy of the designation does not agree?

Van Harvey said...

OBloodyHell,
Good retorts, & thanks for ref'ing moonbat speaks Global Warming silliness, I was just too tired.

I actually looked into that religion early on, but discovered the ritual sacrifice of reason to be too boring, and the "Industry is EVIL, Technology is EVIL, America is EVIL, Capitalism is EVIL" mantras to be too lacking in rhythym & imagination to be of much comfort.

Anonymous said...

If you doubt that leftism can be fascist then study up on HG Wells who is one of the founders of modern liberal fascism.

H.G. Wells was a socialist, or to put it in his own words, a "liberal fascist." His visions of the future were often profoundly prophetic and much of his liberal philosophy is embraced today by the left. He even predicted that a new field of inquiry, which he termed Social Psychology, would arise and become the "soul of the race" by developing social control techniques which would systematically re-train the masses which he openly despised. And, following WW II, the core of British and American psychological warfare leadership created just such field to pursue worldwide social engineering.

He also spoke of a time when it would be inevitable that world powers would sacrifice a degree of sovereignty and join together to form a liberal utopian world under international law.

He wrote a book which he called "The Open Conspiracy" that contained a plan to bring this about and in the 1930’s he considered Russia, Germany, and the USA as agents of change to implement his plan but he realized and wrote that the time was not ready. There would be a long and gradual process of social change before the world would be ready.

Wells was offered allegiance to his "Open Conspiracy" by native British fascist, Oswald Moseley, but he rejected the offer pointing out that, "what we need is some more liberal fascists."

I have contended for a long time that modern liberalism came into being in the elitist intellectual circles near the turn of the 19th century. It was progressed in the early 20th century and many splinter groups were formed, one of which was the Nazi Party and another was Mussolini‘s Fascist Party.

Liberals today weather they realize it or not are pushing for a Wellsian society.

Here is what Wells wrote in 1939 in his book “The New World Order”

Quote:
"... when the struggle seems to be drifting definitely towards a world social democracy, there may still be very great delays and disappointments before it becomes an efficient and beneficent world system. Countless people ... will hate the new world order ... and will die protesting against it. When we attempt to evaluate its promise, we have to bear in mind the distress of a generation or so of malcontents, many of them quite gallant and graceful-looking people." -- H. G. Wells, in his book entitled "The New World Order" (1939)

It is not something that I say lightly but I am convinced that devout liberals are fascist without the balls.

dicentra63 said...

Where did these definitions of fascism come from? It seems to me that the definitions offered are too broad to be useful.

I'd propose the following instead:

Obsession with past or future glory, a flawless society that we can get to if we'd all just work together (read: think alike).

A privileging of a particular identity (religious, racial, political) as unquestionably superior to the rest.

The "urge to purge" all of the inferior members from the society, because they're holding up the whole operation.

Obsession with conformity of thought, with "wrong-thinkers" punished by imprisonment or "disappearance."

Extremely severe social or even official pressure to narc on your noncompliant neighbors so that they can be dealt with.

Secret police who can take anyone, anytime, for any reason, and make that person disappear.

Paranoid delusions about the Other, who is powerful enough to control the freakin' weather, and therefore must be Taken Out.

Faked, staged, and fabricated news that is held to be "true anyway" when its fakeness is exposed.

Any more?

Gagdad Bob said...

Frankly, there was nothing wrong with the (Webster's) dictionary definition:

"A political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."

Goat said...

This post is on the wings of the internet, let it fly. I have linked it and sent it to my friends, Brilliant absolutely brilliant. The question , can the Conservative Movement catch the wave of public sentiment, it ain't loonbatty, it's center right?

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Anonymous, as you are doing a mock expression of what kahntheroad thinks, then I would submit that of your comment, all the italicised parts are an exaggeration. Much of the rest in inaccurate, but that's different.

"Yes, kahntheroad, it's absolutely inconceivable that any right thinking American could believe for even a nanosecond, much less feel upset over the possibility, that Bush lied to us about WMD's and other things concerning his reasons for ordering an attack on Iraq; could ridiculously trouble himself over such trivial matters as whether the Bush administration is obeying the rule of domestic law in its inexorable pursuit of truth, justice, and father...I mean homeland security; and could be the tiniest bit concerned with our flouting international law and losing international goodwill. After all, we are aligned with the forces of all that is good and pure and holy, and everyone who isn't with us is against us and alinged with the powers and principalities of evil and deserves our unbridled and contemptuous defiance and, if necessary, ballistic persuasion regarding their error of their unholy ways.

Princess Leia in a cheese danish bikini - that is an image I am going to have trouble getting out of my mind. Thanks.

dicentra63 - I like those definitions. Fascism has such enormous connotative meanings that its denotative meanings are pushed to the background. Therefore, I like your informal definitions better than the formal ones.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Princess Leia - I followed the link after posting. I should have guessed.

Cassandra said...

Sorry AVI :)

I spend too much time either over at BlameBush or inside my own head. Sometimes the multiple personalities get the best of me.

Anonymous said...

Geez - with Clinton being such a pathological narcissist as he is (and Hillary too, it would seem), and all this talk about narcissistic parents, makes me wonder about Chelsea's mental health.

Anonymous said...

Gagdad Boba is either a Zionist Pseudo Jew Khazar Capitalist and Communist Comrade Commissar self sainted God Chosen Racist or one of their millions of mass media indoctrinated stooges who is unaware that he his describing the tenets of Fascist hating Zionism whose world Wide Webbed Imperium of Usury is turning the world's countries into its multi mixed race cheap labor and war fodder colonies to rule from Je(w)rusalem

Anonymous said...

Let's see...Hitler benefited from the Reichstag bombing, a great public opinion bonanza that allowed him to create a unified authority to oversee homeland security eventually leading to the SS; steadily undermined the power of the German parliament so that eventually he became the Unitary Executive of Germany; activated various forms of propaganda tools (didn't our current administration get caught several times paying for secret editorial coverage of pet programs, particularly NCLB?)...tell me where the comparisons to the current Bush regime fall short, and why it's considered unwise to learn from historical precedent? If it's too late once it's here, why not be forewarned and forearmed?

It's easy to dismiss people who have views that don't fit our own carefully worked out ways of seeing our universe, spiritual or not. On the other hand, it's probably a bit more beneficial to society if we honestly consider the implications of what people are saying that don't agree with us.

I certainly understand the viewpoint of those who think some people over-exaggerate the negatives of a particular leader. I can't remember a president in my time back to Eisenhower that wasn't villified by some segment of society. It helps keep us all a little bit more circumspect about the people we elect to represent us. On the other hand, I have trouble remembering any administration in the past that has done more harm to our Constitution and our reputation in the world than this one.

Of course, there are always people in the world who see things as Us vs. Them, and the current administration seems intent on fanning that fire as much as they can because it suits their opportunistic view of the world. However, truly spiritual beings move beyond this simplistic division and see us all as sharing the same essence as human being in a fathomless universe. Truly spiritual beings don't need to manipulate others with rhetorical devices and ad hominem arguments because they know they're lost once they travel that tempting path.

I've heard Christians insist, for example, that even other denominations of Christendom don't "worship the same God as I do," not to mention Jews and Muslims. But if a Creator God created the universe and everything within it, and a good person is properly worshipping their form of creator god, wouldn't the real Creator God see them as worshiping himself/herself under a different name, or is the name the most important thing? Like Party ahead of Nation, do we worship doctrines ahead of Divinity?

I've yet to get a reasoned response to such questions, but I'm still hoping someone with a strong view supporting these petty human divisions will explain it in a reasonable manner. I usually get assertions such as "well of course it's a different god!" and "but I and my religion have the only TRUE beliefs!" - and that covers it for that person...

But not for me.

Sadly, as in many of the comments posted to this assertion-filled critique of the so-called 14 fascism characteristics, many are completely backwards to reality. For example, one commenter said that fascism is a form of leftism, and another said that many died because of socialism. Both of these assertions are simply not true.

First, if one defines socialism as leftist, then fascism has to be on the opposite end of the continuum. They can't both be leftist. The term "right-wing dictatorship" is a common synonym for a fascist government, for example. Think of the continuum running from complete totalitarian on one end to complete anarchy on the other: right-wing leads toward the former and left-wing leads toward the latter. Pure democracy is closer to anarchy (i.e. left-wing broadening of power) and pure fascism is closer toward totalitarianism (i.e. right-wing, concentration of power).

Second, socialism is an economic system (remember Econ 101 "controls the means of production"?), while fascism is about governance and rule - like the "-cracy" in all those other words: democracy, plutocracy, aristocracy. So, to call socialism left-wing is kinda strange...even though it does appeal to leftists. Is capitalism right-wing because it appeals to right-wingers? Absurdist argument!

Fascism is based on political power held by a small ruling class who have no other claim to power other than power itself. As such, it's probably closest to plutocracy but without the social stratum implied for plutocrats. What it really has always been is legal thuggery.

Third, there has never been a real example of a socialist nation in the world unless it's a tiny island nation, because the economics of socialism go against the natural instincts of humanity in large groups. Those that have claimed to be large socialist states have had to resort to authoritarian control to make it all work. So it's authoritarian/totalitarian governments that have caused the deaths of millions, not precisely the economic system of socialism.

Of course, my assertions of all of this are fairly open to question even by those who are unwilling to check out what I'm saying. I've no fear of letting others fact check my comments, and even if it doesn't convince them, at least they've tried, and perhaps learned something.

Bottom line: civilization has battled between two poles on the same continuum for millennia. On one side are those who stand up for the absolute right of individual control and power to exercise in ways they see fit for themselves vs. on the other side those who stand up for the strength of the community in its recognition that we are stronger together than we are separately, and need strong rules and principles to live by in order to survive.

In basic short hand, it comes down to freedom vs. responsibility. They are not mutually exclusive but they must always be balanced. Here's where the current debate, as exemplified in this post and its comments, shows that those who support the current administration are more confused than they realize.

Republicans, when I was part of the party, traditionally emphasized personal freedom and responsibility, which is a balanced viewpoint. They wanted limited government, meaning that having less of it meant less intrusion in the business of individuals, and they wanted honorable, accountable representation in government. What's interesting now is the modern Republicans' discourse that supports the individuals in government and their freedom to do what they want - even if it means MORE government, MORE intrusion in our personal lives - and of course, even if it means this government could start moving toward fascism in a heartbeat. The current leadership have all abandoned personal responsibility (most recently the Foley scandal, but not the first) and the former ideals of the party, yet the nominal Republicans have not abandoned these fools.

That's how Hitler did it - efficiently, and legally, and with the blessings of the cultural elite. And when these supporters finally woke up and started asking real questions about the people they'd happily handed over the keys to, it WAS too late.

The problem with smaller government, that requires a deft and balanced hand to administer, is that it concentrates more power in fewer hands, which means less representation of the People in our halls of government, and more potential for abuse. The framers of our Constitution recognized this potential abuse - after all, they'd just dealt with a capricious monarch prior to seceding from Great Britain - and built in protections that even a devil in office could not get around.

Good government is not a pretty, efficient entity. It's messy but it's chief hallmark is that it tries to be fair and representative of the people.

This is why the old Republican Party was always strongly on the side of laws that are interpreted properly, and the Democrats were always the ones looking for new "liberal" interpretations. That's flipped, too, especially with Bush's 700+ "signing statements" that indicate just how little faith he has in the rule of law, and how much he chooses to liberally interpret laws developed by the legislative branch.

This is why I can't be part of this so-called Republican Party anymore, and why the possibilities of fascist dictatorship (i.e sole power held in the hands of one person) are not that far off with this crowd.

If you don't like comparisons with Hitler, how about Napoleon? Checked back lately as to why he was placed in exile in the first place? Could it have had anything to do with his abandonment of a republic in France and its replacement with a hereditary monarchy, establishing him as emperor? Could his subsequent expansionist aggression in Europe have caused other sovereignties in the area to band together to get rid of him?

Wow, where is that happening these days? Not Iraq!?

Anonymous said...

In this article called A FASCISM DEFINITION AS IT RELATES TO AMERICA, it becomes quite clear that we are a fascist country. And as you can see from this article, we're already a police state. The wheels are in motion for the United Nations to take away all semblance of American sovereignty. See video for more on this.

Gagdad Bob said...

Yes, this is a fascist state and I am the Minister of Information. You are under arrest.

Anonymous said...

lol

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