# Are we moving toward fascism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 10, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927 "2009-08-10T14:00:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927/141 "2010-10-21T15:18:20Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > 1. There is no “death panel.” There is nothing in the plan that will encourage older people to die in order to save the plan money. This is a lie that is being perpetuated by extremists who are looking out for their own interests. They are targeting people who are gullible. But there should be some sort of rationing, otherwise we never get a handle on medicare/medicaid. > [@](#): > > 1. The Health Care Plan does not mean that we are becoming a Socialist government. We also share the costs of schools, libraries, highways, police forces, and fire departments. They haven’t made us Socialists either. That apparently is a matter of opinion. I bet you would encounter a difference of opinion from the tea party. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927/142 "2010-10-21T15:38:36Z")
> [@Hellestal](#): > > **Obama’s actual moderation is of absolutely no consequence.** Well, it is a pretty big factor in: the lack of enthusiasm from his base; the anemic stimulus package we got; the half assed health care reform that increases coverage without reducing costs; there’s probably a lot more ways in which obama has disappointed me and failed to live up to his promise of beinga transformational president. I feel like I might as well have voted for Biden or Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927/143 "2010-10-21T21:14:35Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > That apparently is a matter of opinion. I bet you would encounter a difference of opinion from the tea party. They are ignorant lunatics; their opinion has little to nothing to do with reality. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927/144 "2010-10-22T00:16:12Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Considering that _they_ are the ones who go about threatening their opponents with violence and murder, that their side of the political spectrum is presently the one engaging in most of the political violence in this country, and considering their general objectives I consider that a perfectly reasonable expectation. I by no means tolerate or condone them. > [@](#): > > Why should I care? They find the fact that I’m a liberal and an atheist horribly offensive anyway. They’d find it offensive if I didn’t thank them for it while they beat me to death. Suppose you said all Russians are Communists who’d purge everyone they’d disagree with. And you’d say you wouldn’t care since the fact that you believe in liberalism who’d be offensive to them. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Not at all, they are always screaming for everything they find offensive to be banned, from sex to _The Wizard of Oz_. They love government control of the media and everything else as long as _they_ are the ones making the decisions. Once again excessive generalization. There are more theocratic conservatives and more libertarian conservatives who disagree on such issues. ---
**Author:** ![falcotron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@falcotron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/falcotron)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927/145 "2010-10-23T04:56:01Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Not at all, they are always screaming for everything they find offensive to be banned, from sex to _The Wizard of Oz_. They love government control of the media and everything else as long as _they_ are the ones making the decisions. To be fair, the leaders of this push are usually the right wing of the Democratic Party, not the right wing of the Republican Party. It was Tipper Gore who demanded censorship of metal and rap music in the 80s, and Dianne Feinstein who drove the case against the Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist. Later, Joe Lieberman was the one who decided to do for movies and TV what Tipper had done for music. Lieberman then turned his attention to violent video games, and Evan Bayh and Hillary Clinton expanded the attack to include sexual video games. That’s not to say that Republicans haven’t sometimes pushed the same issues, but it’s always been Democrats at the forefront of the attack (with the exception of Dan Quayle’s bizarre vendetta against Murphy Brown). And it’s not as if the Democrats are pragmatic about it while the Republicans are insane; if you listen to just about anything Tipper said about Prince or Iron Maiden, or Joe Lieberman said about Grand Theft Auto, it’s clear that they’re as sincerely hysterical as any Christian Coalition nutjob. ---
**Author:** ![ThoughtfulDialogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@ThoughtfulDialogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThoughtfulDialogue)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2010, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927/146 "2010-10-23T08:07:10Z")
I’m not sure you understand what Fascism truly is. We are already there but its certainly not because of the Teabaggers. Fascism is the merger of state and corporate power. Privatized profits and socialized losses. Corporations running our government. This is what fascism is NOT: It has NOTHING to do with Free Markets or capitalism. It has nothing to do with anything I have seen or heard articulated by the Tea Party What you are getting is fascism used as a political insult. This is common today. Anybody you disagree with you is either a Fascist, a Socialist, a Communist, or in some way is comparable to Hitler. It is hyperbolic rhetoric designed to inflame partisan resentments. Both parties have brought us to this point where our government is economically Fascist. It has to do with big government working on behalf of corporations. It has to do with the rejection of the marketplace and free enterprise, a rejection of the Constitution and the rule of law. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927/147 "2010-10-25T21:28:37Z")
> [@falcotron](#): > > To be fair, the leaders of this push are usually the right wing of the Democratic Party, not the right wing of the Republican Party. It was Tipper Gore who demanded censorship of metal and rap music in the 80s, and Dianne Feinstein who drove the case against the Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist. Later, Joe Lieberman was the one who decided to do for movies and TV what Tipper had done for music. Lieberman then turned his attention to violent video games, and Evan Bayh and Hillary Clinton expanded the attack to include sexual video games. > > That’s not to say that Republicans haven’t sometimes pushed the same issues, but it’s always been Democrats at the forefront of the attack (with the exception of Dan Quayle’s bizarre vendetta against Murphy Brown). Aren’t the Dems you listed in fact the exceptions? Conservative-led censorship is often at the local level with school boards and churches, etc. And were there no Republicans involved in the backlash against Janet Jackson’s “nipplegate”? ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927/148 "2010-10-25T21:41:50Z")
> [@ThoughtfulDialogue](#): > > I’m not sure you understand what Fascism truly is. We are already there but its certainly not because of the Teabaggers. Fascism is the merger of state and corporate power. Privatized profits and socialized losses. Corporations running our government. I’m not sure I agree with that. I think fascism can be said to exist when a moderate politician fears being set upon by a right-wing mob. And talk of “Second Amendment Solutions” is a big leap in that direction. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-moving-toward-fascism/505927.md?page=7)