# Could the U.S. become a fascist state? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 25, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951 "2010-07-25T16:15:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/41 "2010-07-26T13:23:54Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > If and when fascism comes to America, it will most likely come from the left, not the right. America is already well on the way to becoming a banana republic, thanks primarily to the economic and racial doctrines of the left. 😕 How is anything at all in America right now “thanks to” the left? There are no leftist politicians of any importance in America and have not been for some time. Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich . . . that’s about it. And what do anybody’s “racial doctrines” have to do with anything? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/42 "2010-07-26T13:30:13Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > If and when fascism comes to America, it will most likely come from the left, not the right. America is already well on the way to becoming a banana republic, thanks primarily to the economic and racial doctrines of the left. It’s nice to see someone who’s never discouraged by their own constant wrongness. And frankly, to read this from the man who thinks America is being ruined by a constant wave of cultural warfare against the majority white culture is kind of ironic. And funny. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/43 "2010-07-26T14:11:06Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > If and when fascism comes to America, it will most likely come from the left, not the right. America is already well on the way to becoming a banana republic, thanks primarily to the economic and racial doctrines of the left. If you are seriously contending that that the dominant political power is held by leftists in the US, then there’s probably no point in discussing anything with you. Nevertheless I’d like hear more about your theory that the US is on it’s way to becoming a country dependent on a single agricultural export, and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique, which is how I’ve always heard the term ‘banana republic’ used. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/44 "2010-07-26T14:14:49Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 😕 How is anything at all in America right now “thanks to” the left? There are no leftist politicians of any importance in America and have not been for some time. Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich . . . that’s about it. > > And what do anybody’s “racial doctrines” have to do with anything? You seriously believe that Obama and his posse aren’t hard core lefties? Puh-_leeze_. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/45 "2010-07-26T14:16:08Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > If you are seriously contending that that the dominant political power is held by leftists in the US, then there’s probably no point in discussing anything with you. Nevertheless I’d like hear more about your theory that the US is on it’s way to becoming a country dependent on a single agricultural export, and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique, which is how I’ve always heard the term ‘banana republic’ used. Excessive literalism is a sign of mental illness. Have someone explain the concept of a rhetorical statement to you. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/46 "2010-07-26T14:20:35Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Excessive literalism is a sign of mental illness. Have someone explain the concept of a rhetorical statement to you. OK, so you can’t support what you very clearly said. Got it. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/47 "2010-07-26T14:50:49Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > You seriously believe that Obama and his posse aren’t hard core lefties? Puh-_leeze_. :rolleyes: Let me tell you what I think the HARD CORE LEFTIES would do. They would close Guantanamo; They would get out of Afghanistan as soon as they responsibly could; They would pass single payer system health care reform; They would repeal DADT during their first day in office; They would recognize gay marriage for federal employees; They would put Bush and Cheney in jail; They would have repealed the Bush tax cuts (at least for the wealthy); There are all sorts of things that HARD CORE lefties would do that this administration hasn’t done. I guess they stopped torturing people. That’s something. I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/48 "2010-07-26T15:14:07Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Excessive literalism is a sign of mental illness. Have someone explain the concept of a rhetorical statement to you. You’re not in the Pit, so please avoid any other personal insults. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/49 "2010-07-26T15:17:16Z")
If America continues on its present course, we will eventually become a third world country. By this, I mean that there will be a small ruling elite (mostly white), a somewhat larger middle class (many if not most of whom will be white) and the majority of people (most of them non-white) living in poverty. While the United States will maintain the façade of a republic, much as Rome did, the ruling elite will be deeply entrenched and more or less impossible to dig out by peaceful means. The ideology and rhetoric used to rationalize the elite’s claim to power will come largely from the left, using the sort of cant we now get from the likes of Chavez and Calderon, and the intelligentsia will generally be lapdogs of the elite. Blatant racial appeals to poor non-whites and highly centralized (and thoroughly corrupt) state control of the economy will be critical tactics used by the elite to secure its power. This is the most likely way fascism will come to America. And this is the best case scenario that I can see. I don’t want to talk about the worst case scenario, it’s just too depressing … ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/50 "2010-07-26T15:28:16Z")
The worst case scenario is that fascism comes from the right, naturally, because then the intelligentsia will all be dead, along with the gays, Jews, negroes and feminists. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/51 "2010-07-26T15:41:28Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > > 😕 How is anything at all in America right now “thanks to” the left? There are no leftist politicians of any importance in America and have not been for some time. Bernie Sanders, Dennis Kucinich . . . that’s about it. > > > > And what do anybody’s “racial doctrines” have to do with anything? > > You seriously believe that Obama and his posse aren’t hard core lefties? Puh-_leeze_. :rolleyes: :dubious: I do, as that is the truth. I know all about hard-core lefties. They are even less comfortable in or with the Democratic Party than the hard-right Tea Partiers are in or with the GOP. As for Obama, he is maybe five degrees to the left of Bill Clinton if that. Like Clinton, he represents the **right** wing of the Democratic Party – the left wing of which is still quite conservative by many democracies’ standards. And, once again, what is this “racial doctrines of the left” business, and how does it make America a “banana republic”? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/52 "2010-07-26T15:44:54Z")
Well, I for one am happy to know that, according to **Lonesome Polecat** , the sort of cant we get from the likes of Limbaugh and Beck wouldn’t ever rationalize a conservative elite’s claim to power. Because that would be bad. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/53 "2010-07-26T15:57:34Z")
Lonesome Polecat’s posts are a perfect example of why political discourse in this country is in the dumps right now - a lot of name-calling and I-Know-You-Are-But-What-Am-I style “debate.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/54 "2010-07-26T16:07:54Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > If America continues on its present course, we will eventually become a third world country. By this, I mean that there will be a small ruling elite (mostly white), a somewhat larger middle class (many if not most of whom will be white) and the majority of people (most of them non-white) living in poverty. While the United States will maintain the façade of a republic, much as Rome did, the ruling elite will be deeply entrenched and more or less impossible to dig out by peaceful means. Quite true. > [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > The ideology and rhetoric used to rationalize the elite’s claim to power will come largely from the left . . . Quite false. It is the Tea Partiers and the religious right and the Libertarians, **not** the Greens or the Socialists or the left-wing Democrats, who are acting as useful idiots for the American white overclass. Only the left – only the **hard** left – offers any way **out** of what you are describing. It never fails to amaze me how much of the RW world-view is not merely detached from reality but an **inversion** of reality. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/55 "2010-07-26T16:15:06Z")
I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed so far. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/56 "2010-07-26T16:39:07Z")
Wait, let me get this straight: **LonesomePolecat** thinks that Barack Obama’s policies will result in a white ruling class and the non-white folks forming the underclass? Here’s a hint: [this is a picture of Obama](http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/imagecache/home_hero_rotator_main/hero_feature/hero_image/hero_bp-cap_LJ-0061.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/57 "2010-07-26T16:43:13Z")
I can’t tell the difference between **LP** ’s dystopic future and the present, to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/58 "2010-07-26T16:53:51Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Let me tell you what I think the HARD CORE LEFTIES would do. > > They would close Guantanamo; > > They would get out of Afghanistan as soon as they responsibly could; > > They would pass single payer system health care reform; > > They would repeal DADT during their first day in office; > > They would recognize gay marriage for federal employees; > > They would put Bush and Cheney in jail; > > They would have repealed the Bush tax cuts (at least for the wealthy); _ **Damuri Ajashi in '12!** _ ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/59 "2010-07-26T16:55:43Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > You’re not in the Pit, so please avoid any other personal insults. So you’re just going to ignore JayJay’s insulting remarks to me? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951/60 "2010-07-26T17:05:18Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > > [@Marley23](#): > > > > You’re not in the Pit, so please avoid any other personal insults. > > So you’re just going to ignore JayJay’s insulting remarks to me? Saying that you are “constantly wrong” is a description of his opinion of your posting, so no, it’s not a banned insult. That being said… > [@joebuck20](#): > > Lonesome Polecat’s posts are a perfect example of why political discourse in this country is in the dumps right now - a lot of name-calling and I-Know-You-Are-But-What-Am-I style “debate.” This is moving closer to the line. Let’s resume discussing the topic rather than what individual posters think is wrong with **LonesomePolecat**. That stuff goes in the Pit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-the-u-s-become-a-fascist-state/547951.md?page=4)