You know Equipose, you really should stay away from scholarly works, they are usually written from the base assumption that the reader knows just a little bit about the subject and is not coming from a stance of “WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!” hysteria. Compare Dr. Britt’s common points of Fascism to the U.S. right now, today, and you find that most of them aren’t even close to being applicable. Let’s look, shall we?
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- Powerful and Continuing Nationalism **. Hardly the exclusive province of a Fascist nation. All countries exhibit this to a greater or lesser degree. This is like saying that one of the characteristics of a Fascist Country is that it has borders.
**2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights **. Oh, if only we had some kind of document, a treaty…or a Bill…of our rights…how much better off we’d be. For this one to stick, Toots, you’ll have to show repeated and systematic denials of people’s rights that the courts refuses to address. You can’t.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause. This one is bunk. I know you are going to point at the war on terror and say that it fits the bill, but Sweetie, the terrorists attacked us first. It’s not scapegoating to hunt them down and eliminate them. People voluntarily choose to become terrorists and to take up arms against the civilized world. What this one is talking about is demonizing entire classes of people who are innocent as a focus for the anger of society as a whole; i.e. “The blacks” or “the Jews”, etc… Again, that’s not happening here.
**4. Supremacy of the Military ** You need to quote this one to understand: “Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected.” A tiny bit of research on this very site (and the #2 Google hit for “US budget spending percentages”) reveals that while the US spends more total money on the military than any other country on earth, in terms of a percentage of it’s GNP, we only spend 3%, ranking 52nd overall. Three measly percent. Not exactly a “disproportionate amount of government funding”. As for the “domestic agenda being neglected”, it is to laugh. Pork barrel DC is rolling along, fatter than ever.
**5. Rampant Sexism ** Condi Rice. Sandra Day O’Conner. 14 Senators are women, along with 62 representatives. How many powerful women must I name before you’ll concede that this is just baseless crap?
**6. Controlled Mass Media ** The government does not control mass media. Period. Show me one, just one, bit of proof that they do.
**7. Obsession with National Security **. How is this different that it’s been for the last 60 years? Were we a Fascist nation during the cold war too? Not to mention that providing security is one of the fundamental purposes of government, you dumb ass.
**8. Religion and Government are Intertwined **. Even though I disagree with the current President’s religion, and his propensity to base some of his policies upon those beliefs, the problem isn’t that the President has them, it’s with the beliefs themselves. That being said, the U.S. doesn’t have anything close to an official religion, unlike such Fascist countries as, say, Great Britain.
**9. Corporate Power is Protected ** I’ll give you a partial on this one. Even though “a mutually beneficial business/government relationship” is vital to the strength of any nations economy ( and business is the engine that drives America, not Government ), it’s a hopeless case trying to argue reality and common sense with people who see all corporations as evil, soulless entities bound and determined to chew up the “common man” and spit him out. Take the half point and go back to your coffee house, comrade, you’re not worth arguing with.
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- Labor Power is Suppressed ** BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! No, really, say it again. Tell me alllllll about how labor power is “suppressed”. Those poor, put upon Unions! The world would be a better place if they could do things like unilaterally donate huge sums of money to the Democrats, regardless of their member’s personal politics (whose dues provide that money in the first place), or volunteer bodies for campaigning and “getting out the (Democratic) vote” efforts, or make or break certain candidates in certain jurisdictions with their endorsements. Tell me more about the terrible abuses heaped on “Labor”.
**11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts **. Maybe, maybe not, but that’s not really government’s job anyway, but the NEA is still funded, so I’m gonna have to say “No”, in addition to the fact that including “intellectuals” on this list is simply more “poor, poor pitiful me, I’m oppressed” bullshit from an academic.
**12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment **. Name one jurisdiction in the US where Police have “almost limitless power to enforce laws”. You can’t because they don’t, and burden of proof, reasonable search and seizure, and due process laws overwhelmingly favor the criminals, not the Police and the State. Which is as it should be. As disturbing as some portions of the Patriot Act potentially are, they are nowhere near the level of “almost limitless”.
**13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption **. Uh-huh. And I guarantee you some contractor was getting kickbacks at the Tower of Babel. This is no worse than anywhere, and a whole fuck of a lot better than in countries like, oh, I dunno, Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, where cronies of SH had the literal power of life and death over citizens.
**14. Fraudulent Elections **. This horse is dead. Leave it alone. You may not like the results of 2000, but they resulted from the letter of the law. If you don’t like 'em, change the laws.
So, 14 points, and only 1/2 of 1, along with a couple that are so general that they apply to every country on Earth, reasonably apply to the U.S.A. I tremble in fear of the imminent arrival of jack booted thugs. Y’know, Equipose, you might be better served staying away from things that you so aggressively don’t understand. Already nobody takes you serious because of your hysteria, don’t add rampant stupidity to the list.
He must be angry! ;j