Is
Fascism A Real Concern
For The U.S.A.?
By
Sam Lucero
06 December,
2007
Countercurrents.org
Americans,
living in the United States after the attack of 9/11 and during the
war in Iraq, have given up a few rights to try to help our country stop
terrorism. However, as we begin the fifth year since the twin towers
fell, we have to ask ourselves: What is too much? How much are we willing
to forsake in the name of the very thing that we are sacrificing: freedom.
Abraham Lincoln said on July 4, 1861: “Must a government of necessity
be too strong for the liberties of its people, or too weak to maintain
its own existence?” Clinton Rossiter, author of Constitutional
Dictatorship, 1963, wrote, “Can a democracy fight a successful
total war and still be a democracy when the war is over?” America
is heading toward a future that has been shared by many other countries,
and that future is: Totalitarian Dictatorship by way of Fascism.
To determine
whether America is becoming fascist, fascism must first be defined.
Paul Wilkinson, in his in International Fascism puts it best when he
says, “…reactionary ideologies compounded of virulent ultra-nationalism,
exaltation of irrationality and, illegality, violence and dominant in
the right wing coalition of the ‘national movement’ and
fanatical anti-communism.”(27) The word fascism is a derivative
of fasces, meaning bundles of elm or birch rods, bound with record and
carried by lectors in Ancient Rome; the rods symbolized unity and authority.
Fascism, peaking between 1930 and 1945, is “a wide variety of
nationalistic and authoritarian movements”. (Wilkinson 27) Fascist
ideology can easily be summarized as the belief in the supremacy of
the national group over all other races and minorities, the total subordination
of the individual to an absolute state under an absolute leader; the
suppression of all independent secondary institutions; the rejection
of the values and institutions of parliamentary democracy and their
replacement by fascist dictatorships; total opposition to peaceful internationalism;
a foreign policy of expansion and conquest as the natural ‘destiny’
of the nation (Wilkinson 29).
Fascism became
a reality as a new type of socialism in 1914, constituted by Mussolini
and the revolutionary syndicalists together with Corrandini’s
nationalists. From 1902, throughout the period prior to World War I,
Mussolini developed in the shadow of the revolutionary syndicalists.
In Italy, fascism was viewed as an Intellectual Revolution. Fascist
ideology was a rejection of materialism – liberalism, democracy
and Marxism were being regarded simply as different aspects of the same
materialistic evil, and it is also a demonstration of economic frustration
during a period of recession. The fascist ideology started in Italy
around 1910-12, but did not materialize in mass form until after World
War I. This movement was seen as the expression of national unity, and
demonstrated the importance of unity of command, authority, leadership,
and moral mobilization, the education of the masses and of propaganda
as an instrument of power.
Lawrence
Britt in Free Inquiry Magazine lays out the 14 characteristics of Fascism
Powerful and continuing nationalism. “Fascist regimes tend to
make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and
other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols
on clothing and in public displays.”
Human Rights
are disdained. Because of fear of enemies and the need for security,
the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be
ignored in certain cases because of need. The people tend to ‘look
the other way’ or even approve of torture, summary executions,
assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc. 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: racial, ethnic, or religious minorities, liberals, communists,
socialists, terrorists, etc. Even when there are widespread domestic
problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government
funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military
service are glamorized; Crime and punishment are overemphasized. Under
fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce
laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses, and even
forego civil liberties, in the name of patriotism. There is often a
national police force with virtually unlimited power.
Sexism is
rampant. The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively
male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are
made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and
anti-gay legislation and national policy. Intellectuals and the arts
are disdained. Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility
to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors
and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression
in the arts is openly attacked, and the governments often refuse to
fund the arts.
Attempts
are made to control public opinion in various ways. Mass media is closely
controlled, sometimes directly by the government. In other cases, the
media is indirectly controlled by government regulation or through sympathetic
media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in wartime,
is very common. National security is an obsession. Fear is used as a
motivational tool by the government over the masses. Religion and government
are intertwined. Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most
common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion.
Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders,
even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed
to the government’s policies or actions.
Corporate
power is protected. The industrial and business aristocracies 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. Labor power is suppressed. Because the organizing power
of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions
are either eliminated entirely or are severely suppressed. Cronyism
and corruption are rampant. Fascist regimes almost always are governed
by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government
positions, and who use governmental power and authority to protect their
friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for
national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright
stolen by government leaders.
Fraudulent
elections are another unfortunate feature of fascist regime. Sometimes
elections in fascist’s nations are a complete sham. Other times
elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against (or even the assassination
of) opposition candidates, the use of legislation to control voting
numbers or political district boundaries, and the manipulation of the
media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate
or control elections. All of these features are common in Hitler Nazi
Regime, Mussolini’s Italy, Franco’s Spain, Suharto’s
Indonesia, and Pinochet’s Chile.
Although
fascism regimes have not lasted long (Mussolini’s Fascist State
1925-43 and Hitler’s Third Reich 1933-45 being the most successful),
they have exploited fears and prejudices. Real or imagined fears of
a communistic take over, or even something as basic as economic frustration,
are the problem addressed by aspiring fascist regimes, and Fascism is
their answer. This is how the average citizen would give up his/her
rights for a more unified and moral government, and how liberties could
be deferred to arrive at such an end.
All fascist
movements, to some degree combine mass revolutionist strategies with
reactionary ideologies compounded of active ultra-nationalism, exaltation
of irrationality, illegality, violence and fanatical anti-communism
(Wilkinson 28). Mussolini used the techniques of the mass movement with
elegance and propaganda. According to Mussolini, man has existence only
in so far as he is sustained and determined by the community. “Hitler
was vastly more successful both in his use of mass revolutionist strategies,
mass propaganda and party organization, and the control of mass communications
media, nationalist symbolism and slogans” (Wilkinson 28). During
the rise of fascism between the years of 1921 and 1928, the inherent
problems and contradictions became apparent.
War is one
of the forces that can most affect a country. After World War II, civil
rights in this country became a big concern and forever changed the
motive behind many laws created. After 9/11 many of our laws changed
to protection laws, and unfortunately gave the president a lot more
power then was normally granted to just one person. In a constitutional
democracy, the laws assumed for war should be retractable and normality
restored when the war is over. Wartime laws should only be created for
this end, however the laws that have been created since WWII, that have
granted the president more power during war, have not been retracted
or even created to enable their retraction. In the struggle to address
the atrocities caused by terrorism and war, the American government
has chosen to start legislating morals, such as same-sex marriages and
instating ‘sin’ taxes. None of these laws are meant to be
temporary. In this time of unrest, people turn to whatever gives them
comfort. For some that may be God and religion, however, this is not
true for all. The constitution states that there is not supposed to
be a promotion of any specific religion, but our president is proactive
in intertwining Christianity and government without a second thought.
Bush defenders
say that he is just trying to protect the US and that he is trying to
bring about a more moral America, but nowhere in the Constitution does
it say that the government has the power to instill morals in the people.
. A good question to ask would be: How can we be safe if the new national
security system can not take care of its own people during a hurricane
or even after the hurricane has passed? This is not the America I grew
up with, it wasn’t the one I went into the Army to defend, and
it sure is not the one that my grandfather was taken as a POW while
defending in WWII. The question at this point is not will we become
a fascist state but rather will we let it complete its mission.
This article
was written in November, 2005
© 2005,
Samuel J. Lucero. All Rights Reserved.
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