Is the march to fascism/fundamentalism/authoritarianism a ratchet?

[ProfessorPlum]

We slowly slowly slowly have given the wealthy and their corporations the power to set up and enforce the rules to our society. Corporations are people, money is speech, bribery is legal, elections are auctions, corporations force arbitration, unions are destroyed, banks commit fraud with impunity, manufacturers poison us with impunity, the powerful are moral, the poor are immoral.

The elite, in short, are now in charge of making all the rules, including how the elite should treat everyone else. (hint: like shit)

have other countries ever come this close to full blown fascism (where corporate power = governmental power) and come back from the brink? I'm seeing a lot of roadmaps to how Nazi Germany came to be, but not many where fascism loomed but was beaten back. Can it be?

[Hortensis]

1. A real worry; however, the elite are NOT "in charge of

making all the rules." We are.

Our grandparents were in this situation back in the 1930s, a very dangerous time when robber baron greed lead to the Great Depression, up to a quarter of all Americans out of work and newly destitute, and Europe being overcome by fascist movements.

They dealt with what America had come to by making new rules. The New Deal, of course.

They also said a big no to the wave of fascism threatening the U.S.

Btw, although they've been called "the greatest generation" because of the accident of being up to bat when taking action became unavoidable, they had their full share of the kind of gutless wonders, whiners, fascistic right wingers, and destructively divisive left-wing zealots we have today. They weren't perfect, they'd let America decline over decades and crash before acting, but they dug out by electing progressive liberal Democrats with a mandate to get America back on track.

Our turn at bat, and on November 6 we will get control of one or both (!!!) houses of congress and a number of state governments.

[Anon-C]

2. well said!!! nt

[ProfessorPlum]

3. Hmm, maybe there are no examples