Why I won't Apologize for Calling Bush a Fascist

[OneBlueSky]

the author, Morgaine Swann (who calls herself "The Goddess"), takes the 14 points delineated by Laurence W. Britt in Fascism Anyone? and demonstrates how all 14 apply to the Bush administration . . . nice summary (despite the hokey name) . . .

http://the-goddess.org/blog/2004/08/yes-it-canwhy-i-wont-apologize-for.html

(snip)

That's 14 out of 14. If it looks like a duck.... I know that the Anti-Defamation League has been consistent in asking that images of Hitler not be used in political campaign because they feel that to do so does not honor the victims of the holocaust. Under normal circumstances, I would agree that such imagery should be off limits. Having watched the consistent assault on American values perpetrated by this Administration, however, I am paying particular attention to anything that seems to extend the pattern. Michelle Malkin's new book, In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War on Terror, has alarm bells going off.

"In Defense of Internment provides a radical departure from the predominant literature of civil liberties absolutism. It offers a defense of the most reviled wartime policies in American history: the evacuation, relocation, and internment of people of Japanese descent during World War II (three separate actions which are commonly lumped under the umbrella term “internment”). My book is also a defense of racial, ethnic, religious, and nationality profiling (widely differing measures that are commonly lumped under the umbrella term “racial profiling”) now being taken or contemplated during today’s War on Terror."

(snip)

How kind of Ms. Malkin to offer herself up as a "token torturer".(If the "oppressor" can get members of the oppressed group to do the wet work, they resent the "torturer", and thus themselves, rather than the original author of the oppression.) She's a very attractive advocate for Racism, uh, I mean, Racial Profiling. How can we criticize a "reasonable" action by the Bush administration to protect the country from the ever-present threat of terrorism when such a lovely woman says it's a good thing? Calling it Bigotry, or Xenophobia would be downright unAmerican. From there, it's a short step to locking up certain people of color - beginning with Muslims, of course- for their own protection. What the hell- we already have 2 Million people in prison for mostly non-violent crimes. Nobody that matters will miss a few followers of Islam, now will they?

It hasn't happened yet. Just remember - it DID happen before, and it happened HERE. It happened in Germany to the Jews, some of whom live right here, right now. If we truly want to honor them, we need to recognize the signs when we see them. 14 out of 14 is 14 too many for an American Presidency.

- much more . . . good summary of Bush's road to fascism on which we are well along . . .

http://the-goddess.org/blog/2004/08/yes-it-canwhy-i-wont-apologize-for.html

[loftycity]

1. Thanks for posting..Fascism is here

We are in a Fascist Country. We should call it what it is.
At least people would stop being so confused and know what we are in the middle of Fasicism taking hold.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. A view of modern fascism

From Democratic Underground
Dated February 5 & 12, 2002

The Rise of Yuppie Fascism
By Jack Rabbit
Part One
Part Two

Excerpt from part two:

Last week, we also defined classical fascism by listing some points from an encyclopedia article co-authored by Il Duce, Benito Mussolini, himself. We gave those points in the order Mussolini presented them. Let us now reexamine them in a slightly different order, rearranged in order of the importance of the difference between classical fascism and yuppie fascism.

First, Mussolini said in fascism the state is absolute. However, in recent history, the state has declined in power and the power of the multinational corporation has risen. Thus, in yuppie fascism, the power of the corporation is absolute and all other individuals and institutions, including the state, are conceived only in how they stand in relation to the corporation.

Second, Mussolini's absolute state is expansive. However, under yuppie fascism, the state is a tool of the corporation and uses its power not so much to seize and occupy territory but to negotiate trade agreements that open foreign markets to the corporation in such a way as to set aside any barriers to corporate investment in the foreign market with the aim of corporate dominance of the market. The state's military force is used only if there is no other way to open the market or to protect the corporation's existing investments in the foreign market. In short, the relationship of the corporate state - in the new sense, where the emphasis is on corporate rather than state - of the developed world to the developing world is colonial.

Third, Mussolini's fascism renounced pacifism and embraced war as that human endeavor that "puts the stamp of nobility on the peoples with the courage to meet ." However, only corporations directly involved in preparation for war benefit from war. Otherwise, open conflict is a hindrance to commerce; for example, no oil pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Karachi can be built as long as there are local hostilities in Afghanistan. Consequently, war is replaced not by peace but by a state that might be called one of security, in which tensions that arise from the imposition of corporate power over the powerless are suppressed; brute military strength is used to suppress the tensions - labor strife and peasant uprisings - only if necessary.

Fourth, classical fascism rejected egalitarian ideologies like socialism and democracy in favor of "the immutable, beneficial and fruitful inequality of mankind" which cannot be altered by "a mechanical process such as universal suffrage." Yuppie fascism also embraces inequality as beneficial to society as a whole and therefore holds that the rich deserve their opulence. Vast wealth is placed at the disposal of the members of an economically elite class for their private pleasure as a reward for their superior ability and foresight.

Finally, classical fascism rejected Marxist class struggle as a vehicle of historical progress in favor of concepts of individual "holiness" and "heroism", by which Mussolini meant "actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or indirect." For Mussolini, the exponent of the absolute state that expanded for its own sake, a heroic act was an act of valor in war. In yuppie fascism, with the state in decline and war seen as an inconvenient though occasionally necessary evil, the hero is the entrepreneur.

This is especially true if he began in middle-class or even lower-class surroundings, becoming the hero of a modern success story written by a contemporary Horatio Alger. Collective class struggle, in which individuals band together to better the position of all, is thus replaced by the endeavor of the individual to better himself and only himself, leaving the members of the class from which to rose to be exploited by him as the head of a new corporation.

Read more.

Bush and crew certainly are democrats. One should bear in mind that, if the term fascism is at all appropriate to them, they are not classical fascists. The idea of the above is to provide a model that better fits modern fascism and to initiate a discussion as to whether the program of US Republican Party fits that model.

To be sure, there are elements of yuppie fascism, also called post-fascism, in the GOP. For example, Mr. DeLay certainly fits that model and Ms. Coulter is a definite advocate, albeit an unofficial one.

My own views should be read as supplementing Mr. Britt's ideas, not as being in conflict with them.

[RodneyCK2]

3. Great article...

I liked all the Nazi links outlined in #13. Some of it, mostly the Arnold connections, I knew about, but not that Prescott Bush helped finance Hitler's rise to power.

Scary stuff. What is even scarier is that this shit is happening again. I guess people are forgetting about WWII.

Thanks for the link.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. I'll say it too

Bush is a facist, and is trying to make our country into a facist state.

[salib]

5. Me too

[skygazer]

6. Very good points

I too have been somewhat frustrated that comparisons to Hitler are considered off limits. While I understand the reasoning, the truth is that we are quickly traveling down a similar path and I think it behooves us to point out the dangers.

[leesa]

7. Can't imagine why you should have to apologize for calling the fascist

a fascist.

[ikojo]

8. I've long said that fascism in the US would

be painted with a happy face (Wal-Mart everyone?) and presented to us by corporate America.

Just think about it...in the 1980s when the government under St Ronnie the Reagan first introduced drug tests most people saw it for what it was..an invasion of privacy. At the time most people said they would not pee in a cup for a job, even when alcohol causes more traffic deaths than pot smoking.

Fast forward to the late 90s early 00's.....following years of government propaganda about the horrors of people on pot and evil marijuana, people now routinely give in to drug tests and pee in a cup to get a job, even if that job has NOTHING to do with operating a vehicle.

Once rights are given up they are very hard to regain.

[Cleita]

9. Excellent article.

Thanks for posting.

[Nordic]

10. Hitler ruined it for fascism

You can't say the word "fascist" without people thinking you mean Hitler.

Which is too bad, really, because Hitler is now equated with Satan. He's the biggest boogeyman to ever come down the human highway.

So if you're "not as bad as Hitler", you're "not a fascist" in the eyes of the uneducated people.

They really don't understand what fascism is.

And yes, Bush and his cronies are fascists. My father is a fascist. And so is his wife.

This country is full of fascists. The so-called "christian" right-wing zealots are all CLASSIC CLASSIC fascists.

[bobthedrummer]

12. Please expand on this post, Nordic.

Especially about the "boogeyman" comment.

[AmerDem]

14. yes, please elaborate further

i'm trying to get a mental picture of this whole thing.

[bobthedrummer]

15. Well, that makes two of us anyway that have asked for clarification.

"Hitler ruined it for fascism"???
:wtf:

[Ms. Clio]

16. I think I understand what he is driving at

I think he means that people overwhelmingly identify Fascism with one person, Hitler, and one time and place, so that they can't recognize fascism when it comes in other, less familiar packages.

[AmerDem]

18. he is too cryptic

I actually drew a different view. I thought maybe he felt fascism is good but Hitler went way over board.

Make NO doubt shrub and everyone involved in his administration are definitely on a path to becoming a modern day fascist regime. This is what want and wont stop at anything to get it!

[Ms. Clio]

19. You're preachin to the choir on that one, friend!

I really don't think he meant that fascism is good, at all, but that Bush and the right-wingers actually are classic fascists, even though they don't look like Hitler--interesting, how people can read things so differently.

[AmerDem]

22. it is, isn't it?

like I said pretty cryptic!

[Nordic]

24. that's a good way to put it as well

see my post below (I finally got back to it)

[Ms. Clio]

26. Okay, that makes perfect sense to me

I hope it clarifies your point for those who asked.

[Nordic]

23. Okay, here goes. (I could have done a better subject line)

What I meant was this --

Nowadays, Hitler isn't even considered human. He is bigger than life. He's a monster. He is evil incarnate.

And, well, deservedly so.

But the problem with this is that it makes people forget that Hitler was just a little piece-of-shit loudmouth that nobody took seriously for quite sometime. He was a simply a person, a loser who was full of hate and happened to have a bizarre talent and was in the right place at the right time (so to speak).

So when you make the comment Bush/Fascist, people make the connection to Bush/Hitler, and the problem with that is they just can't BELIEVE that a good old "likeable" idiot like George W. Bush could be a monster like Hitler.

Many of us, myself included, feel that Bush is a monster.

However your average Joe is gonna think "Nazi Germany could NEVER happen here."

Well, the good people of Argentina never thought it could happen there, either. But it did. There was an interesting little article on that in The Atlantic recently (I looked for it online but can't find it).

So when we say Bush is a fascist, even though he is in fact a fascist, the Hitler-Boogeyman connotation makes most people have a really hard time swallowing it.

That's what I meant by "Hitler ruined it for fascism". That was very poorly worded and I was actually going to edit it but duty (family) called.

[Fleshdancer]

27. Is extreme racism the only difference between Fascism and Nazism?

Fascism is defined as:

Fascism

1. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

2. A political philosophy or movement based on or advocating such a system of government.

3. Oppressive, dictatorial control.

I think Fascism ruined Fascism...Hitler or no Hitler, it's just a bad system.

[AmerDem]

11. I enjoyed that write up.

Too bad she uses such an over the top name!

[bobthedrummer]

13. OneBlueSky, here are some links to further support why an apology

for calling BFEE fascist is not needed.

John Loftus on Thyssen
http://john-loftus.com/Thyssen.asp#fortune

Gold Fillings, Auschwitz and George Bush
http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/bushies.htm

How the Bush Family Wealth is Linked to the Jewish Holocaust
by Toby Rogers
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/ROG309A.html

Btw, the Operation PAPERCLIP Nazis, their families, friends and social networks found a political home in the RW of the Republican Party, right alongside their American "cousins".

Russ Bellant's work: Old Nazi Networks in US
http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic/political-science/fascism/bellant/bellant.pt1

[PROGRESSIVE1]

17. I proudly call him a "Fascist" too!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. watch my sig line graphic.......

[Disturbed]

21. Neo Fascists

I have been using that term for well over two years to describe the present regime. Most people immediately think Holocaust when the name Hitler is mentioned. This is why they are so offended when GW is compared to Hilter.

The term Neo Fascists is more accurate in my view because the present regime is a "new" type of Fascism. I have believed for a long time that many Americans do not actually truely believe in "democracy", especially for other countries. It is real obvious to me that Capitalists don't care whether other countries are domocracies, as long as they adhere to capitalism as defined by those that dominate within the USA. In fact, the CIA has overthrown duly elected leaders of democratic nations and have subverted "democracies" that dare nationalize their businesses, esp. oil businesses.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

25. yup.... like 1951 Iran's democratically elected Mossadegh............

"All The Shahs Men" by Kizner ....account of the nationalization of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company under the leadership of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1951 details the reaction of the company, the British government, and US political leadership to that historic event. Mossadegh had become "a defining figure whose ideas, for better or worse, were reshaping history," a fact that the British were simply not willing, or able, to accept. The ensuing crisis pushed Iran into economic bankruptcy and political chaos, vulnerable to Soviet designs. In 1952, Churchill and Eisenhower agreed to get rid of the Iranian prime minister using covert activities of the CIA. The consequences proved monumental for both Iran and the whole region. Seasoned New York Times reporter Kinzer offers a well-researched and attractive book that is more journalism than scholarship. Sources for the numerous quotations appear in endnotes rather than footnotes, and some quotations are from secondary sources whose reliability many scholars have questioned. However, on the whole, this is a valuable and informative work for students of international affairs, with a moving account in the epilogue of the authors visit to Mossadeghs estate, where the leader was forced to spend the last years of his life and where he is buried.



and we wonder why they hate us.... :cry: