Farewell To The Bush Regime
Posted in Politics on | 4 minutes | 9 Comments →
Dr. Lawrence Britt is a political scientist who published extensive research on the phenomenon of fascism, based among other things off of his detailed studies of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto and several Latin American regimes. He identified 14 characteristics shared by fascist states, and to commemorate the end of the Bush regime, I thought I would share them with you. It's absolutely frightening to see how many of them apply directly to America, today, and when I use the phrase "end of the Bush regime", it is certainly with a grain of salt, perhaps even the entire shaker.
1) 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.
2) Disdain for the recognition of Human Rights – 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 incarceration of prisoners, etc.
3) 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.
4) Supremacy of the Military – 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 are glamorized.
5) Rampant sexism – The government of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6) Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes the media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7) Obsession with National security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8) Religion and Government are intertwined – Government 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.
9) Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation are often the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10) Labor Power is suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated, or are severely restricted.
11) Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – 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 and letters is openly attacked.
12) Obsession with Crime and Punishment – 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 in fascist nations.
13) Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and 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.
14) Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassinations of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Any of this ring a bell?
The Thinker
says...So what’s your point? Nothing original to write? No proof of thought?
cl
says...It’s up to you to derive meaning from what you read and see.
The Thinker
says...To make a valid case for the entire 14 would be time consuming. Pick one and see where we agree. Please no more ‘you first’ games; it is your list.
cl
says...First off, I didn’t tell you to go first. You popped in with nothing more to do than insult me, which is fine, but not really logical hence not worth that much effort of response. Second, you popped onto another thread and left some lame, obtrusive link for people to check their credit scores, which I promptly deleted, and of course, you’re free to deny, but what’s the matter? Nothing logical or original to say?
Third, I told you it’s up to you to derive meaning from what you read. And it is. I’m not trying to make a valid case for these by simply posting them. Britt wrote them, I found most of them to be noteworthy and quite relevant if not spot-on, and I passed them on to whomever else might derive some meaning or relevance from them as well. Not every post is meant to be an argument or debate, but since it seems that’s what you’re really after here, well then sure, let’s screw around a little bit!
Yet you told me to go first in the statement just prior. Did you catch that? I did.
I’ll take #8.
The Thinker
says...I never intended to insult you; just shooting off an arrow in the dark to get a response. There were no comments or perspective so, I was interested in knowing where this came from. As far as the credit thing, I am really clueless; I am not smart enough yet to figure out how to do that thread stuff!
I apologize!
cl
says...No worries. Perhaps you pasted a miscopied link into an a href tag? The idea is consistent with the available evidence.
So, what do you think about #8? Would you agree or disagree that it applies quite fittingly to America as of late?
The Thinker
says...The basis of gov vs rel has always been about money and power over the minds of the people. The king was all powerful until the church started bringing in more alms than the King could tax. The church had their money, minds, souls, morals and their political ears. Tough spot for the king.
Between the World Wars, Facism used the church to lull the people into thinking they were ‘believers’ of their church. They appeared harmless. Instead it was quite the opposite, but a vehicle for facism to influence the people. They Rode into town on a white horse pulling a filthy wagon in the night. Tough spot for the unknowing believers.
Hitler promoted capitalism in Germany for two years and had historic prosperity. Hitler then walked into the other countries and they hailed him as their deliverer. They wanted what Germany had so much that they said “Yes”. Tough spot for the Austians, etc.
The Pilgrims came here for religious freedom. The King was over taxing and the newly free revolted and dumped the tea. Because, religion is so ingrained in the fabric of our heritage, we need to be ever watchful of those who try to undermind it. Tough spot for both.
Our laws were written based on the Ten Commandments. I am sadden to see the minority rule and remove every element of our religion found in goverment. Mainly separation of church and state to the extreme. Our children’s history books have been rewritten to make them acceptable to the few.
Last week a church was threated that they would lose their nonprofit status if they did not stop talking politics on the pulpit. Freedom of speech? I think not! Whoever controls the purse strings controls . . . So the war of controlling the minds of the believers is alive and well; I hope this is not a sign of facism.
Other than the KKK, the State Malitias, and ACLU (sometimes), I haven’t kept track of facist attacks on religion in the US. The Thinker does not Know All! I am quite concerned about socialism though; more than facism.
Now we are all in a very tough spot!
cl
says...Yes, I’d say we’re all in a very tough spot, and in that respect we’d agree. I’m not so sure if I’d define ‘facist attacks’ similarly as you, though. I don’t even know if I’d use that term – are these things just not expressions of certain tyrannical personality types? Facism isn’t so much a ‘thing’ as a collection of ideas and behaviors.
You said,
I’d have to disagree here, because nonprofits are required to refrain from political influence in exactly this manner. It’s one of the fundamental conditions to which one agrees to comply should they form a 501c(3) organization.
How would you define ‘socialism’?
What would you say about #3?
Lifeguard
says...Chris Hedges wrote a fascinating book called “American Fascists” where he compares the Religious Right with the early stages of fascist movements using much the same criteria you describe above. In fairness, he wrote a similarly critical book about the New Atheism called “I Don’t Believe in Atheists.” Both are well worth a read.