When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”

- Sinclair Lewis

The Traits of Fascism

Here are the defining characteristics of fascism, as evidenced by political analyst Dr. Lawrence Britt, who has studied this doctrine in the case of Germany, Italy, Spain, Indonesia and Chile. See for yourselves how many of them apply to the United States right now.

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism
2. Disdain for the recognition of human rights/usurping human rights
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as unifying causes for the population
4. Supremacy of the military (or mercenary groups in the case of the modern US)
5. controlled mass-media
6. Obsession with national security
7. Religion and government are intertwined
8. Corporate power is protected
9. The government is male dominated (sexism)
10. Labor power and unions are suppressed
11. Disdain for the intellectuals and the arts
12. Obsession with crimes and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption (most leaders are related to each other)
14. Fraudulent elections (made easier by electronic voting machines, the Supreme Court and new Jim Crow laws-voter ID)

While some of these traits can easily be identified in the United States today, some require a bit of explaining. The first three points are clear enough, but the fourth is a little tricky. To get the main idea, know that there are currently mercenaries in Afghanistan, all working alongside the US military, and sometimes even offering protection for its commanders. These groups operate outside of military law, and are run by private corporations, such as Backwater USA. The media is not as much controlled, as it rallies to the stated objectives of the government. In the US, there is a long history of the media having ties with the establishment, for the simple reason that the major newspaper and TV owners have a lot of high-placed friends. No one would want to have their friends talk badly about them, and the same holds true here. Independent media is hard to come by these days, mostly because many sites and stations advocate wild conspiracy theories. Therefore, most free media is discredited, and people really believe when large networks ridicule some people’s honest attempts at making some things public. Point’s six to fourteen are also clear, and there are many people in the US, especially those in ultra-conservative, White, highly religious, and far-right groups who believe that this is the way things are supposed to be. They are currently lobbying for a greater influence of religion in the way America is run, which is naturally troublesome. The freedom of belief is stomped on, as these individuals believe they know what is best for everyone under their own beliefs.
Let me end this by quoting Benito Mussolini, the leader of the Italian Fascist Party in World War II. He said that fascism was, “the merger of corporate and government powers.” Now, what is the difference between what this implies, and the Republican-promoted K Street Project?

However, as this article notes, more and more wealth is concentrated in a few hands. I would say “fewer hands” but that isn’t quite true. The number of wealthy people is growing rather than shrinking. But the number of people who are struggling financially is growing even faster.

So my question is, “How is that working for you?” If you happen to be one of the lucky rich ones, you will probably say, “Just fine, thank you!” However, it isn’t working just fine for most Americans. We have record numbers of people out of work. We have way too few jobs for young people graduating from high school and college. The median household income has fallen precipitously. The enormous wealth of the very rich has done little to raise any boats other than their own.

However, we need to be careful about expecting the government to remedy the situation. Massive federal spending during the current administration has saved the big guys, but has done very little for the rest of us. Truly shameful! The government often creates more problems than it solves–and it never does anything efficiently.

With reference to campaign financing, we might modify Lord Acton’s “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely” to say “Money (which is one form of power) corrupts; great wealth corrupts absolutely.” There is no doubt that our current form of campaign financing has made political people little better than prostitutes-selling that which is precious for that which is not.

Are the politicians at fault? Absolutely! They have helped to design the system that keeps them slaves to the fundraising machine–and keeps the rest of us slaves to the increasingly unfair system.

However, we are all at fault. We need to rise up and demand a change. A constitutional amendment would probably be required to really fix our problems–and I can’t imagine that politicians would support an amendment that would threaten their hold on power.

But the alternative is that the growing number of have-nots could turn violent in an attempt to make things better for themselves–or just to vent their anger. I would much prefer that the American people would get a handle on our economic and political problems before that happens.