Friday, February 03, 2006 | By: Unknown

What is Facism?

"Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism'. I'm afraid, based on my own long experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."
Sen. Huey Long


Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power."(Jack Abramoff and Lobbyists in general)
Benito Mussolini, Fascist dictator of Italy


"The next step in a fascist government is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and terrorism on the other."
Bertrand Russell


"Without exhaustive debate, even heated debate, of ideas and programs, free government would weaken and wither. But if we allow ourselves to be persuaded that every individual or party that takes issue with our own convictions is necessarily wicked or treasonous then, indeed, we are approaching the end of freedom's road."(The Shrubs pointing fingers at all that disagree with him)
Dwight D. Eisenhower(A repube btw)

Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, wrote an article about fascism which appeared in Free Inquiry magazine -- a journal of humanist thought. Dr. Britt studied the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile). He found the regimes all had 14things in common, and he calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The article is titled 'Fascism Anyone?', by Lawrence Britt, appears in Free Inquiry's Spring 2003 issue on page 20.

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 incarcerations 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.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments 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 to 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 - 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.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy 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.
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 entirely, or are severely suppressed.
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 assassination 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.

4 people gave us their .02 cents:

Anonymous said...

Dr. Britt is using the technique of "limited holdout" to confuse people who read his work, in order to encourage them to (incorrectly) assume America operates as a fascist regime. I'll explain how America really works after an explanation, so you don't assume I'm deluded that your government is a "democracy" (lmfao).

The fourteen points listed are, of course, only characteristics of a fascist government. They are also characteristic of nations which operate by Divine Right and Hereditary Rule.

To correctly define a government as a fascist regime, a special relationship must exist between the government and industrial corporations. Financial institutions are State-owned, and operate as organs for channelling subsidiary funding to the industrial corporations. Profit is not an issue, but production is all-important.

It is this emphasis on production, through State subsidies, for strictly-nationalist purposes which distinguishes a fascist regime from a monarchy.

The American nation operates as an imperial kingdom. Over the past fifty years, the American worker, who up until the 1970s had become a fairly autonomous, bourgeois specialist, has been reduced to a state of serfdom, with almost no power to advocate their own interests.

The recent mining situation in West Virginia is just one example of the decaying infrastructure and corrupt intra-funding which is endemic to monarchal rule.

From its need to prop up an artificial economy by waging aggressive war, to its inability to mobilise the citizenry to rebuild New Orleans, to its chronically rising illiteracy rate, to its now-intergenerational, familial control of the executive, the American Empire has completed its full circle from breakout democratic repubilic, to quasi-fascist corporation (New Deal-WWII era), back to collapsing, but powerful, imperial monarchy.

Without the radical intervention of historically democratic people, the American Empire will continue on its current path of self-destruction. It might take another century before the shithouse burns down, but probably not.

Joel said...

Here's a definition, brought to you by an unquestioned expert on the subject:

"Fascism, the more it considers and observes the future and the development of humanity quite apart from political considerations of the moment, believes neither in the possibility nor the utility of perpetual peace. It thus repudiates the doctrine of Pacifism — born of a renunciation of the struggle and an act of cowardice in the face of sacrifice. War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the peoples who have courage to meet it."

Sound like anyone you know?

(Benito Mussolini wrote that.)

Neil Shakespeare said...

The signs are all there, aren't they? Needful to post. Though I don't like fascism with my morning coffee generally...

Nogbad said...

Great post and thought provoking comments - power to your elbow!