”In the evening you say ‘It will be fine; there is a red sky’, and in the morning, ‘Stormy weather today; the sky is red and overcast’. You know how to read the face of the sky, but you cannot read the signs of the times”. (Matthew 16: 2-3 the Jerusalem Bible)
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." -- Sinclair Lewis
Our history as a people and as a nation has passed through many portals; from agrarian to industrial to corporate business. During these passages we have often been shaken, threatened and frightened, but the voyage, for the most part, has also been exciting and ennobling.
In his Farewell Address to the Nation on January 17, 1961 President Dwight David Eisenhower told us that we had passed through a doorway and into a new, bright, but frightening era:
“A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction...
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, and every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
It might be said that the military-industrial complex has morphed into the business complex with its trans-national corporations dictating the need, size and policy of the military as well as the policies and purpose of our government itself. Indeed, some fear that our American democracy is in danger of being co-opted, adulterated, and poisoned by the rapidly growing influences of big money and big business. Of course our wealthy citizens need to have their voice heard as do the corporations they form. But when their voice drowns out all others, when what is in their private interests displaces the needs of the vast majority, when the business of our democratic government is set and determined only by business, when the “iron triangle” replaces humanism and the military-industrial complex rules us all, that voice has become over-amplified and dangerous.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in a 1938 message to Congress stated, “The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.”
Today we are witness to a proliferation of demagogues pointing to what they perceive as our national decay and offering redemption through purity and unity if we just abandon some of our democratic liberties and remove all restraining law and regulation from their path to financial fulfillment.
These demagogues would not be troublesome if not for the fact that so many of our people are listening, believing and, actively as well as passively, collaborating.
During the Cold War, like many Americans, I bristled (to put it mildly) whenever anyone referred to an American as a fascist. But today, in the face of what has and is transpiring in Wisconsin, Maine, Florida and other states, I have forced myself to look into why anyone would refer to us in this manner.
The Communist Third International published the following definition of fascism:
“Fascism in power is the open, terroristic dictatorship of the most reactionary, the most chauvinistic, the most imperialistic elements of finance capitalism.”
And
“The historic function of fascism is to smash the working class, destroy its organizations, and stifle political liberties when the capitalists find themselves unable to govern and dominate with the help of democratic machinery.”
It has been pointed out that a true Marxist would not label the United States or any elected government “fascist” since they came into being without the backing of a “street movement”. However, The Encyclopedia of Marxism goes beyond definitions and gives nine fundamental and disturbingly recognizable characteristics of fascism:
Right Wing: Fascists are fervently against: Marxism, Socialism, Anarchism, Communism, Environmentalism; etc – in essence, they are against the progressive left in total, including moderate lefts (social democrats, etc). Fascism is an extreme right wing ideology, though it can be opportunistic.
Nationalism: Fascism places a very strong emphasis on patriotism and nationalism. Criticism of the nation's main ideals, especially war, is lambasted as unpatriotic at best and treason at worst. State propaganda consistently broadcasts threats of attack, while justifying pre-emptive war. Fascism invariably seeks to instill in its people the warrior mentality: to always be vigilant, wary of strangers and suspicious of foreigners.
Anti-equality: Fascism loathes the principles of economic equality and disdains equality between immigrant and citizen. Some forms of fascism extend the fight against equality into other areas: gender, sexual, minority or religious rights, for example.
Religious: Fascism contains a strong amount of reactionary religious beliefs, harking back to times when religion was strict, potent, and pure. Nearly all Fascist societies are Christian, and are supported by Catholic and Protestant churches.
Capitalist: Fascism does not require revolution to exist in capitalist society: fascists can be elected into office (though their disdain for elections usually means manipulation of the electoral system). They view parliamentary and congressional systems of government to be inefficient and weak, and will do their best to minimize its power over their policy agenda. Fascism exhibits the worst kind of capitalism where corporate power is absolute and all vestiges of workers' rights are destroyed.
War: Fascism is capitalism at the stage of impotent imperialism. War can create markets that would not otherwise exist by wreaking massive devastation on a society, which then requires reconstruction! Fascism can thus "liberate" the survivors, provide huge loans to that society so fascist corporations can begin the process of rebuilding.
Voluntarist Ideology: Fascism adopts a certain kind of “voluntarism;” they believe that an act of will, if sufficiently powerful, can make something true. Thus all sorts of ideas about racial inferiority, historical destiny, even physical science, are supported by means of violence, in the belief that they can be made true. It is this sense that Fascism is subjectivist.
Anti-Modern: Fascism loathes all kinds of modernism, especially creativity in the arts, whether acting as a mirror for life (where it does not conform to the Fascist ideal), or expressing deviant or innovative points of view. Fascism invariably burns books and victimizes artists, and artists who do not promote the fascists ideals are seen as “decadent.” Fascism is hostile to broad learning and interest in other cultures, since such pursuits threaten the dominance of fascist myths. The peddling of conspiracy theories is usually substituted for the objective study of history.
Between my research-- which was forced upon me by curiosity and current events-- and the current events themselves, I find myself in a very uncomfortable environment. Whereas I do not want to believe we Americans are fascist, I cannot help but believe we are dangerously leaning in that direction.
Winston Churchill once said, “Democracy is a very bad form of government. Unfortunately all the others are so much worse.”
It is my prayerful hope that we will honor and protect our form of democracy from all enemies, foreign and domestic. To paraphrase President Eisenhower, We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of security and liberty so that they might prosper together.
