U.S. Fascism - Society - Politics

As the President of the United States leeches the appearance of paternalistic power standing aside an admiral of the Navy while he awaits his introduction to a throng of identical looking cadets at the bastion of American nationalism, the Naval Academy, and as he is greeted with grand patriotic music as he stands directly underneath the banner that reads "PLAN FOR VICTORY" it is hard not to conclude, amidst the cadence of the seamen's arms waving in gesticulations of power, that the United States, led by the Republican party, is in the midst of a uniquely American proto-fascism.

The platform for the modern Republican Party has become a cobble or patchwork of issues, the creation of which seeks at least 2 goals:

- To continue to win state and federal elections for the purpose of grabbing greater political power through a strategy of divide and conquer over the populace of voters

- To hide the true intended goal of political power being a means to a profitable private end and consequently perpetuating proto-fascism in the U.S.

Laurence Britt, in writing an article for Free Enquiry magazine, analyzed 7 different fascist or proto-fascist regimes including Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Franco's Spain, Salazar's Portugal, Papadopoulos's Greece, Pinochet's Chile, and Suharto's Indonesia and came up with 14 hallmarks of fascist states: 1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism, 2. Disdain for the importance of human rights, 3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause, 4. The supremacy of the military/avid militarism, 5. Rampant sexism, 6. A controlled mass media, 7. Obsession with national security, 8. Religion and ruling elite tied together, 9. Power of corporations protected, 10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated, 11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts, 12. Obsession with crime and punishment, 13. Rampant cronyism and corruption, 14. Fraudulent elections.

We will stay within the boundaries of these 14 points except to say that the concept of fascism is not absolute and requires chameleon like properties for the assimilation into a particular culture. Furthermore, in opposition to the state controlled industries of Mussolini's Italy for example, the United States has been able to maintain entirely private control of the means of production with government's conspicuous aid and support. U.S. fascism is unique in that it is not centralized, directed by the government as the corporations are the masters and that it shares as its kissing cousin neoliberalism, which seeks to remove government protections on trade ironically through government intervention and doesn't require collusion on the behalf of the government and corporate interests,

"...this is no formal conspiracy by powerful interests; it doesn't have to be. Through a variety of institutional mechanisms, signals are sent to intellectuals, pundits, and journalists, pushing toward seeing the status quo as the best of all possible worlds, and away from challenging those who benefit from that status quo." (Chomsky, 1999)

It is important to note that each of these 14 points are interrelated. While strong cases can be made for most of the 14 points, some of the points are not entirely characteristics of American proto-fascism. However, that is not to say that these are altogether not characteristics of American proto-fascism. For instance, a very strong case could be made that while the media isn't under centralized command it is dominated by the profit motivated paradigm which is at the heart of American proto-fascism. It could also be argued that American political leaders use religion to give themselves authority and to legitimate actions and ideologies that ironically directly contradict the teachings of religion.

Other characteristics of American proto-fascism are either recurring themes throughout the following discussion or are logical successors of the other. For instance, the "Obsession with national security" and the "Obsession with crime and punishment" are recurring themes that are all bound together by fear that you will find throughout the avid militarism, Nationalism and identification of scapegoats discussions. Additionally, it hopefully appears as a logical succession to all that with the rise of the power of corporations not only does rampant cronyism exist but the power of labor is diminished, as does the disdain and condemnation of intellectuals or anyone else contradicting the message espoused by the proto-fascists.

Powerful and Continuing Expressions of Nationalism

It is easy to observe that all around the country people from all walks of life are displaying symbols of nationalism and patriotism. The "Support Our Troops" yellow ribbon car magnets are ubiquitous and have come to replace the fabric yellow ribbons typically placed at most houses on the tree closest to the street. If this were the only evidence of nationalism in the United States then the case would be fairly weak.

Nationalism, as it exist in the United States is much more insidious than these superficial displays. Nationalism can be more easily observed as it relates to the 2nd hallmark of fascist states, "Disdain for the Importance of Human Rights." It can be seen and heard in the questions posed of our leaders where tacit support of torture and illegal incarceration is assumed and the use of torture by our military and the CIA condoned. It can also be observed in the lack of ferocity in unilaterally condemning the use of torture by our civilian leadership and in the federal government attempting to secure absolute powers of judge, jury and jailor not solely against enemies of the state but even over its own citizenry.

Nationalism mixed with the "Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause" creates a volatile combination that elevates shared perceived national interest above the country's stated ideals, such as the 6th and 8th amendments of the Constitution,

"Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

This is not only identifiable in specific cases like Jose Padilla, an American citizen who was indefinitely detained for 3 years without access to lawyers or the criminal court system, but it is also observable by the illegal detention of 9000 people around the world in secret jails, according to Dana Priest and Joe Stephens of the Washington Post in May 2005,

"All told, more than 9,000 people are held by U.S. authorities overseas, according to Pentagon figures. The detainees have no conventional legal rights: no access to a lawyer; no chance for an impartial hearing; and no apparent guarantee of humane treatment accorded prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions."

There are voluminous amounts of evidence that the leadership of the modern Republican Party condones the use of torture and illegal incarcerations with few exceptions,

"Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), canceled consideration of next year's Pentagon spending bill because it contained an amendment by Senator John McCain (R-AZ), that would have banned the cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment of detainees." (ACLU, July 2005)

The tendency for Republicans to not work very hard on International human rights issues is well known, even to the Iranians,

"The head of Iran's security council said Tuesday that the re-election of President Bush was in Tehran's best interests, despite the administration's axis of evil label, accusations that Iran harbors al-Qaida terrorists and threats of sanctions over the country's nuclear ambitions...

Though Iran generally does not publicly wade into U.S. presidential politics, it has a history of preferring Republicans over Democrats, who tend to press human rights issues.

"We should not forget that most sanctions and economic pressures were imposed on Iran during the time of Clinton," Rowhani said. "And we should not forget that during Bush's era _ despite his hard-line and baseless rhetoric against Iran _ he didn't take, in practical terms, any dangerous action against Iran."" ("Bush Receives Endorsement From Iran" AP, October 2004)

In fact, abuses of human rights under the present administration have not only increased but have been flagrant and unprecedented. In a memo, which according to Newsweek, "was vetted by a larger number of officials, including...the White House counsel's office and Vice President Cheney's office," the Chief counsel to the President stated that laws prohibiting torture do,

"...not apply to the President's detention and interrogation of enemy combatants,

And that it takes,

...injury such as death, organ failure, or serious impairment of body functions--in order to constitute torture."

In another memo the barbarism continues further with an attempt by the Bush administration's counsel to justify ignoring established International law by saying that,

"the war against terrorism is a new kind of war...

...this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."

The Supremacy of the Military/Avid Militarism

"And above all, 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.... War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the people who have the courage to meet it." (Benito Mussolini)

In no place are the inroads of fascism more clear in the United States than as observed through our nearly perpetual warfare in the last fifty years and ever increasing U.S. military expenditures in that same time period. The supremacy of the military in the United States in relation to other governmental services can be observed by how military spending compares as a priority in terms of other federal allocations and as compared with other nations.

According to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation the United States spends more discretionary monies on the military than on Education, Health, Justice, International Affairs, Housing Assistance, Veteran Benefits, Resources and the Environment, Science and Space, Transportation, Employment and Social Services, General Government, Other Income Security, Economic Development, Social Security and Medicare and Agriculture, COMBINED.

As compared with other industrialized nations U.S. military expenditures can only be categorized as insane paranoid delusion,

"With expenditure of $455 billion, the United States accounted for almost half the global figure, more than the combined total of the 32 next most powerful nations. (Reuters, "World Military Spending Topped $1 Trillion in 2004," Peter Starck)

This is not a recent occurrence as defense spending in terms of GDP is actually down from its highs 20 years ago when the U.S. wasn't in the midst of 2 wars,

"U.S. military spending increased to 3.9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year from 3.0 percent in 1999 but remained well below its Cold War peak of more than 6 percent." (Reuters, "World Military Spending Topped $1 Trillion in 2004," Peter Starck)

Indeed bloated military budgets in the U.S. are as old as using the military in doing corporate bidding, as General Smedley Butler observes in his book War Is A Racket (1935),

"There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers... I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street... I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."

The use of unsuspecting lackeys like Butler is in no way different than the corporate news anchor wearing a flag on his lapel as he espouses the seemingly altruistic rhetoric of our latest military engagement as our military, under the watchful eye of both the politicians and the corporate interests profiting from the war, knowingly kill innocent civilians, and the anchor is no different than the political leader who talks about how dissent, in times like these, isn't good for the health of our country when he really means his economy.

The irony of and the most unique and defining attribute of American proto-fascism is that it has occurred in a time and place of unprecedented prosperity, at a time when threats both foreign and domestic have never been so facile, for a country with such a diverse and well-educated population and when the voluminous availability of information is not only ubiquitous but nearly instantaneous. What isn't unique is that in spite of the overwhelming availability of evidence and resources to the affirmative of the existence of proto-fascism, the majority of Americans, including intellectuals, deny its existence while they continue to enhance the myths that support it.