In response to IOERROR’s Has America become fascist? The 14 defining characteristics of fascism:
I think this is a good list. Certainly good fodder for discussion. However I think it has some big holes. I do agree with serveral statements though.
I think my favorite comment in the referrer is:
There never has been a more Fascist sounding governmental name than The Office Of Homeland Security.
Kinda reminds me of the Ministry of Love.
Anyway, the things I tend to disagree with (on casual thought during work hours) are:
- Nationalism in moderation is not bad.
- The author uses relative terms to describe the problems as he sees them. That’s just like saying “Buy new Tide! Now cleans 50% better than the other brands!”. I mean, it’s hard to do it otherwise, but this guy’s yardstick differs from mine.
Another thought I just had was that if you took the opposite view of most of the above comments and applied them to the U.S., you would end up with an extremely left-leaning government. Our founding fathers knew the problems with democracy and the whims of the masses. Some of the tactics used in a constitutional republic can look facist, but that’s because the people with the yardstick feel disenfranchised. But that of course is the whole point. You can’t please everyone, and you can’t govern by polls. So Bush’s picture of how it should be done (or a few Supreme Court justices, or a Senate majority) may not match what you like, and strictly on the scale it is somewehat facist, yet averaged out it simply keeps the nation on an even keel.
