Metastasis of democracy - an apt description. I am not familiar enough with democracies like the Weimar Republic to know whether they, like us, had a strong constitution, which is supposed to be our safeguard. Perhaps the Constitution is what has lulled us into the "it can't happen here" mentality - but as the Constitution is subverted, almost unnoticed but at least unmourned by much of America, the only concrete defense against the cancer of Fascism weakens.
This is a peculiar blind spot, because in fact fascism is only possible as an outgrowth -- a metastacization, if you will -- of democracy.
I'm not sure, however, that in other than a semantic sense, fascim's effects are much different than authoritarian rule or even the traditional 'strong-man' rule common in many cultures.
That being said, I agree with you that the Bush administrations runs a top-down tight ship with sometimes uninformed support of a significant number of the body politic.
Whether a stifling of leftist critique or a drugging of the masses with rhetoric that plays out in Orwellian terms constitutes fascism, I don't know. Regardless, we still got the vote and the rhetoric is being piled on too thick not to notice the failings of this administration.
You claim that "none of the poems in fact were obscene or violent." Although I believe this claim, can any of them be found online?
Pome link
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back.../531/
531p22.htm
also
http://www.warblogging.com/archi...ives/
000850.php
===========
This stuff Happened all the time in the 50s and 60s.
eg
America Love it or leave it.
some saw it earlier:
Sinclair Lewis: It Can't Happen here
The first truly large-scale emergence of facism occured at the end of the Roman Republic when Augustus Caesar assumed the mantle of Imperator. He was ultimate successful because the Roman people had become exhausted from decades of civil wars, conducted by the private armies of the elites, and in turn hailed him as their savior. They traded their, albeit marginal democratic society, for one that concentrated power at the top. Pax Romana!
'.. lack of respect'? Respect is something to be earned not dictated by fiat.
These actions by scool admins are age old. I do not know if this particular version ('Dissent is Un-American') is just the lastest fashion, or if it is crystalling this way.
Slashdot posted a series of emails from student regarding this part of the 'school experience' after the Columbine HS shootings. The Hellmouth essays can be found here, here, and here. The hardcopy version is out-of-print.
In all honesty, reports of schools with students 'questioning authority' do not bother me. The schools that worry me are the quiet ones with Stepford-like students.
Full of kids trained to obey the voice of authority, how are they going to defend Democracy when their leaders tell them that 'dissent is bad'?
Suppression of speech. Period. It would be one thing if children were being exhorted to violence or proselytized about religion, but they were only encouraged to embrace their own free speech.
And it's fascism. Look it up. Speech suppression outlined in this post sure looks like "Disdain for and suppression of intellectuals and the arts" or "Obsession with national security" or "Avid militarism" or "Disdain for human rights" or all of the above and then some.
Time to carpet-bomb the school administration and the local newspaper with letters.
Why does the school have a "military liaison"?
Another great piece. Amazing how willingly some people will shut things down and stifle speech just because it doesn't follow a line. I seriously think the fact that one kid was asked to drop out just because he wouldn't be stifled is ridiculous.
Maybe I should try my hand at poetry over this all (not just the school thing, but the whole creeping complicit gagging of things like this.
BLT: The Weimar constitution helped pave the way for the rise of the Nazis to power. It included Article 48, which gave the president the power to use federal troops to enforce "the duties imposed...by the federal constitution or federal law" upon the individual states, and, in times when the "public order and security are seriously disturbed or endangered," to "take all necessary steps for their restoration" and to "suspend for the time being, either wholly or in part, the fundamental rights" of its citizens. As Weimar politics grew more polarized in the late '20s and early '30s, President von Hindenburg relied far more heavily on his powers of decree under Article 48 than on laws passed through the Reichstag by democratic process. From 1930 to 1932, for example, the number of Reichstag laws dropped from 98 to 5, while the number of Article 48 decrees rose from 5 to 66. This, undoubtedly, got the people used to the idea of government by fiat.
Who is the military liason to the RRHS and from which branch of government is s/he assigned?
I can't argue with David's facts, and I quite agree with him that the situation bears close watching by any true American patriot. But for reasons which I lay out at my own blog, I think it's early days for crying havoc.
My question is: do we need to just let this fascism run it's course so to speak, or what? As an expressor (my name for what used to be called an individual artist) I am very concerned and have been since the 1980's. Although the rhetoric used against Clinton is now being used against average folks like me, the mean-spiritedness has been evident to me since at least then even living in NY.
Another thing I should have added above is why do so many people dislike liberty? I just can not get my mind around this. What do they think is going to happen if folks are free to do what they like short of harming another?
Unless you believe in the invisible hand of god or other extraterrestrial interventions, allowing oppressive sociocultural diseases--of which fascism is one--to "run their course" is tantamount to allowing AIDS or polio or cholera to spread uncurtailed. While we cannot ever eliminate for all time either virulent diseases or inhumane impulses, we can work to prevent outbreaks from becoming epidemics.
The Constitution is a piece of paper; democracy is when local communities fight back against those who undermine it.
democracy is when local communities fight back against those who undermine it.
Agreed. Yet where is this (physical) community? Even here in Librulol' NY people think more like subjects then free persons.
Fear I guess.
I have to echo Brett's question, in slightly stronger terms: why the fuck does a school have a military liasion? Maybe it's because I'm a Soviet Canuckistani, but it strikes me as creepy that schools have military officers with authority in the halls. Quite frankly, it sounds about one step away from having political officers enforcing the government line, although this particular principal seems to do that job just fine on his own.
ed,
Fear. Exactly. And fear is palliated by religion, which gives the practitioner security from threat on some level. The opiate of the people, I believe some old wag said.
A recent survey I read about (today, in fact) said that by 50% to 39% (not an enormous margin, but still disturbing) churchgoers supported Bush (the rare-church-goer) to Kerry (the regular-communion-taker.) But of course Georgie is born again, while John made do with once.
A "military liaison" is a recruiter stationed in the school. IIRC it's tied to some federal program, but I don't know which.
Of course, in the military "disrespectful speech" is actually illegal under the UCMJ (in several different articles). That this is bleeding into civilian life is a natural consequence of the militarization of American culture.
Mellifluous,
True enough, yet we all have fear(s). What we do, or think, about that fear leads to many different places. My confusion on this matter comes from people thinking that by shutting other people up will some how contain their fear. Instead of just walking away or tuning out the offending expression they want it gone entirely usually with the expresser too.
Three monkeys I guess.
I don't believe USA is heading toward some modern form fascism. That short of opinion and belief is only expressed by a small, but vocal and organized, minority. Nevertheless, if some of those opinions are taken as fact, get ingrained, acceptable in society and therefore commonplace it could be...
Two quotes of Ortega y Gasset's "Revolt of the Masses comes to mind".
The characteristic of the hour is that the commonplace mind, knowing itself to be commonplace, has the assurance to proclaim the rights of the commonplace and to impose them wherever it will. As they say in the United States: "to be different is to be indecent."
...
Under Fascism there appears for the first time in Europe a type of man who does not want to give reasons or to be right, but simply shows himself resolved to impose his opinions. This is the new thing: the right not to be reasonable, the "reason of unreason."
I've written a detailed post on this very subject entitled "stabbed in the back" (before I saw yours). The talking points about Kerry's "disgracing of the vets" is a key element of the stabbed in the back myth.
Please take a look at
http://worldonfire.typepad.com/w.../world_on_fire/
under "Stabbed in the back"
The military liaison's name is Larry Morrell as listed on the high school's website. Google Unclesam yeilds four government websites with the name "Larry Morrell" on them, fewere for "Lawrence Morrell," and none seem a likely candidate.
Andy Grove, the president of Intel, knows a thing or two about fascists. In fact, since he's a Holocaust survivor, you might say he's something of an expert.
So I'm rather savoring the image of Mr. Tripp threatening to go tattle to his corporate masters at Intel, in the hope of getting some Big Muscle behind him to support his patridiotic attitudes and behaviors.
Somehow, though, I doubt that this request is going to be received quite the way Mr. Tripp thinks it will.
Just to help this felicitious scenario along, I'm forwarding the link to this story to my brother, who is a senior-level manager at Intel. (Anyone else who knows anyone else at Intel, please do the same. Invite them to forward David's story to Mr. Grove, so he will see it first thing Monday morning.)
Stand by. This could get interesting.
Some attributes of fascism can be found here.
It is interesting to compare these attributes to the situation be find ourselves in now.
1. Fascism is commonly defined as an open terror-based dictatorship which is:
1. Reactionary: makes policy based upon current circumstances rather than creating policies to prevent problems; piles lies and misnomers on top of more lies until the truth becomes indistinguishable, revised or forgotten.
2. Chauvinistic: Two or more tiered legal systems, varying rights based upon superficial characteristics such as race, creed and origin.
3. Imperialist elements of finance capital: Extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political domination of one state over its allies.
Though a dictatorship is the most common association with fascism, a democracy or republic can also be fascist when it strays away from its tenants of sovereignty.
Numbers 1 and 3 would seem to apply, elements of 2 are present but not so well defined.
Hmm, what made me lose 50 pounds, start walking to work to get in shape, and considering getting a fire arm?
Terrorists? No.
It was the kid that threatened my kid at school with, "Once we get the terrorists we can get rid of the democrats."
...oh, well. Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.
CapTVK: This really rang true to me:
Under Fascism there appears for the first time in Europe a type of man who does not want to give reasons or to be right, but simply shows himself resolved to impose his opinions. This is the new thing: the right not to be reasonable, the "reason of unreason."
Raygun and Dubya are perfect examples of this. This is part of the anti-intellectualism of the contemporary Right. They have contempt for intellectuals and they consider reasoned arguments to indicate 'self doubt".
Another illustration of this anti-intellectualism is the fact that since the 80's education is seen primarily as a way of attaining career goals. In the 60's we were taught to value intellectual pursuits for their own sake.
Another manifestation of it is the anti-science agenda of the Right, especially the push to remove the discussion of evolution from the schools. I always find it ironic that conservatives don't seem to understand that we need science to develop the weapons we need to attain their goal of world domination.
But, the good news is that our constitution is much more robust than that of the Weimar Republic. Also the economic condidions in pre-WWII Germany were much worse that they are in contermporary America. (I think fascism thrives in harsh economic and social conditions the way mushrooms grow on shit.)
I think the best proof of the fact that we're not in immediate danger of falling into the abyss of fascism is the way Nancy Pelosi throttled the Bush junta the other day.
I think Bush is really going down hard this fall, barring something extreme like another devastating terrorist attack. But we liberals need to stay on task this time and work to eradicate the far right from the American political scene. The last time the right fell on it's face, during the Nixon administation, we dropped the ball. We've got to keep on it and drive a wooden stake though the heart of fascism this time.
I think it's extremely important to have people like David to keep this threat in the national consiousness.
Saw Paxton on C-SPAN the other day. Some things he thought might be indicative of fascism were labeling people “unpatriotic” for dissenting, disregard for constitutional law, using the unpatriotic labels for conservatives to get power (think 2002 elections). Paxton agreed with Michael, that fascism is not taking root, but he also said that it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be more diligent as a society. Also, the conditions are just not there, but what could foster the awful economic conditions is a major terrorist attack like a cyber attack on the electrical grid. Something to take down the markets for months on end.
"I don't believe USA is heading toward some modern form fascism. That short of opinion and belief is only expressed by a small, but vocal and organized, minority."
What is the organization? And what the hell are you talking about? I confess I have nofuckingidea.
We had cops with guns walk around in my high school and multiple "military liaisons" and it didn't bother me. I knew I could refuse. And I think the little society of intimidation in high school does a better job of policing free-thinkers than administrators. At least that's been my experience.
FWIW, I've consistently argued that we are not currently sliding into fascism, nor are the Bushites fascists per se -- rather they are fascist facilitators. And they are creating the kind of conditions in which fascism can actually manifest itself -- not now, but as far down the road as a generation, given the right circumstances and the continuation of the current trend.
OK, so call it what you want, but the Bush network acquired and consolidated power by supporting deliberate intimidation and organized violence, and they continue to maintain a political climate where thugs are rewarded, not punished.
I'm glad for an open discussion of this question. Fascism has always been tough to define, but not impossible. There's the "profiler" approach, in which you look for recurrent characteristics (hyper-nationalism, absolute belief in the primacy of a leader, mass mobilization through the party, etc.). If you ever get your hands on a copy of Who were the fascists? Social roots of European fascism, you'll see several articles at the beginning of this hefty tome that take different tacks at defining fascism this way.
And then there's the "core diagnosis" approach, in which you look for the heartspring at the center of the phenomenon. Jeffrey Herf's Reactionary modernism is a good example of this technique.
Either way you look at fascism, and whomever you find most convincing, I don't think that it's possible to dismiss the possibility of American fascism. We've had our brushes with it--not just the American Nazi Party or other tiny groups, but in movements that almost "broke out" into something like full-blown fascism. If you've every listened to a recording of Father Coughlin's radio sermons, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Although I know there has been a lot of scholarly criticism of the idea, I think the reactionary modernism thesis is on to something--particularly in the way that fascist movements we recognize were strongly based in the middle class. On the one hand, middle class people--shopkeepers, middle managers, electrical engineers, you name it--have particularly modern organizational, technical, or communication skills. They also feel the insecurities--from the anxieties of living from paycheck to paycheck, to feeling a spiritual void living in urban or suburban anonymity--that modern society instills in people.
When a movement offers a return to a mythic golden age, with a Great Navigator at the helm of the movement, and lots of smiling people willing to invite you into their group, it's a powerful lure. When the same movement can put the tools of modern society to work in an effort to unmake modernity, it can be an impressive thing to watch.
It's also arguably fascist, whether the credo is German racial superiority or Christian fundamentalism. I think the question should be, "How far are we from real fascism in America?" not, "How could it ever happen here?"
My wife was saying to me just a few minutes ago, "Maybe this is the time when American exceptionalism gets kicked in the teeth." That doesn't mean an end to justifiable pride in the accomplishments of this country. Instead, what she was talking about (wise person that she is) is an end to the idea that we're immune to the mistakes other countries have made.
Fasicsm in Europe certainly got a lot of help from the common sense of disbelief that anything as awful as fascism could really happen there (for example, in Germany, the nation of Beethoven and Schiller).
David, is anyone organizing a nationwide protest for what happened at Rio Rancho? I think the students and the teacher deserve support from all of us.
I just came from Volokh, where he says there may be more to this poetry story than meets the eye. Or there may not. There's no way to tell, really.
The big difference between fascism and authoritarianism is that fascism is totalitarian. Dictatorships can also be totalitarian, but fascism definitionally is. It also exploits mob violence as one of its primary enforcement arms, where the dictatorship only has the secret police or equivalent.
But I think what really creeps people out about fascism is that it allows the mob to oppress others, either inside or outside the state, willingly. The mob runs amok and controls itself and others in service of some ideal like national honor or virtue or glory. For the sake of these ideals, the mob votes away its freedoms. The state doesn't need to supress dissent, at least initially, because the mob only too happily does it for itself. It really is like a democracy that has suddenly mutated and turned cancerous, its institutions rampant and without its usual curbs.
Even if he wanted to, Bush (or anyone else) couldn't do it himself. It would require a mass movement. Organized intimidation would have to keep dissenters from participating in society. The spread and validation of the ideology is a step towards such a mass movement, but the movement would still have to happen, and it would have to be more than a couple hundred freepers.
I actually think a tilt towards military imperialism, a la the Roman Empire, is more likely. To prevent that you have to make sure there isn't a career soldier class that is separate from the ordinary citizen, and we've done a poor job of that lately.
Good point, Melissa. The Nazi terror, as a lot of historians have pointed out, really only affected a tiny handful of people (leaving aside the Holocaust--I'm just talking about the Nazis keeping the average German in line). What's clear, however, is how much agreement there was with the Nazis, which meant for every event of Gestapo terror, there were ten other times that a friend, co-worker, boss, or someone else who gleefully reinforced the Nazi line in less violent terms. (Plus they were more than glad to inform.) This line of argument is important, since it dismantles the idea that the Gestapo and other instruments of terror could, all alone, intimidate a population who otherwise wouldn't have gone along with the Nazi agenda.
And militarism is definitely part of fascism, even if the fascists send the real military off to fight disastrous wars. Militarism is more a public cult of military trappings. People join paramilitary groups, create all sorts of treacly tributes to people in uniform...More amateur military culture than official military recruitment, if that makes any sense.
Dave, exactly how far apart is a "fascist facilitator" and an actual "fascist"? Is this like the difference between a "Nazi sympathizer" and a "Nazi"?
Sorry, under Lawrence Britt's 14-point description this thing walks and talks like a duck. It's a duck, babe.
The totalitarianism under which we live is the absolute right of non-human corporate entities -- even over the rights of individual humans. Lucky the humans who direct corporations since they acquire the luxury of both sets of rights. Someone upthread was skeptical because of the issue of chauvinism; does it exist? Oh yeah -- and not just by race/ethnicity, age, gender, but by corporate/individual. The military exists to support the corporate and not the individual under the current regime.
And the totalitarian impulse is there in Christian fundamentalism. Control every aspect of life, because you never know how a movie, book, or picture might undermine the effort to re-engineer human nature. Thoughtcrime is as bad as committing a crime. There are no dividing lines between the different parts of society--not just church and state, but church and school, church and vacation, church and work...Yeah, that passes the duck test, too.
All together now:
THANK YOU, Ralph Nader.
Interesting post. Here's my 'workup' on the situation involving 'symptoms' of fascism. I am comparing the current situation to the time during the buildup to WWII, e.g. 1936-early 1938, but BEFORE the war and Holocaust. During 1933-1938, people who wanted to leave Nazi Germany or Mussolini's Italy were allowed and sometimes encouraged to do so. Some were imprisoned for a time, and then released on condition that they leave Germany immediately. Also, Mussolini opposed Germany's drive to war at this time.
PRESENT: 1) Propaganda machine. Talk radio would have been Goebbels' dream for Radio Berlin. 2) Iraq war not supported by most of our allies in Europe and consequent international isolation of U.S. foreign policy. 3) Violations of Geneva Convention involving dozens to few hundred prisoners. 4) Labeling of opposition party (SPD approximates Democrats) as 'treasonous' by talk-radio personalities and some politicians. Some private unwillingness to 'open up' in discussions of politics with acquaintances. 5) Pre-existing economic conditions: some lack of job opportunities and poorly reported double-digit inflation in fuel, health care, college tuition, and housing. Increasing level of deficit. 6) Coordinated data gathering about activities of citizens (databases and Patriot Act). Historical fascists were assiduous record-keepers and census-takers.
ABSENT: 1) Mass movement organizations of civilians that exist for the primary purpose of supporting a fascist party. Frequent large rallies or marches. cf. Nuremberg rallies. Membership in 100's of thousands or millions and is supported by government. 2) Wide-scale paramilitary training for young people. cf. Hitler Jugend 3) Economic *crisis* with large-scale unemployment that undermines democratic structure. Extreme deficit or war reparations leading to hyperinflation and worthless currency. cf. 1923 devaluation, reparations to France, 1930 Depression 4) Overt racial chauvinism as policy(wasn't present in Francoist Spain nor in Mussolini's Italy until it was imposed by Germans in 1941 or 1942). NuremberKristallnacht. 5) Imprisonment or killing of domestic political opponents. cf. 1933 imprisonment of KPD, 1934 Rohm Putsch, Gestapo activities up until 1938. Dachau and it's some 5,000 prisoners were not a secret in 1933-1937 Germany. Prison became overcrowded in late 1938 (Kristallnacht), with 10-11,000 prisoners. 6) Gun confiscation. 7) Weak constitution that easily allowed March 1933 Enabling Act. 
Block wardens, large-scale 'human intelligence' gathering about political currents of general domestic population.
cf. Gestapo officers in just about every town in Germany.
This is what Dachau looked like in 1933-1934:
http://www.scrapbookpages.com/
Da...ldBarracks.html
and in 1938, ~three years prior to the Holocaust. http://www.scrapbookpages.com/
Da...sTestimony.html
And, no, you don't allow a situation like this
...to play out.
The smile with the shades where checklist no. 8 should be is an error.
First of all a snark; Battleship flag from Afghanistan? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Afghanistan landlocked? And, uh... I'm pretty sure we have no battleships left in commission.
Secondly, I must disagree with fightingdem regarding Rome. The Roman Republic itself was what we would consider fascist today. The very term derives from the symbol of Republican authority in Rome, the fasces. A bundle of rods wrapped around an axe symbolizing strength in unity. Augustus reformed the system into something like a constitutional monarchy albeit with far more power invested in the monarch than in any modern, western constitutional monarchy.
I would place the most fascist-like period of Roman history in the century before Augustus created the empire. The deaths of the brothers Grachii at the hands of conservative mobs, the multiple (and illegal) consulships of Gaius Marius, Sulla's re-writing of the laws while his personal army held Rome, Milo's SA-like political street gangs, etc. etc.
Remember also, Augustus, Julius Ceasar (and their predeccesors Marius, Lucullus, and the Grachii) and their lot were the "liberals" of the time. Populists claiming to represent the common citizen against the aristocratic elements of Roman society represented by Metellus, Sulla, Pompey and Brutus.
Perhaps a more useful discussion would center around the mechanics of political suppression and the various roles played in such a machine. For instance, there are those who bankroll such activities, those who develop propaganda materials, those who deliver oratory, those who recruit and organize the deceived, deluded and demented, those who use their influence in business, media, religion and government to support thuggery. Some activities are overt, some covert. Then there are the paramilitary or terrorist adjuncts.
mycateatsfood -- in re: absent:
1) Mass Movement: Christian Coalition and PNAC - everything they touch.
2) Wide para-military: not necessary, only requires broad military entrenchment in private sector -- like the reservists around us, all the incentives offered up to now for college students to become reservists. And military liaisons in school, perhaps?
3) Economic crisis -- hello? Two million jobs permanently lost, many to outsourcing and offshoring...check the number of bankruptcies over the last 10 years while you're at it. We're on the brink of serious inflation induced by both the deficit and oil market, both of which we can attribute in no small part to manipulations by this Administration.
4) Overt racial chauvinism -- anyone Arabic-speaking or Muslim in this country must be terrified right now. Let me guess that you aren't one.
5) Imprisonment or killing of political opponents -- I suppose that Gitmo and Abu Ghraid don't qualify here, along with any confinement sites in Afghanistan?
6) Gun confiscation -- not required in this environment. The fascists are more likely to own guns than anti-fascists. Were it the other way around it might be so.
7) Weak constitution -- Read the Patriot Act. And then read the proposed Patriot Act II. Protections of free speech and freedom from illegal search and seizure are very weak now and would be virtually nil under Son-of-Patriot-Act.
Sorry, still looks, sounds, smells like a duck...
i found this article by Emberto Eco that illumhttp://www.themodernword.com/eco/
eco_blackshirt.htmlinates this topic it also lists 14 things
There is a lot more to fascism than just suppression of speech. That is one of the things that comes into play because the fascists need to keep the smart people quiet. The fascists own the media as we know. We are dangerously close to losing our democracy. We are not an organized group of people as of now. But I know we are moving closer and closer to a fascist dictatorship. Bush doesn't need any brains either. He's just a figurehead. The corporations are running the show.
Benito Mussolini said, "Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. "
Under fascism the big business virtually owns the government. How is that possible? By forming a capitalist oligarchy - an alliance of big business that takes over a political party; financing, buying, coercing elections; controlling the media, the economic assets of the society, it's representation in government and privatizing all agencies of the government. For the capitalists within the alliance, privatization of government agencies is a great source of revenue without competition or bidding process.
Critics of those who compare Hitler and Bush remind us of the holocaust. Hitler didn't start the holocaust right away. He slowly took control of the masses before he started that. Bush is rushing in my opinion. Hitler convinced the masses that the Jews were the cause of societies evils while Bush convinced the masses that Islamic terrorists and Saddam Hussein were the cause of evil. Bush isn't finished yet. He is still indoctrinating corporatism into our society while Hitler already had corporatism in control when he persecuted the Jews. Have we not begun a mini-holocaust in the Middle East?
Of course they fear poetry the most. Poetry is the most powerful tool ever invented by the mind of man.
I don't know the technical definition of facism and don't have any first-hand experience with it either; so I can't tell if we're sliding down the slippery slope towards it. I have observed, however, that there has been a change in the American political climate since the early 1980s.
It feels somewhat like the period of the late-1960s t0 early 1970s when the establishment tried to stifle dissent toward the Vietnam war. Those of us who welcomed the change in the political climate then felt triumphant and were convinced we had ushered in a new age in American politics. We were hopeful the country had turned a significant corner.
But there were many Americans who did not believe in this mini-revolution or support the changes we welcomed. The establishment acceded to some degree for political expediency but never accepted these changes. Nonetheless the exposure of scandals such as the Watergate and Iran-Contra Arms affairs gave us some hope the changes were permanent.
We know now they weren't. Wealthy reactionaries began in the early 1980s to organize the re-taking of the country. We now see their efforts paying off in many ways, including strong influence over the mainstream media (our ally during the 60s-70s).
(continued on next comment)
(continued from comment above)
The most disturbing thing to me today is that so many people seem to either support the anti-democratic agenda or be apathetic to its dangers. I don't know the reason but the slumber of the media may be a major contributing factor.
I can't divine where all this is leading but I'm not encouraged by what I see. It seems unlikely that the Constitution will provide us any protection since the public's eagerness for the Patriot Act seems to have rendered much of it null and void. I foresee trouble ahead for those of us who resist the elements taking the nation in an undemocratic direction because the reactionaries are not likely to give up their gains easily.
I hope the American people will awaken from their slumber and begin voicing their opposition to what's happening today. If we don't, we're going to become the generation that completely failed to uphold the principles upon which our nation was founded.
I'm grateful for this post, the fascism analysis, and the specific news about the high school incident. And this evening, I'll be urging my few readers to come over here.
I have a nit to pick, though. Readers should not assume, from the Green Left Weekly quote, that principal Tripp is ascribing the poetry argument to "racial conflict." There were, it seems, actual racist graffiti and threats at the school over the winter of 2002-2003; it led to Tripp organizing diversity discussions and sending warnings to teachers about racist graffiti and languages at about the same time that the Nevins/poetry story hit the news. See an April 16, 2003, article on this:
http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/
...ws_racism.shtml
Tripp and the reporter make no mention of the poetry fight, but the GLW piece uses the article to find guilt by association: that because he sought corporate help on the race issue, his motives in the freedom of speech issue must also be corporate. And GLW even manages to imply that Tripp is calling the freedom of speech question a racial one, something I find no evidence for.
(I hate this particular principal, but without more data I won't criticize him for seeking help from his own funders to handle racism on campus. Those big corporations certainly have knowledge and policies about diversity that might help.)
Raptor, I wondered how the "racist" thing got into it. Thanks. It sounds like there are a great many things going on at the school that are difficult right now.
I'm wondering if Dave or anyone else has any comment on Volokh's post. It seemed to be a pretty thorough refutation -- which is personally a bit embarassing for me, because my brother had already forwarded the link to Dave's story directly to Andy.
Next time, I'll wait 24 hours and see what shakes out before doing something like that again.
Oh, and one more thing....
Many of you are referencing ideas and materials (Eco's 14 points, Mussolini's famous quote, etc.) that Dave himself has already very thoroughly discussed in his most excellent "Rush, Newspeak, and Fascism." It's sort of the core document that explains the memes on which this blog is based, and an essential education for those who hang out here and comment. It's also one of the best things I've read anywhere in the past year.
If you haven't read it, go download the whole PDF now. It's about 90 pages, so print it out, and carry it around. (I'm a fast reader, but it took me a couple days curled up by the fire on a camping trip last summer.) You'll see more clearly how all this stuff fits together, and avoid quoting stuff that is already familiar to the old-timers here. And you'll be astonished at the way Dave pulls it all together.
Mrs. R --
I'll be posting an update on this, but for now, you can check my response at Patrick Nielsen Hayden's site to the Volokh material.
eh said: Saw Paxton on C-SPAN the other day.
Bob Paxton is my cousin. I've ordered his book, and was hoping it would be featured on Booknotes or the like. I couldn't find any reference on the CSPAN site to his appearance there. Was it CSPAN or CSPAN2, eh?
I blogged this several days ago. The military liaison is, I think, to do with the fact that the school has a junior ROTC program (Marines). That still does not explain how or why he had a say in the educational curriculum. I also found out that the same school is being sued for suspending a girl who had a tiny Swiss Army Knife on her keychain although school policy was, in fact, extremely unclear.
Here is the link to my blog article.
http://marykay.typepad.com/
galli...censorship.html
1) I actually rather agree with Rayne on the economics situation. There IS inflation out there, that is NOT being reported. In addition to gasoline, meat, milk, and crackers have gone up in double-digit percentages. Potato chips (Lay's) just RECENTLY went to a 5 or 5.5 oz. bag from a 6-oz bag - same price cheating. (No, I didn't buy the little mini-mart-size bags at my supermarket...observed and reported). I am torqued about outsourcing....have an MS. Zoology degree and have been under/unemployed for 10 years....However, although I believe that REAL unemployment is approx. 9-10% or so (counting those who have given up looking for work), that is less than the 25% characteristic of Germany in 1931-32.
Yet....it's not 25% unemployment or 50% inflation....YET. Today, I saw actual lines at the lowest-priced gas station in town.
2). The situation with Abu Ghraib actually worries me lots. I see us at a fork in the road. One path leads to redemption, and the other to denial. If we deny that what happened at Abu Ghraib was WRONG.....this is the DIRECT road to the big f. Not 10 years down the road. More like 1 to 5.
3). I didn't say it in my original post, but - if this country goes fascist, I believe the timeframe is 1-5 years - rather than a generation of 20-25 years.
Benito Mussolini also characterized Fascism as:
"Fascism, which was not afraid to call itself reactionary ... does not hesitate to call itself illiberal and anti-liberal."
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/arch...ves/45/
051.html
I can't help but mention the inherent silliness of the line, "A US battleship flag from Afghanistan".
What battleships are in service?
And where in Afghanistan? I think even the US Navy might have problems getting a warship within gun-range of Kabul or Khandahar.
As a benighted heathen who suffers the misfortune of not being a citizen of God's own country, land of the free, can someone tell me, what is "a school military liaison", and what the **** is it doing in a high school??
My comment is about the obvious and, having not read all the comments til now, apologise for restating the obvious. The source of the Bush family dynasty extends to Prescott Bush and his connections to the fascism of Hitler's Germany. Perhaps it is not so far fetched to be at the least, more than a little concerned about this present government's predisposition, or perhaps even, longing for some form of totalitarian system. To quote W himself, "...as long as I am the dictator!" Perhaps it is meant tongue in cheek at all, especially with George's inability to keep that little tongue inside his cheeks, (he sticks that little critter out and licks his lips as a regular part of his speechifying entertainment, some have mentioned that particular trait as being symptomatic of both alcoholism and brain damage from extended drug and alcohol use!) I think George and the whole neocon/evangelical right wing would be more than happy to have total control of your life and my life and the lives of all in the former land of the free. Let's get this guy out of here; keep up the pressure for accountable recountable voting procedures, the non-recountable black box voting system would have delighted Hitler but has no place in the Washington/Jefferson/Franklin conceived system of our democracy. (Notwithstanding they had slaves too, sometime the work of the art is greater than the artist!)
You may wish to check this http://www.agonist.org/archives/
...936.html#015936 post at Agonist. His info is usually pretty accurate, and I'm inclined to agree that there may be more to this story. . .
M J-L,
The principal's letter has already been noted above. It does point up some innaccurate details in the orginal editorial -- many of which were already corrected in David's article -- but it also seems to confirm the most significant accusations through carefully worded denials that somehow manage to avoid the meat of the charges.
The letter ridicules the idea that the principal "ordered an end to the teaching, reading, and writing of poetry," but fails to mention the disbanding of the poetry club. It says that, "Procedurally, requests for credentials must be properly authorized by the employee
and submitted to the Human Resources Department (not the principal). All such requests are promptly processed," but doesn't say that these particular credentials were promptly sent or that the principal didn't involve himself in this case. (When someone responds to a charge of specific wrongdoing with a recitation of rules and procedures, it's usually a sign they have something to hide.)
Poking around, I found a reference to Gary Tripp, the Rio Rancho Principal, in a posted Temporary Restraining Order from 2001. This relates to the school district's "zero tolerance" policy on weapons in school and details a senior's long-term suspension because she was searched and found to have a gift key-chain pen knife in her bag.
http://www.ztnightmares.com/
html...rder_motion.htm
Nell Lancaster - Yup. Booknotes on CSPAN-2. He was a very respectful man, almost soft-spoken. It was surprising because he was inevitably asked about whether the US is turning fascist, and he recited all the things the left has been concerned about recently!
The reference to "posters" may have been in reference to two teachers in APS in Albuquerque who lost their jobs for posting antiwar posters in their classrooms. This is documented easily available in the Albq. Journal and Weekly Alibi.
Were the Sons of Liberty, who tarred and feathered English tax officials and professed imaginary "nationalism" (not exactly but you get the idea) for one set of English oppressors rather than another, fascistic or brownshirt-like?
And the earliest comparison we're aware of is usually the Spartan Secret Police, preserving through midnight tribunals the State Slavery vs Soldier-Citizen caste system, though you'd probably know better.
Amazing article/blog/post/whatever. I found this through a different blogging community. I found it very informative and appreciate the Nevins story. It tied in nicely with facism and suppressing our voice! Which...is allll the rage in America. And if you have a fucking voice... it's funny when democrats/liberal have to REMIND everyone that this is a free country, hence freedom of speech. And then the consertives fight back..."We're fighting for our freedom" Whose freedom??? I'm just as free as I was before the Iraq War as afterwards. I can understand Osama. I can understand Afgan. But fucking Iraq? It's just another power "Trip"per in office. Go figure.
This is a very influential speculative novel of http://www.thispot.com/delaware-
...orporation.html
Were there ever real witches? http://www.phind.net/ecommerce/e.../
ecommerce.html
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