Wow, Little Hawk, you're really on a roll! Spot on!

Any time an individual or a nation allows the almighty dollar to supercede the value of human life, that individual or nation is dancing with the Devil.

One of the major misconceptions in this country is that democracy and capitalism are the same thing. WRONG!! The two are separate. In fact, the two are often mutually inimical. Capitalism can very easily lead to a dangerous flirtation with fascism, as it currently does in the United States, although people get upset with me when I say this.

Fascism doesn't require black uniforms and swastika armbands and straight-arm salutes, or even rampant racism. Or even a single obvious dictator. All it requires is for the government and the corporations to be so intertwined that they are all but indistinguishable. And when you look at the backgrounds and the current connections of the Bush administration, you can't help but be led to some very uncomfortable conclusions.

The government, with its blatant embracing of pre-emptive war, has already taken on the bellicose characteristics of a fascist regime. The stipulations of the Patriot Act are also consistent with that trend. What it would take to completely push the country over the edge would be, as Hitler did in 1933, to abolish democratic elections. I think the current administration has already demonstrated its disdain for the electorate (remember Florida?). I would hope that such an abolition would cause the citizens of this country to revolt, but I sometimes wonder. . . . An administration might attempt to maintain the charade of free elections, which is why electronic voting—no paper trail—scares the hell out of me.

Fascist political leaders are characteristically fond of military uniforms (see Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco). It may be reading too much into the flight-suit incident, but even presidents like George Washington through all other presidents who were former military men right up through General Dwight D. Eisenhower never wore their rightfully earned uniforms while they were in office, even when in a military setting. What the lack of uniform is supposed to indicate is that the military is under the ultimate command of an elected civilian. George W. Bush is the first American president to opt to wear a military uniform while in the office of president.

A little indication here, a little indication there. There is a bad smell in the wind, and it makes me uncomfortable.

Don Firth.