BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps

Subject: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 03:13 AM

Here, in six pages, is an article excerpted from a newly published book.

I'd like to see this discussed.


See What You Think

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 08:58 AM

I've been worried for some time about the very things she writes so convincingly about. I'm convinced we're going in the fascist direction.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 10:29 AM

I did a parody newspaper in 2003-2004 called the New Bush TImes which proudly presented this ten step program via stories.
Sometimes it feels like John Stewart and Colbert are a last line of defense.

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Amos
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 11:35 AM

Her ten facets of fascism are convincing as a list of symptoms, but I would offer that althoguh Bush's administration has tried for 10/10, his successes (like his war on terror) are watery versions of the full-blown state of Fascism. But there's no qiestion he's been dabbling with all ten of 'em.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Wolfgang
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 12:42 PM

Most similarities are superficial. With such a standard of evidence, each single country of this world is close to a fascist takeover.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Stringsinger
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 01:11 PM

No Wolfgang, not true. Sweden and the Scandanavian Countries, Canada, Switzerland, even Germany are far from what is going on here in the US. These are not superficial aspects but very similar to the Twenties in Berlin. Economic crises will exacerbate the rise of fascism here in the US as it did in Germany. The US economy is tanking for the poor and middle class while corporate America unites with the Bush Administration. The US press and media for the most part is useless in terms of getting valid news. The military in the US is becoming privatized (Bush's Praetorian Guard).

Frank

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: ard mhacha
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 01:38 PM

Surely the USA has arrived, your country is despised throughout the world, and that is thanks to the fascists now running your country.

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Dickey
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 01:41 PM

"The military in the US is becoming privatized (Bush's Praetorian Guard)"
National defense is one of the most heavily outsourced activities in the U.S. federal government. From 1972 to 2000, private contractors' share of all defense-related jobs climbed from 36% to 50%. While the country's public-sector defense workforce remains large- about 2.2 million in 2000-its "shadow workforce," the true number of people supported by federal government spending and mandates, is far larger.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/National_Security/PriviteNationalSecurity.html

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 02:01 PM

Ebbie, thanks for the link. That led me to this site which tells why anti-war t-shirts have been legislated ILLEGAL in three states!

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: artbrooks
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 02:55 PM

An interesting article and, if I believed all of it (which I don't), an indication that the US is well on the way to totalitarianism. However, as a pedant, I must once again note that "Fascism" describes a specific political-economic system and using that term as a catch-all descriptor for all non-socialist totalitarian governments (as though there has ever been a totalitarian government that was really socialist, but that's a different rant) is rather akin to accepting the right's redefinition of "liberal" as covering all things evil.

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Dickey
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 03:50 PM

It is a strange thing but when I google liberal evil All I get are websites claiming conservative are calling liberals evil and websites claiming conservatives are evil. Why is that?

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 04:04 PM

The excerpt seems to omit the "standard step" of eliminating the Legislature, which has been accomplished quite effectively by the Administration's assumption of "emergency powers" that allow the Administration to create laws independent of the Legislature.

In the normal course of things, a President would veto legislation with which he/she doesn't agree, and it would be returned to the Legislature where the choice would be to accept the veto or attempt to override it.

Herr Bush has refused to veto anything, but simply signs all bills with appended "signing notes" that essentially say that he refuses to implement or enforce anything with which he disagrees, including to refuse recognition of anything that limits his personal authority. His "signing notes," so far as I can tell, are unpublished, and are inaccessible to the public.

(I'm unable to fathom why the press has not sought them out, or has been unable to find them, and has made no visible attempt to explain them to us - but they're a complete blank for me.)

[- yeah, sure, it amazes me.]

The use of "military courts" is particularly troubling, since the Administration (i.e. Bush) gets to write the "rules" for implementing laws written by the Legislature. Bush and his Administration have claimed that the laws don't matter (because he has "emergency powers") and a major revision of the UCMJ "published rules" as the "Manual For Courts Martial"^** has been released, but it's incomprehensible in any available form - and "unexplained" by any publicly available source I can find.

^** The Manuals for Courts Martial (MCM) is a ~700 page BOOK (link offers a download of a .pdf, 56MB), and the "changes" are mostly contained in Executive Order EO13387 (2005). Individual users are expected to annotate (tip-in) changes.

Among the apparent changes, a "general court martial" for a capital offense previously required a judge and a minimum of 5 court members. A change now allows "or the judge alone when authorized by ...." The "authorizing clause is elsewhere, and leads to other citations (also elsewhere) [in spaghetti code that would make an amateur BASIC programmer extremely proud].

Protests in Congress against the Patriot Act "search and surveillance" activities have been "quieted" by the promise that warrants will be obtained from the "secret court." This gives no assurance that's particlarly comforting, since the court consists of individual judges appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was installed by our Führer, presumedly for his doctrinal agreement with "our leader." NO ONE ELSE PARTICIPATES in the selection of judges. The names of the court members are SECRET. Terms are short enough that any "uncooperative" judge can easily be rotated out and replaced by a more agreeable judge. NO REPORT OF DECISIONS is required of this Court - to Congress or to the public.

(I feel so very safe.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 04:15 PM

Pat Robert's law school : Making America safe one new law at a time.

The Patriot act was on ice for a couple years before the trap was sprung.

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Amos
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 04:42 PM

Some examples of signing statements made by Sir Boosch.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Amos
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 04:46 PM

More examples from various years of signing statements by various Presidentii.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 05:42 PM

Good links Amos. The first one, especially, seems to me to affirm that Bush believes he is the law, and is the only law.

Unfortuantely, our Congress seems unaware of the meaning of the Constitution, and/or unwilling or unable to affirm it meaningfully.

I found the ending of the Essay by Tribe, linked from your second link, among the "interesting:"

"It's about time to take the Constitution seriously rather than playing it for whatever partisan advantage its symbols appear to offer. Durable though the constitutional system has been, and enduring though I have long believed it to be, there's only so much abuse that even it can take without collapsing under the weight of the garbage being heaped on its sturdy but far from invincible frame."

John

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Amos
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 06:19 PM

HEar, hear.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Dickey
Date: 01 May 07 - 07:54 AM

Chavez and the Fascist Left in Latin America

Like Cuba before it, Venezuela is moving rapidly in the direction of state fascism. And other Chavista nations may follow.

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: Riginslinger
Date: 01 May 07 - 08:12 AM

It would seem to me that Chavez and Castro are just of opposite of fascists and fascist states.

             To be fascist the means of production would have to be privately owned. The US is more facsits than they are, and getting to be more so, at least since Reagan.

Subject: RE: BS: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
From: artbrooks
Date: 01 May 07 - 08:35 AM

Another example of totalitarian=fascist, IMO.