The Rise of Fascism in the US
The Mirriam-Webster Dictionary defines fascism as " a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government". Wikipedia defines it as "a form of radical authoritarian nationalism that came to prominence in early 20th-centruy Europe and is usually placed on the far-right within the traditional left-right spectrum".
FascismUS.com quotes from Mussolini - "Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of State and corporate power"; Lenin - "Fascism is capitalism in decay"; and Sen. Huey Long's warning - "Fascism will come to America in the name of anti-fascism. I'm afraid, based on my own long experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security."
This website also lists 14 characteristics of fascism:
- Powerful and continuing nationalism
- Distain for the recognition of human rights
- Identification of enemies/scapegoats as unifying cause
- Supremacy of the military
- Rampant sexism
- Controlled mass media
- Obsession with National Security
- Religion and government are intertwined
- Corporate power is protected
- Labor power is suppressed
- Distain for intellectuals and the arts
- Obsession with crime and punishment
- Rampant cronyism and corruption
- Fraudulent elections
The scary thing is, I recognize all of these points and characteristics as things that have become commonplace in the current US political system. Bertrand Russell warned us of the current political plight we now find ourselves in, either under Cruz or Trump:
"The next step in a fascist government is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand, and terrorism on the other." ~Bertrand Russell
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When the Nazi's rose to power in Germany, they began as a small group of radical extremists. They were a small and minor "official" police group in the German SA (Sturmabteilung or "storm troopers") commonly known as "Brown shirts" similar to the Italian Dictator Mussolini's "Black shirts". Both Mussolini and Hitler started out their political careers in their respective National Socialist parties, appealing initially to young, nationalistic, working class men. Both had an air of legitimacy to their bid for power, climbing the political chain more or less legitimately.
Hitler made a grab for power early on in his leadership of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi for short), and was imprisoned for it. At his trial, he was so passionate in his speech about returning Germany to the world as the great nation it once was, that the judges felt sorry for him and reduced his sentence to 5 years. He was released after 9 months in part due to public sympathy and appreciation for his frankness and national pride. From there, he drew a lot of german youth who were dissatisfied with the options available to them, particularly difficulty getting work, feeling that foreigners were taking their jobs, feeling as though they were owed more and resenting anyone who wasn't as German as they were. Jews have always faced a lot of persecution, in part because they tend to have good jobs, are well respected, and have a strong community that helps them succeed in life. The working class youth saw these things that they wanted and decided they could take them from others because they "deserved" it for being more german than others were.
Fear is an amazing motivator. As Russia had a revolution in which the Communist Party took over, Germany became worried by the rising interest in Marxist ideas and communism. The Nazi party used the Reichstag Fire (some believe Hitler himself engineered the fire) to "fan the flames" of anti-communist fear and solidify his position in politics by promising to rout the group of "dutch communists" that had started a fire to burn down the parliament building. From 3,000 members in 1920, the Nazi party rose to 108,000 strong in 1929, pulling in extremists from the right wing conservative faction of german government and lower-middle class workers who wanted better pay and more jobs.
Hitler used the SA brownshirts as street thugs to enforce his ideas and destroy anyone who didn't agree with or support him. The brownshirts began as a movement of public thugs, but soon became legitimate as first the police supported their marches and vandalism, and then many police became brownshirts themselves. If a newspaper printed anti-Nazi articles, made fun of Nazi leaders, or disagreed with Nazi propaganda, the brownshirts would march in and throw typewriters out of windows, beat people up, smash windows and doors down, and steal personal items without the police lifting a finger to stop them. As the brownshirts gained followers and people joined, they began to disrupt other political parties meetings, breaking them up and even roughing up the people attending. They transformed from a small group of violent and unorganized extremists into a well-organized gang of political thugs, were given weapons and legitimate government positions and the authority not only to beat people up, but to take them away for questioning. Few returned in condition in which they were taken away, if they were ever seen again.
This all happened fairly slowly at first. From the historical records I can find, various interviews with people who survived the Nazi's regime, and Hitler's own books, it seems as though the initial stages of Nazi control were fairly subtle and unthreatening. People ignored the preliminary warning signs, thinking that there was no way sensible people in their country would ever vote someone like Hitler into power. It was all just smoke with no flame to be concerned about. Until it wasn't. Until it became real. Until Hitler did get voted into office, became a dictator, and began to slaughter millions of people from Jews to the mentally/physically handicapped.
The reign of fear and anti-semitism and thuggery in those times is mirrored in our own history today. In the US, we are constantly told to fear terrorist attacks. Ever since 9-11, even the hint of a bomb or a plane crash immediately sets people looking for a terrorist. It's like the "where's waldo" of America now. We are all so terrified of foreign terrorism, not only do we not afford domestic terrorism the concern it is due, but we overlook it entirely and claim it to be "just stuff that happens". Mass shootings are a form of domestic terrorism. Blowing up Planned Parenthood facilities is domestic terrorism. Shooting up a black church because the people there happen to have a different coloured skin is racist domestic terrorism. And yet we are all more concerned about ensuring that the TSA airport security confiscates an old ladies short sewing scissors and throwing away shampoo.
Donald Trump inspires a zeal of hatred against people of different colours, religions other than christianity, women, the LGBTQ community, and pretty much every other group apart from fat, white, middle-aged gun-happy morons and their gun-happy bible-thumping sons. He literally tells people in his rallies to go and beat up anyone who disagrees with them. He promotes violence as a way to achieve goals. He stereotypes muslims and hispanics, he is a sexist pig when it comes to women, pretty much categorizing us as a pair of breasts and a piece of meat to have sex with. He preys on the weak-minded people's fears, telling us we need to get rid of the Mexicans because they are taking all our jobs, we need to bomb the middle east because that's where all the terrorists are, we need to piss off every other major country in the world, just to show everyone how big our collective nationalist dick is.
Trump supporters are obsessed with nationalism, just as the Nazi's were. Everything is about "Making America Great Again" and "'Merica" nonsense. Wearing red/white/blue clothing, waving a flag (often the confederate flag) for no good reason, and singing patriotic songs while ganging up and beating the crap out of someone smaller than they are while outnumbering them 10:1. Yea, really fair odds there.
And as a quick note, illegal immigrants in the US find it extremely difficult to get a job. They are not "stealing american's jobs", because you need a valid Social Security Number in order to get a legitimate job. As illegal immigrants do not have a SSN, they cannot be employed and paid legally. So instead of saying that the "Mexicans are stealing our jobs", you should really be pissed off at the American business men who are too cheap to pay a fair wage to you americans and instead pay meager pittance under the table to illegal immigrants.
The point of this blog post however, is just to illustrate how shockingly similar Trump supporters are to the "brownshirts" of the Nazi party that nearly took over Europe and destroyed the world as we know it. History is repeating itself here. The Germans were so sure that Hitler couldn't possibly be elected in a fair election, but he did. I was sure in the beginning that people couldn't really be stupid enough to believe Trump's lies and bullshit. But I guess I was wrong, because it's happening right before our eyes. If he is elected, how long do you think it will be before his supporters start setting fires to jewish and muslim owned businesses and houses. How long before they attack LGBTQ bars and meeting places because they are homophobic little creeps. How long before they set fire to women's health organizations like Planned Parenthood. How long before "free speech" is only free if it follows the appropriate mantra of America is the greatest, Trump is wonderful. How long before we go from being a slightly dysfunctional democracy to a dictatorship where the people who are supposed to keep us safe (police) turn into a fascist enforcer group who beat up anyone who doesn't hold to the status quo.
Nazi's, Stasi, KGB, Trump supporters... they're all the same in the end and they're coming for America. That's what we should be afraid of and working to prevent. Not building a wall between the US and Mexico, not waving our metaphorical penises in the air to see who has the biggest balls, and not being so obsessed with "terrorism" that we loose site of domestic terrorism.
There's more at stake here than who gets to live in the white house. I for one do not see a bright future for the US unless we really say no to the Trump supporters and start some proactive actions to ensure that they cannot turn into the new "brownshirts" pushing the Nazi regime. But the US has never been good about being proactive. We're a reactive nation that waits until the very last moment, that waits until nearly all hope is lost before actually getting up off our asses and doing something for the world, not just for ourselves. We're cowards, and probably always will be. It might just be the end of us.
