"Is Republicanism Fascist?" by David Briceno, YubaNet Regional Op-Ed
America's social and political climate today bears an uncanny resemblance to the F-word -- fascism. No, not the goose-step marching, swastika-displaying, "Heil Hitler" kind of fascism. Its signs are more imperceptible than that. It is unmistakably growing more prevalent in American government and society as a whole today. And currently, the U.S. is in the early stages of full-fledged fascism and certain of its characteristics prove the veracity of this claim.
For one thing, there has been, and is, a growing anti-liberal bias in America. Like republicanism, fascism attacks or condemns liberals. And both ideologies reject or abhor the ideology of liberalism, faulting it with all or most of the social, political and economic ills of the nation. It's through the vilification of liberalism and its adherents that republicanism and fascism use their ideological enemies as scapegoats not only to divert attention away from myriad, seemingly unsolvable social problems, but to also channel people's feelings of frustration, insecurity and resentment in their lives in living in modern society into hatred against liberals and their ideology. It is important to note that the Nazis gained power in Germany by mostly attacking liberalism, faulting it with the dismal state of economic affairs present there at the time, thus unifying most of the population against the evils of liberalism. Aggression then escalated into coercion and violence against all internal and external "enemies" of the state, such as the Jews, who were singled out and exterminated.
Secondly, there's an over concern with national security today in America, which is nothing new, but carried to its extreme can be dangerous to democratic freedoms, too. In fascist republics, leaders always used national security to justify control or oppression of the masses. Today, thanks to mass media, republicanism is able to spread near and far through its ideological spokesmen, which include (but are not limited to) Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage. Their brand of propaganda rivals that of Japan's past Tokyo Rose propagandists during WWII as well as the disinformation and lies of Germany's Nazi party. Undoubtedly, fascists of the past would be proud of today's Republican propagandists, of how advanced and sophisticated their spin is. (Incidentally, a few years ago, there were bumper stickers on Republicans' cars that stated, "Rush is Right." By the same token, during the fascist regime in Italy (1922-1945), Mussolini's picture was hung in every classroom in the country with the caption, "Mussolini is always right.")
The danger to democratic freedoms doesn't so much come from foreign powers, but comes from a republicanism which demonizes liberals and their ideas. It is the intolerance which characterizes both republicanism and fascism (although in differing degrees) that is inimical to freedom. Freedom of ideas that attack Nazi republicanism is Verboten, according to republicanism's national security mentality. For them, liberalism in the media should be dealt with immediately and attacked by these republicanism‘s media "spokesmen," since dangerous liberal ideas are deemed subversive to "national security," according to the current tenet of republicanism. To repeat again, it is Nazi republicanism that is a grave danger to the democratic freedoms that Americans enjoy today and not liberalism.
Third of all, both fascism and republicanism appeal to certain types of people more than others. This is obvious. What many Americans fail to realize is that Hitler didn't just appear out of nowhere and start ruling Germany immediately. When he joined the Nazi party in 1919, he was Member No. 7. Yet, within 14 years Nazism became the greatest mass movement in German history. Fascism gained widespread German support because people don't just desire material goods and the basic necessities of life; they also desire a sense of belonging. On the whole, people desire the sense of being needed, of being wanted and of being useful. It's the way we are as human beings. What both republicanism and fascism do is give many people a strong sense of belonging and gives them a sense of purpose in their lost souls. Being indoctrinated by insidious republicanism largely satisfies these human needs. Therefore, to gain members, all Nazi republicanism has to do is convince alienated people that they are a member of a great party, a superior race, part of an elect few, or a great nation. Without a doubt, to convince most of the populace that a certain cause, like a war, is necessary against a certain enemy channels societal frustration into mindless patriotism or unquestioning nationalism, and is thus able to commit horrendous atrocities against certain domestic groups legitimately. Furthermore, by building up an individual's self-respect, self-esteem or self-worth, fascism and its corollary republicanism is, thus, able to grow stronger in rank and file, which can culminate into a mass movement -- a strong enough populism which can successfully take over a government as the Nazis did in 1933 in Germany; the fascists in Italy did in 1922; as Japanese fascists did in the 1930s; and as the Republicans did in 2001,when Bush ascended to the presidency, thereby controlling all three branches of the U.S government. And the result of such governmental monopoly of republican power in America is not only the attempt to hush critics by resorting to all means of coercion -- from verbal threats and veto powers and gradually to torture and outright murder -- but also to sanction a national security apparatus that can operate in secret without oversight and beyond any constraints in the name of protecting the security of the nation from all enemies domestic and foreign even if its actions may be severely abusive, immoral and unconstitutional.
The fourth point is that republicanism and fascism both hold the view that the people are unable to rule themselves; that they need rulers to "guide" them; and that a republic is the ideal state in which government can totally control the "mob" best. After all, people don't rule; they can't rule; someone has to rule them in a republic. In fact, Republicans maintain Americans live in a republic and not a de facto democracy. So, both fascism and republicanism are both anti-democratic in that "mob rule" is anathema to order and stability along with the widely-held view that "the masses are asses." It may come as no surprise to learn that fascism means total allegiance to the state; that the state is supreme in all matters; and that republicanism maintains that the state reigns supreme too.
Through education by the media and family, children are generally socialized into the dominant political culture. It's natural. While this is common practice here in America, Republicanism takes it one step further by seeking to control all phases of the lives of people, whether political or not.. Republicanism espouses family and its values like fascism. Women in regimes are supposed to only be concerned with Kinder, Kuche, Kirche (children, kitchen, church) under fascism and staunch republicanism, which reduces the value of women to the status of second-class citizens. Notably, both republicanism and fascism are highly anti-abortion , homophobic and intolerant of all or most unorthodox lifestyles.
Contrary to common knowledge, fascism doesn't thrive in poor developing countries (actually communism and socialism thrive there the best), but it grows best in technologically more advanced countries and especially those that are wealthy. There is a great chance of full-blown fascism occurring here since America is both wealthy and advanced technologically. No one can deny that government is prevalent today and intrusive in more economic, social and personal matters than ever before in U.S. history thanks to technology. But even while statism in America is not as severe as in past fascist countries, still, freedoms are slowly eroding as technology progresses and as more and more people become disenchanted with modern life and lash out at others, such as liberals and their ilk.
And lastly, even though fascism is undemocratic, it needs democracy to gain power. In fact, it was democratic elections that brought the Nazis to power in Germany. People voted for totalitarianism, mostly unknowingly, in March of 1933 when 17 million Germans voted the Nazis into power. As in the case of Germany, fascism can occur here very easily as America moves more and more towards the Right of the political spectrum where fascism also resides. All it takes is someone like a Mussolini of Italy, Juan Peron of Argentina, Hitler and others, to take over a dysfunctional nation and bring militarism into the equation. The result can be economically devastating, as a disproportionate need for military actions zap whatever economic gains occur domestically. As a matter for thought, in fascist countries, the military is an extension of fervent nationalism, which people vicariously identify with to push nationalistic goals, push other countries around and the military is mostly used to aggrandize the leader, whose power and prestige increases as a result. The avid supremacy of the military can pose a danger to democracy as Latin America knows all too well.
When all is said and done, the future of democracy in America rests on the avoidance of fascism.
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