America’s Declining into Fascism

Fascism is a word tossed around much by those of us on the left side of politics. Dr. Lawrence Britt examined the fascist regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and several Latin American regimes. Through his examination Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each regime. Does America have any of the characteristics Britt discovered? I believe elements of each characteristic can be found in America now, and I will cite examples of each characteristic.

14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Ever since 9/11 there has been a plethora of American flags. Drive down any given street in suburban America, or small towns for that matter, and you will see flags flying from houses. There are flags on mailboxes, cars, and t-shirts. The Bush administration considers someone patriotic if they fly the flag, but not if they ask questions and dissent.

As folk singer David Rovics asks in one of his songs, "Is there a flag upon your house, and a flag upon your car? Is there a ribbon upon your mailbox with stars and bars? Do you support the president in his war for oil? Do you think your sons belong there on someone else’s soil? How far is to here from Nuremburg?"

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

The U.S. will not be present when the U.N. General Assembly meets mid-May to elect new members to the Human Rights Council (HRC). The Bush administration says it will not be attending because the HRC lost its "credibility." Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, stated, "The United States does not have a shred of moral authority left; its only authority is the big stick…It is the United States that has lost its credibility, and that is why it would never be elected." When the U.S. ran for a seat on the HRC in 2001 it ended up being kicked out. Clearly the world believes the U.S. violates the human rights of detainees.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

During the run-up to invading Iraq Saddam Hussein was linked to al-Qaida by President Bush and members of his administration. In President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address he claimed Iraq and al-Qaida "have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. In a letter to Congress a few months later, Bush asserted that using force against Iraq "and other countries… including those nations, organizations or person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001."

President Bush and his administration also claimed Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). During a 2002 speech in Cincinnati, Ohio Bush claimed that surveillance photos showed Saddam Hussein’s regime were rebuilding factories where it had once produced WMDs. Vice-President Dick Cheney appeared on NBC’s "Meet the Press," claiming Hussein was "out trying once again to produce nuclear weapons."

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

The US military budget for the year 2007 is $439.3 Billion, which is larger than the combined military budgets of the next fourteen largest spenders. It is eight times larger than China’s military budget. Meanwhile millions of Americans lack access to affordable healthcare. America is the only country in the ‘developed’ world that does not have a tax-payer funded healthcare system. Instead Americans pay for the military to invade and occupy sovereign nations.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion, and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

The Supreme Court banned an abortion method called "intact dilation and extraction" on April 18. Anti-reproductive rights critics refer to the procedure by the misnomer "partial-birth" abortion. It was used in only 0.17 percent of all U.S. abortions in 2000. "Not since Bush v. Gore has the Supreme Court made such a political decision, or one that so completely distorts and disregards the U.S. Constitution," declared the National Organization for Women (NOW) President Kim Gandy.

President Bush recently warned Democratic leaders in Congress via letters not to attempt to weaken federal policies restricting abortion. When the Congress was controlled by Republicans federal funding of abortions was prohibited except to save the mother’s life, or cases of rape or incest. The religious fundamentalist James Dobson, founder and leader of Focus on the Family, declared with approval, "President Bush is not the first man to occupy the Oval Office who talked about valuing pre-born life, but no administration has backed up those words with as much consistent policy support as his has."

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

The main stream media is owned by a handful of corporations. Media critic Ben Bagdikian pointed out in his book The Media Monopoly in 1983 that only 50 corporations controlled the U.S. news media. With each new edition of the book the number shrinks. In 1992 less than two dozen corporations controlled the news media, and by 2000 only six. By 2004 the number shrunk to five.

Given the state of the MSM, it is not surprising that during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq the MSM kept repeating the lies of the Bush administration as if they were facts. For example:

• CBS Evening News, November 9, 2002: "But as U.N. weapons inspectors prepare to return to Iraq for the first time since Saddam kicked them out in 1998, the U.S. faces a delicate balancing act: transforming the international consensus for disarmament into a consensus for war."

• The Washington Times, November 14, 2002: "Iraq kicked out U.N. inspectors four years ago."

• Bob Woodward in the Washington Post, November 17, 2002: "The speech assailed the United Nations for not enforcing the weapons inspections in Iraq, specifically for the four years since they had kicked them out."

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer interviewed Condoleeza Rice on September 8, 2002. When he asked her about Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapons capabilities, she replied, "We know that he has the infrastructure, nuclear scientists to make a nuclear weapon…And we know that when the inspectors assessed this after the Gulf War, he was far, far closer to a crude nuclear device than anybody thought -- maybe six months from a crude nuclear device…The problem here is that there will always be some uncertainty about how quickly he can acquire nuclear weapons. But we don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

President Bush is a product of what I like to term "Bible-belting fundamentalism." He invokes the name of God, co-opting Christian imagery and biblical text while ignoring the warnings against using violence which Jesus taught. For instance, during his 2002 address in Cincinnati he stated, "The time for denying, deceiving, and delaying has come to an end. Saddam Hussein must disarm himself -- or, for the sake of peace, we will lead a coalition to disarm him." However, Bush failed to mention that the majority of the intelligence community did not believe Hussein possessed WMDs. Bush ended his Cincinnati speech with the words, "May God bless America."

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

Due to the state of campaign financing, and the huge cost it takes to run for a political office, corporate money plays a huge role in US congressional and presidential elections. The 2004 presidential and congressional elections cost $4 billion. The 2000 presidential and congressional elections cost $3 billion. The cost for television and radio ads, not to mention political consultants, is enormous. As a result, elected officials are in the proverbial back pockets of corporations.

General Electric (GE) is a good example. The CEO of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt contributed to both Bush’s presidential campaigns, and gave donations to the Republican National Committee. In 2003 GE was awarded a $10,600,007,101 no-bid contract in Iraq, and is ranked number seven in the list of 100 biggest defense contractors. During the 1990s the Pentagon created an investigations office for GE, which resulted in the company being indicted on 22 criminal counts.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

During the immigrant rights rally on May Day at MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, the police tried to break up a peaceful demonstration. On the website la.indymedia.org an observer described what happened when the police began firing at the crowd and attacking them with batons. According to the article, police officers began to push a protestor, a crowd gathered around as a result, and "a protestor was shown the true force of a police baton in blunt force trauma to the head… LAPD was now fully mobilizing at this point getting riot gear ready and forming a defensive block. Bear in mind; this all started with LAPD attacking peaceful protestors."

Members of the media were injured, including Fox TV Camerawoman Patti Ballaz, who sustained severe injuries after members of the LAPD struck her with batons. Ballaz filed a lawsuit against the LAPD. A Telemundo reporter was injured by the LAPD, as well a Los Angeles area television news reporter, four employees of a news station, a camerawoman, and a reporter for a radio station.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

A 46 page report compiled by over 60 scientists accused the Bush administration of censoring scientific reports for political purposes. The report accused the administration of "suppressing, distorting, or manipulating the work done by scientists at federal agencies." The scientists claim the administration ordered "massive changes" about the findings on global warming in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2003 Report on the Environment. According to the report a fact sheet for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention was replaced with a warning on the failure rate of condoms.

An Inspector General report accused Julie MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, of altering scientific reports in order to limit the number of species classified as endangered, according to a March 29 Washington Post article bearing the title "Official Allegedly Tampered with Data." The report found that MacDonald violated federal rules by sending internal agency documents to lobbyists, but did not accuse her of a crime.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

In 2002 the Congress authorized the Patriot Act. Under the Patriot Act law enforcement has an expanded ability to gain access to personal medical, financial, mental health, medical records. Law enforcement can conduct secret searches. The FBI can conduct criminal investigations on American citizens without probable cause if it is for "intelligence purposes." Non-citizens can be arrested based on suspicion.
The Patriot Act was reauthorized in 2005. The best commentary on the Patriot Act occurred during an episode of the crime procedural Law & Order: Criminal Intent, when actor Christopher Noth’s character remarked, "I’ve read the Patriot Act in its original form: 1984."

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

Private contractors are used more now than ever. According to a New York Times article the "most successful" contracts are given not to "those doing the best work" but to those who have the right connections within the Bush administration. The Bush administration has outsourced everything from the emergency preparation and evacuation of New Orleans to the maintenance of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and private contractors in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Iraq alone there are 100,000 contractors, almost the number of U.S. forces, according to a military census.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

The 2000 presidential election came down to votes in Florida. Al Gore won the popular vote. The race in Florida was too close to call which triggered an automatic state-wide recount. Democrats wanted a hand count of votes in counties that used the "butterfly" ballot. The Bush campaign went to federal court to block the hand recounts. The court refused to block the recounts, but the Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, a Bush supporter, oversaw the certification process. State law required the election results to be certified within seven days, and Harris refused to extend the deadline, which would allow the manual recounts to be included.

The case ended up going before the Florida Supreme Court which granted a five-day extension. The Bush campaign asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in December. The recount process itself ended up being disputed as each county had a different way to evaluate the ballots. Republican protestors on November 22 pounded on the doors and windows of the building where Miami’s Dade county officials were counting the ballots. As a result the county canvassing board stopped the recount, although they denied the protests were responsible for their decision. Palm Beach County asked Harris to extend the deadline as they did not have enough time to recount all the ballots, but she refused, and that evening certified Bush the winner. The Supreme Court in December ruled recounts in Florida would stop.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights investigated allegations of voting fraud in Florida during the 2000 presidential election. The Commission found that approximately 54 percent of the 180,000 "spoiled ballots" in Florida were cast by African-Americans, who make up about 11 percent of Florida voters, and are largely registered as Democrats.