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September 22, 2007 at 12:02:17
10 Fast and Easy Steps from Freedom to Fascism by F. Vyan Walton Page 1 of 5 page(s) |
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During her little noticed appearance on The Colbert Report this week author Naomi Wolf mentioned a list of ten specific steps that can and will lead a country from Democracy and Freedom into Totalitarian Fascism - and unfortunately it appears that we've already ticked our way past all but one of those goalposts while hardly blinking an eye. From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all The old analogy of the frog in the frying pan clearly applies here. It's only by very slowly and gradually increasing the heat that we are lulled into believing everything is just fine - meanwhile our skin is peeling off. Because Americans like me were born in freedom, we have a hard time even considering that it is possible for us to become as unfree - domestically - as many other nations. Because we no longer learn much about our rights or our system of government - the task of being aware of the constitution has been outsourced from citizens' ownership to being the domain of professionals such as lawyers and professors - we scarcely recognize the checks and balances that the founders put in place, even as they are being systematically dismantled. Because we don't learn much about European history, the setting up of a department of "homeland" security - remember who else was keen on the word "homeland" - didn't raise the alarm bells it might have. It is my argument that, beneath our very noses, George Bush and his administration are using time-tested tactics to close down an open society. It is time for us to be willing to think the unthinkable - as the author and political journalist Joe Conason, has put it, that it can happen here. And that we are further along than we realize. Naomi makes an excellent point, but what is even more chilling is the fact that it has happened before - TO US! Step 1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy As was done after the Reichstag Fire and the Attack on Pearl Harbor a new and enduring enemy of the state has been identified, both within and without - both real and imagined. In Germany the imagined enemy were the Jews, Gypsies and Gays, in America it was the interned Japanese-Americans, the dreaded "Fifth Column" and later The Reds and Commies. As the Reichstag Fire was followed by the Enabling Act which supplanted constitutional law with a perpetual state of emergency, we have seen Sept 11th followed by the Patriot Act, the (toothless) Detainee Treatment Act, the Military Commissions Act and the FISA Act - all of whom have continued to trade freedom and protections against the overreaching of the state for the pyrite of "Security" in a deal so naked in it's lopsidedness it would make Beelzebulb blush with envy. Today the real threat is indeed al Qeada, albeit a far less deadly and damaging threat than the one which wiped most of New Orleans from the map, while the imagined one are those damn filthy Liberals who just about seem to be to blame for everything. Especially those mouthy Liberals who would rail against the slow loss of liberty and our national moral standing. Pity those who dare to stand firm against the juggernaut of fear and loathing, they who will become nothing more than grease upon it's wheels. Step 2. Create a Gulag As we've seen under Stalin once you have identified your enemies - you need a dank dark place to put them. Permanently. And of course, like a little butter to make this bitter pill go down - you need a sham kangaroo court to make your Secret Prisons and Detention Centers seem completely legitimate. By the way, the establishment of military tribunals that deny prisoners due process tends to come early on in a fascist shift. Mussolini and Stalin set up such tribunals. On April 24 1934, the Nazis, too, set up the People's Court, which also bypassed the judicial system: prisoners were held indefinitely, often in isolation, and tortured, without being charged with offenses, and were subjected to show trials. Today people such Abu Omar, Maher Arar and Pulitzer Prize winning AP photographer Bilial Hussein have been literally snatched off the street by U.S. forces and agents, kidnapped, transported across international lines against their will and in several cases tortured by our "allies" only to be later to have been found as Omar and Ahar have been - to be completely innocent. Most of those held at Abu Ghraib were innocent of any real charge, and had no connections to insurgents or terrorists - yet they have remained. Meanwhile the American public has hardly lifted a voice in protest, let alone a finger. Just as they remained silent during the internment of Japanese-Americans, and the blacklisting of suspected "Pinkos" in decades past. 3. Develop a thug caste. http://www.truth2powerproject.com The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
If she's not a witch, she has nothing to fear," said the good folk of Salem. But wait, some good folks of Salem in 1692 reported false information about their next door neighbors so they could get them executed and then get their adjoining farm. LadyBug (commenter on another thread) says (paraphrased) she doesn’t care if they know what novels she reads but she would care if she were plotting to blow up a building in Kansas. Now that she has mentioned a plot to blow up something in Kansas, she can be quoted out of context, and someone wishing her ill can have this information put in her file. Remember, even if she manages to find out about the false information in her file, she can’t have it removed. This is one type of situation that those who say they have nothing to hide, so nothing to fear do not take into consideration. I hope Lady Bug thinks this over. We must retain --or regain-- our Constitution and our legal rights. by
Christie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 143 comments) on Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 at 2:04:07 PM
by
Kent Welton (71 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 63 comments [5 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 at 2:24:06 PM
As a person whose parents survived the Stalin's Russia, whose relatives died in Nazi camps and who himself became a refugee and had to flee his own country I certify: All is true. Congratulations, suckers, you got your fascism. Eat your checkers. Boy, I am sorry. It breaks my heart that this country to which I ran away from an incredible evil ( as I saw it) had embraced that very evil. I am so sorry. by
Mark Sashine (72 articles, 19 quicklinks, 269 diaries, 4101 comments [130 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 at 4:30:03 PM
Do not think for one single moment that this nation has embraced fascism. We are a people gone soft to be certain. We are smug in our pretenses of luxury and freedoms and mostly disinterested in the workings of government because this is the way we have been led to become. My grandparents fled Russia and came here, two by rather circuitous routes. Other of my relatives died in Nazi death camps as well so we share abit of a heritage. On the other hand I was born here as were my parents and I have a bedrock belief in the decency and courage of the American people. There will come a time, and soon, when the public will have had enough. That time may not come as soon as many here would prefer but come it will. The history of this nation is plainly seen to be a swing between the populist and the conservative and the pendulum is never still. Most labor under the myth that our government works for us, more each day are coming to understand that it does not and will , once convinced, make things right. You will see........ by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 at 8:10:03 PM
The leaders of fascism are the wealthy elite who control large multinational corporations. They have all ready taken control of our trade policies and have brainwashed many academics into accepting the dogma of free trade and globalization. Bush and other free trade believers think that big business is the center of our universe and should be in control of our lives and our government. Business should not be held accountable to laws or any regulations that might interfere with profits. If you look at Bushes family history you will understand why. The only thing government should provide is multimillion dollar bailouts to owners of corporations who made a bad business decision. Special interests love fascism and are the ones who desperately want it in the United States, so they can milk our tax base for all its worth without any oversight or objection. The future Hitlers are our corporate CEOs and lobbyists. They want complete control of our federal government and have all ready accomplished much of this goal. America is at a point in history much like it was in 1770, citizens are being taxed by a government who behaves much like the English did in those days, Taxation without representation is what its called. Its time the citizens of this country rebelled against our trade policies, unsecured borders and the hiring of illegals, and anti union laws and practices. by
Gary Denson (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 283 comments) on Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 at 4:49:25 PM
Sorry, I appreciate your hope but it is not well-founded. I have no faith in a good portion of the American people. They are quite ensorcelled.... or actually, mindlessly in support of fascism. Like the person referred to above. Lost in their well-orchestrated fear of the terrorism boogyman and their consensus trance. ... by
richard (0 articles, 5 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 1359 comments [399 recommended, 8 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 at 8:41:16 PM
If you have such an embittered opinion of the Americanpeople, why work so hard to change things? Methinks thou doth protesteth overmuch......C'mon, 'fess up, you loooove us.... by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Monday, Sep 24, 2007 at 6:09:25 PM
This is an excellent article. The only exception I would make is that the citizenry has not answered with a 'yawn', but rather with a despair that is nearly as bad. When I talk with friends, that is what I hear. At first, I thought that it would be good to mobilize the Democratic Party, but it is hard to do that when the media will not make a point that it is not the Democrats in Congress -- it is the Republicans who refuse to cooperate. Although I will admit, I was certainly angry over the Senate's response to the MoveOn ad. When is the Senate going to censure Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, etc., for going so far as to suggest that one should shoot a Democrat? That is certainly much worse than making fun of someone's name. Shirley Bianchi by
Shirley Bianchi (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 97 comments) on Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 at 6:45:52 PM
- at the national level - with both Republicans and Democrats complicit - including those that were simply blackmailed by Rove and the CIA, etc. by
richard (0 articles, 5 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 1359 comments [399 recommended, 8 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 at 9:02:32 PM
So what shall "we the sheeple" do? Hmmm! Protesting doesn't seem to be working, so what's next? Perhaps we can blog our way out? But look on the bright side, we'll still have our "Freedom Fries." by
Munich (1 articles, 86 quicklinks, 14 diaries, 1125 comments [86 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Saturday, Sep 22, 2007 at 11:15:47 PM
On Digg site, I posted an article I did for OpEdNews and was accused, by a person of supporting "leftist fools". I replied in an calm manner "I can't know how old you are, but my article dealt with historical facts. Nixon-without any announcement of his plans, tried to turn the US of A into a Fascist state. Naomi Wolf's book, "The End of America: A Letter of Warning To A Young Patriot" shows the 10 steps and face it-W has accomplished all of them. I do know I'm no "leftist fool". I'm old enough to expect that the person I'm communicating with wants a dialogue, not name-calling. If you want to speak facts we can continue this debate. Otherwise let me say one last truth. I'm old enough that I know 43 is a hundred times more evil than "Tricky Dick"! As Cheney said "Be careful, be very careful, what you say". That is a threat he made against Congress. They threaten Congress, then the citizens should be wary." by
winston (140 articles, 17 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 42 comments) on Sunday, Sep 23, 2007 at 8:21:56 AM
It is an inaccuracy, in my opinion, to protray Bush as some "evil force". Not only does that give him far too much cachet but it avoids the reality of the man. That reality makes him far easier to oppose and gives heart to those who do so. Bush is a ne'er-do-well son of a powerful man, a person who has failed at everything he has attempted, who has been rescued time and again from his failures by his father, and one who has tried mightily to step from beneath his father's shadow his entire life. It is sad but accurate I fear to see that this entire war is an attempt to do just that. by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments) on Sunday, Sep 23, 2007 at 10:50:45 AM
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