I first became concerned about the direction in which George W. Bush was taking the country in 2002 as he was beating the drums for war against Iraq. Before then, although I disagreed with him on many issues, I accepted his presidency as off course, but legitimate.
By late 2003, as his infernal crusade crumbled into a quagmire, it dawned on me that he was a war-mongering sociopath.
At that time a friend of mine, a retired career military man, voiced his concern that, under Bush, America was becoming a fascist nation. Until then, I hadn’t thought of Bush in those terms, but his actions since have convinced me that America has indeed embraced many of the attributes of fascism.
In the Spring, 2003 issue of Free Inquiry, political scientist, Dr. Lawrence Britt, compared the regimes of Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Suharto, and Pinochet and identified 14 characteristics common to those fascist regimes:1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism (super-patriotism)
2. Disdain for the importance of human rights
3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
4. The supremacy of the military (avid militarism)
5. Rampant sexism
6. A controlled mass media7. Obsession with national security
8. Religion and ruling elite tied together
9. Power of corporations protected (corporate supremacy)
10. Power of labor suppressed or eliminated11. Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts
12. Obsession with crime and punishment
13. Rampant cronyism and corruption
14. Fraudulent electionsUnder the Bush/Cheney regime, to some degree, each of these 14 points has become increasingly evident.
America is devolving into a government of, by and for the military-industrial complex rather than the people, i.e. fascism.
