The Spirit of the "Lincolns" in the Age of George Bush
In their day, "Lincolns" were anti-facist freedom-fighters who are still respected by their admirers. Since the Reagan era, however, they'd be called "terrorists" because they oppose unfettered capitalism and all its harshness.
Reagan launched his war on "international terrorism" that was a precursor for what lay ahead. In 1981, his Secretary of State, Alexander Haig, announced the new administration would shift from Jimmy Carter's so-called "human rights" agenda to one focused on anti-terrorism without saying what it was or that it existed. Unexplained then or now is that the US is the world's leading exponent of the very scourge it claims to oppose. Empires have that privilege. They get to have it both ways. They make the rules that others ignore at their peril.
They weigh on many today under George Bush who makes Reagan's era look tame by comparison. Post-9/11, the administration declared permanent war on the world without boundaries in space and time that won't end in our lifetime. It's against any designated countries we target with ones with the most energy reserves and independent leaders topping the list.
It isn't just countries that are in jeopardy. Any group, organization or individual qualifies if they dare challenge US dominance or have views opposing ours. As an anti-fascist group, the "Lincolns" would be targeted because they wanted democratic freedom, not tyranny. During the Great Depression and rise of Nazism, they were galvanized to go to Spain to "make Madrid the tomb of fascism." They'd now target Washington, their struggle would be nonviolent, but it would put them at risk in an unfriendly environment to dissent and a passion to express it.
Today, there's a serious threat at home no different from the extremist ideology "Lincolns" fought against in Spain - the scourge of fascism now in America. It mirrors the Nazi kind that was based on corporatism, patriotism and nationalism; a claimed messianic Almightly-directed mission; authoritarian rule; bipartisan support; iron-fisted militarism; and thuggish "homeland security" enforcers.
It illegally spies on everyone, conducts warrantless searches and seizures, makes unwarranted mass arrests and incarcerations, and can designate anyone, anywhere for any reason an "unlawful enemy combatant" with no corroborating evidence needed. It tolerates no dissent at a time the law is what the executive says it is, and checks and balances, separation of powers, and equal justice for all no longer exist. It's called fascism, despotism or tyranny that masquerades as a model democracy in an America only beautiful for the privileged, no one else. It's what "Lincolns" fought against in Spain, now threatening the US 70 years later.
The dominant media support it and are part of the problem. They use hard right commentators, pundits, and talk show hosts like CNN's Glenn Beck who also hosts a nationally syndicated radio program as a platform for his type extremism. Media giant Time Warner put him in prime time (starting May, 2006) to boost ratings and billed him as "an unconventional look at the news." It barely disguises a hateful hard right agenda. Beck is one of many right wing hawks. He and the others attack anyone opposing the "war on terror" that includes the Bush agenda of iron-fisted militarism, permanent war, repression at home, and gutting social services so the most vulnerable are on their own and out of luck.
Muslims top their target list in the age of "terror." They're demonized mercilessly on-air overtly and by innuendo as well as being harassed and persecuted through mass witch-hunt roundups, detentions, prosecutions and deportations. So are Latino immigrants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shock troops the enforcers and media hosts like Lou Dobbs fully supportive. This writer called him "CNN's Vice-President of Racism" in an August, 2006 article that included others like him. They target others anyone voicing dissent at a time getting along demands going along.
The "Lincolns" would be targets if they were active and and similar groups as well. They'd be savaged in a typical Beck comment like this one about Muslims: "We need to be....lining up to shoot the bad Muslims (meaning all of them) in the head (and) with God as my witness....human beings are not strong enough, unfortunately, to restrain themselves from putting up razor wire (meaning concentration camps, Nazi-style) and putting you (Muslims) on one side of it....(meaning locked up inside)."
He's serious and is backed by an administration targeting any perceived opposition with hardball tactics that include secretly constructed homeland concentration camps. They're for tens of thousands of aliens and anyone considered a threat to absolute rule.
It's extremely threatening because all media giants are supportive. They fill their programming with Beck-like people while opposition voices are silenced. The scheme is to instill fear and demand loyalty of a government that may have in mind ending the republic, replacing it with tyranny, and it's arguable they've already done it.
Renown print journalist George Seldes saw it emerge during the golden New Deal era under Franklin Roosevelt. If fascism threatened then, its could happen any time, and no democracy is secure without constant vigilance. Seldes monitored it around the world as a foreign correspondent and at home. He was one of the great independent journalists of his time and did what's practically extinct today outside alternative spaces.
In his 1934 book "Iron, Blood and Profits," he wrote about a "world-wide munitions racket" citing WW I militarists and weapons makers in Europe and America as proof. Fascism was spreading in Europe, and he saw it emerging in America with powerful corporatists behind it. They included munitions makers, industrialists and Wall Street bankers promoting wars for profits. Seldes called them "merchants of death" financing "patriotic organizations" promoting "imperialism (and) colonization - by means of war....the healthfulness of their business depends on slaughter. The more wars (they got) the richer the profits."
They traded with the enemy, sabotaged disarmament efforts, promoted war scares in newspapers, supported dictators, and lobbied and bribed government officials for continued conflict. "The war to end all wars" was just a slogan as new dark forces arose in the 1930s.
Seldes returned to the theme in his 1943 book, "Facts and Fascism," that explained "Fascism on the Home Front" in the book's Part One called "The Big Money and Big Profits in Fascism." In Parts Two and Three, he went into "Native Fascist Forces" in US industry and the media of his day that had far less reach and influence than now.
I am a 72 year old, retired, progressive small businessman concerned about all the major national and world issues, committed to speak out and write about them.
Surely, the Spanish Civil war was a rehearsal to WWII. But not many wrote about it because all the powers failed and only the people stayed firm. Maybe out of all the contemporary writers Hemingway with his ' To whom the bell tolls' and Norman Lewis with his fabulous ' The Day of the Fox' are the ones who figured out a lot. Of ccourse, there are numerous Spanish, French and Russian sources but we .. we don not know...
by
Mark Sashine (46 articles, 19 quicklinks, 235 diaries, 3359 comments)
on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 at 6:52:31 AM
It's too bad the citizenry of today resembles a bunch of herded sheep following wherever the master takes them..However if anyone ever stands up to the destruction of the once respected country the US..Ron paul will be proud to lead us freedom fighters..
by
Bill Huffy (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 at 12:14:28 PM
Ron Paul--"An Overt Racist in the GOP Field" -- Daily KOS
Sorry, ChangeAgent, but Ron Paul is an unreconstructed racial supremacist. See today's (12/26/07) Daily KOS quoting extensively from Paul's newsletter articles after his initial congressional terms. Nasty and pathetically small-town anti-black nonsense.
Unlike Ron Paul, the many US, British and other pro-democratic volunteers of the Lincoln Brigade championed freedom and struggled valiantly against fascism, which always contains a strong element of racism and racial/national superiority.
So, Viva La Quinte Brigada!.......but only a loud "boo" for Ron Paul.
by
R. Queisser (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 60 comments)
on Wednesday, December 26, 2007 at 11:21:51 PM
WeLL SOMBODY DIDN'T DO THERE HOME WORK, JUST( GOOGLE DAILY KOS AND THE FORD FOUNDATION), AND YOU SEE THE GLOBALIST AT WORK SEAMERING RON PAUL. A LITTLE MORE MASS MEDIA DECEPTION, THE FORD FOUNDATION IS THE FUNDING FOR DAILY KOS, ALSO FUNDS LA RAZA, TO HELP KEEP OUR BORDERS OPEN, THIS IS JUST HOW THE GLOBALIST GOT CONTROL OF OUR GOVERNMENT, BY MEDIA DECEPTION AND SOME PEOPLE FALL FOR IT.
by
RICHARD SHADE (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 460 comments)
on Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 2:25:50 AM
that article conjured up 712 comments and counting.................Nice try, however, we all know that Jews are Kosher, Muslims don't eat pork and Blacks love fried chicken...........................
Ron Paul, at that time in reference, was reporting alarming statistcs to say the least. By nature of his personality, he seems to speak his mind for all to make judgement..............
As far as being an "Overt Racist", I don't think he deserves that comment......................however, some will reach down to toilet depths to sling mud at times like these................
by
Ernest (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 132 comments)
on Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 4:30:46 AM
Nice synopsis, Mr Lendman. My Dad talked often about the Lincoln Brigade. It was one of the disappointments in his life that he had been too young to join them. So many of his generation worked endlessly and without reward to make our world a better place. I'm glad he didn't live to see what America has become under the bootheel of Bush and the corporatist rulers of our country today.
by
Karl Moore (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 15 comments)
on Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 9:37:29 AM
Ron Paul is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He may or may not be a racist but he's definitely a corporate stooge. He promotes free market capitalism and equates free market capitalism with freedom. He also opposes separation of church and state and wants government promoting religion. Paul also supports subsidies for big oil, wants to build a fence on the Mexican border, and supports wasting billions on the missile defense system. Paul also supported the bankruptcy "reform" bill.
