Fascist Smoke and Mirrors

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By John Perry (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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For OpEdNews: John Perry - Writer

On Tuesday of this week, George W. Bush's Secretary of Preemptive Illegal War, Donald Rumsfeld, gave a speech to the American Legion. During his insanity-induced fear fest, he ratcheted up the Bush propaganda machine to a new level by saying we face a "new kind of fascism", and attacked critics of Bush's already lost war by saying we are morally and intellectually confused.

But who is really confused? Barely a third of the country approves of the job this president is doing, and only about half of that number approves of the job of Dick Cheney, the guy who is actually calling all the shots for the Oval Office stooge. Every law passed by Congress must pass muster with Cheney's office before it hits the desk of the Pretender-in-Chief.

This president has said he feels no responsibility to explain his decisions to anyone (as he told Bob Woodward), simply because he is the president. This president has challenged over 800 legal statutes, passed by Congress, by issuing wholly unconstitutional signing statements saying he will ignore the law as he sees fit. This president has publicly admitted to breaking the law, but says he is justified by his responsibility to "protect the American people." But if he is really interested in protecting us, why are our borders STILL wide open? Why does cargo STILL go on planes unscreened? Why do 95% of shipping containers STILL pass through our ports uninspected? FIVE YEARS AFTER 9/11?!

And why was this man-child president playing guitar and eating birthday cake with John McCain while people were drowning in the streets of New Orleans?

He was not interested in protecting us on 9/11. He actually needed it to happen, to give rise to his goal of being a perpetual war president, which is why nearly a third of Americans now believe it is likely that the government was involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Nor was this president interested in protecting the Gulf Coast from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, and he is not interested in protecting us now. The real goal is to gain ever-increasing control over us with a steady diet of fear, conning us into relinquishing our civil liberties in exchange for "protection".

With this kind of "protection", we don't need to be worrying about Islamic terrorists. We need to be worrying about the terrorists that are already here, pretending to serve us. They are the REAL purveyors of the "new fascism" that Rumsfeld speaks of.

It's classic misdirection. Crank up the propaganda machine and slap the negative label on the "opposition" before it gets slapped on you. Just like they successfully slapped John Kerry with the "flip-flop" label in 2004.

Now, about the word "Fascism":
Merriam-Webster:
"A political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."

Cambridge:
"A political system based on a very powerful leader, state control and extreme pride in country and race, and in which political opposition is not allowed."

Oxford:
"An extreme right-wing political system or attitude which is in favour of strong central government and which does not allow any opposition."

American Heritage:
"A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism."

And from Thom Hartmann's new piece Reclaiming the Issues: Islamic or Republican Fascism?, the following passage:

......the classic definition of the word "fascist" - the definition Mussolini had in mind when he claimed to have invented the word. (It was actually Italian philosopher Giovanni Gentile who wrote the entry in the Encyclopedia Italiana that said: "Fascism should more appropriately be called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." Mussolini, however, affixed his name to the entry, and claimed credit for it.)

Now ask yourself: Who are the real new fascists?

And watch this fierce 6 minute rebuttal of Rumsfeld from MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, perhaps the only mainstream, primetime news talent worth watching.

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