I have been teaching the history of World Wars One and Two (I really consider these to be the same event, but that is a matter of opinion) to my high-school history class. I am disturbed, of late, as I review the development of Fascism. It feels to me much like what is happening in our country.
Mussolini and the Fascists
Benito Mussolini is seen by many as the founder of Fascism. He began as a socialist that rejected the idealism of socialism and embraced the totalitarianism of communism, while opting for an elitism rather than egalitarian embrace of the proletariat. Mussolini understood that the State in cooperation with financial powers would control the nation in a way that benefited the corporations and thusly the people: when the tide rises all ships rise, so to speak. The State was of importance, not individual rights. Indeed, individual rights were secondary to the wellbeing of the nation. Nationalism coupled with Industrialism and Authoritarianism makes for Fascism. What is good for the industrial interests of a nation is good for the nation. The sovereignty of the nation is paramount to the good of the State. Thus, globalism in any incarnation is looked on with incredulity. A treaty like Kyoto that limits a nation's ability to generate income, even though there is an arguable stronger benefit to be realized - clean air and water - is viewed through the lens of sovereignty: what limits a nation's ability to produce limits the nation itself.
And with that You See Where I Am Going.
The Bush administration seems to be taking a route of fascism with our nation's economic and foreign policy. The use of disinformation and duplicity in prosecuting a war that is intended to generate resources for the corporate imperialism of this nation seems to have said that the truth is less important than the gross national product. While Eisenhower warned against the development of a military/industrial complex, the rest of the nation continued to allow and condone its development. Our nation's economy is a war economy. A sustained military action creates the need for products. The nature of war - destruction - creates demand. Demand drives the market and profitability.
Consider the limitation of civil rights that is slowly - imperceptibly - taking place in this nation: why do we need the so-called "Patriot Act" that allows invasion of privacy and limitation of personal freedoms? What are we so afraid of? Does this not sound like the Newspeak of 1984 harping on the "reality" of the war against "Eurasia"? We are at war with an enemy that is not identified by nation or place; we are at war with an idea: terrorism. That sounds onerous enough. Of course we despise terrorists. They are a convincing enemy that serves the propaganda needs of the State well enough to be an opiate to our desire for personal freedom, all while sending our sons and daughters to die for the wellbeing of corporate avarice.
The First Step Is to Tell the Truth
We are beginning to embrace a fascist state in this country. The first step in defeating that is to say the truth shamelessly. My patriotism is not defined by an amorphous enemy; it is sustained by the civil liberties that allow me to call the president an ass without fears of reprisals. The most American of all rights is the right of dissent. Without this, all other rights fall by the wayside. The right of dissent allows loyal opposition and correction when our nation errs. Mussolini wanted to make of the State an infallible religion that dictated what was truth; right or wrong, the State was not to be questioned. That sort of blind allegiance leads to totalitarianism and to the Hitlerian nightmare that Germany faced in the early part of the last century. We are not yet there. But it could happen here.
Our best choice is to question authority, to ask the questions and question the answers. Loyalty is nothing if not honest enough to level an honest critique. I love my country. I fear that it has taken a dreadfully wrong turn and needs to course correct before the rights guaranteed by the constitution become no more than pretty word that lack substance in our daily lives.
There is no such thing as kinder, gentler fascism: all totalitarianism is evil. It must be opposed. We must start, in my humble opinion, here at home.
