“Fascism is rising in America”: The Koch brothers and the depressing demise of democracy

[hue]

http://www.salon.com/2015/02/08/fascism_is_rising_in_america_the_koch_brothers_and_the_painful_demise_of_democracy_partner/

We're still paying the price for Citizens United, and our oligarchs are poised to capture even more political power

AlterNet As the American Heritage Dictionary noted, fascism is: “A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism.”

Well, it it may well on our doorstep. And the oligarchs are plotting their final takeover by using their economic dominance to capture governmental power – specifically, the governmental power which sets the rules for the very marketplace that provides the oligarchs with such massive wealth.

Once the American corporate barons own the institutions that are meant to regulate them, it’s game-over for both rational capitalism (including competition) and for democracy.

Last week, at David and Charles Koch’s annual winter meeting near Palm Springs, California, it was announced that the Koch Brothers’ political organization would spend close to $900 million on the 2016 election. If this goal is met, the group of corporate leaders will spend far more than the Republican Party and its congressional campaign committees spent, combined, in the 2012 campaign.

Once upon a time, it would have been illegal for the Koch Brothers and their fellow oligarchs to buy an election. Of course, that time was before the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.

[blkmusclmachine]

1. 14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism (http://www.rense.com/general37/char.htm)

Controlled Mass Media

Corporate Power is Protected

Labor Power is Suppressed

Rampant Cronyism and Corruption

Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause

Obsession with National Security

Religion and Government are Intertwined

Rampant Sexism

Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights

Fraudulent Elections


http://www.rense.com/general37/char.htm

[daleanime]

2. How much good could be done.....

with what will be spent on the next election cycle?