I think many Americans would be quite content to live in a fascist country

[BushOut06]

I've heard professors state this before, and it still rings true. Many Americans simply want to know that they're going to be safe, that their children will be safe, and that they will be able to live their own lives. As long as they have a job, and their own personal safety or freedom isn't threatened, they couldn't really care less about who is in charge, or what type of government is in power. Many Americans are simply apathetic - the proof is evident every election year, when only a small percentage of registered voters even bother to vote.

Why do I say this? Let's say the unthinkable happens - Bush somehow manages to stay in power after '08, through some sort of contrived state of emergency. Or more likely, the '08 election is fixed so that a Bush-clone (ie Guiliani, Huckabee) takes over. Most of us, who involve ourselves in political discussions on sites like this, would be outraged. But most Americans would simply see it as a simple "changing of the guard" and go on with their lives.

It's classic pre-WWII Germany. As long as the Gestapo isn't coming for them, it's okay. Besides, those illegal immigrants deserve to be rounded up and deported or jailed. They're breaking the law, aren't they? And those Muslims, it's okay to round them up also - after all, we're at war, and they've been telling us that Al-Qaeda has sleeper cells in this country plotting a horrible attack. Can't be too careful, can we? I heard that some liberal nutjob down the street was taken in for questioning - just as well, we can't have people like that causing problems, and giving aid/comfort to the enemy, can we? As long as I'm safe, and my kids are okay, then the world is just fine. :sarcasm:

[maxsolomon]

1. well, since we already do live in a fascist country...

i'd say you were correct.

[midnight]

2. I have been thinking this for a while. As long as no one interferes

with their comfort, anything goes.

[Disturbed]

6. maxsolomon Please define "Fascist Country".

I am curious regarding your exact definition.

[baldguy]

3. Goes without saying, since many Americans are fascists.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2107414

[Jim__]

4. ... and their own personal safety or freedom isn't threatened ...

But a fascist government always threatens your personal freedom and safety. The problem is that many people don't realize that until it's too late.

[indepat]

5. Me thinks many tens of millions of Amurikans are quite content

[dkofos]

7. Just don't fuck with football or Amerikan Idle. I know how to be a good German.

[progpen]

14. Exactly.

Keep me entertained and I can ignore the wars and torture. Tell me it's ok to hate and fear others and I will let you spy on my every move. Take away all of my choices and responsibility and I will live contentedly knowing that I don't have to think or make hard decisions.

Living in a fascist society is easy. Living in a democracy is hard.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. About 24%, apparently. nt

[Wiley50]

9. Well, at least the trains will run on time

which I'm sure will be quite comforting

while they are loading us liberals into boxcars

[Arugula Latte]

16. Except Amtrak is never on time because it's been defunded for years. nt

[AndyTiedye]

24. German Trains STILL Run On Time

You don't need Nazis to make the trains run on time, you just need a well-maintained rail system with enough capacity so the freight trains don't hold up passenger trains.

Hitler didn't campaign on a promise to make the trains run on time. He probably did not need to.

Mussolini did. Mussolini didn't actually make the trains run on time, he just made the media stop talking about the late trains.

[Gregorian]

10. But eventually Hitler put a bullet through his head.

I know that sounds gross. But there are forces much more important than those stupid 24%. The same kind as those who sat around and let the gas ovens burn, without making any protest. The world has baseline truths. Birds must fly.

[catmandu57]

18. I wonder how many generations it will take

before people are tired of it and want the old America back.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

11. and that has always baffled me,

I will never understand how so many of us Americans can reconcile our authoritarian tendancies with what seemed to be an unlimited capacity for paranoia.

[qdemn7]

12. Gullible people?

Plenty of gullible people around? Even supposedly intelligent ones? Many people accept conspiracy theories simply because they can't accept that bad things often happen.

[phantom power]

13. It always seems like a good deal until they send their thugs for *you*.

That's why it happens over and over and over again. Nobody ever thinks they'll find themselves on the wrong end of the stick, until it's too late.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

15. I feel like I live in a fascist country today

the whole drug war continued some & started a whole lot more police state activities. The war on terra is continuation of these policies and then some. We are starting detention camps for illegal aliens and some folks want to 'round them all up' and stick them in camps. There are plenty of groups being hate mongered against - gays, liberals, Clintons, mexicans, atheist, scientists, non-christians, non-whites, etc.

[defendandprotect]

17. It's like joining the MAFIA -- eventually they'll ask you to participate--

[Orsino]

19. V concurs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TLD3Z6sJWA

[The Straight Story]

20. Sadly, I think many liberals would be just as happy to do so

which makes me lose more hope each day for real freedom.

Hell I think we were more free in the late 1800's than now.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. "All politics is local" - Tip O'Neill

Most people are concerned with politics only when it effects them personally. If the government, of whatever brand, avoids starving them, imprisoning them, or costing them too much, most are content to look the other way at injustice, war, oppression, racism, inequality.

[Cha]

22. That does NOT make them "safe"..

9Fucking11 happened on bushits' and ghouliani's watch so they could raise their polls and the repukes are too dense to make the connection.

Mussolini was Fascist and look what happened to him.

[southerncrone]

23. I think massive IGNORANCE is to blame. This was by design, of course.

The old civics classes just ain't what they use to be.

We have so many DISTRACTIONS, i.e. 100's of TV channels on satellite & cable, the Internet, hoards of shopping destinations, video game consoles, telephones that are basically attached to our bodies that can call nationwide relatively cheaply......well, you get the picture. Technology may not really be our friend when it comes to keep us on topic. Not to mention working 2 or 3 jobs to pay the bills because our employment base has been shipped overseas & wages were stagnant for 12 yrs.

Wasn't it Castro who said the US would collapse because of drugs, sex & sports. Well.......:freak:

[annabanana]

36. BINGO. . . perhaps if NCLB had included Civics tests

More people would understand how badly they're being screwed out of their rights.

You can't "miss it" if you never know you had it.

[AndyTiedye]

25. Content? No. Resigned, Maybe.

[Blashyrkh]

26. Quite content? By the end, the populace with be screaming for the chains to be put on tighter.

[oscarmitre]

27. Not just in America

it could be anywhere. I sometimes think we're hard-wired to adapt to just about anything.

[Beerboy]

28. Link?

You're not necessarily wrong, but what informs your opinion after you got your degree? Do a lot of people you know regularly mention violently overthrowing the government? Though I can't say it's a regular topic of discussion, it does come up from time to time.

[dorkulon]

29. "A lot of people are aching for an Ayatollah" - Arthur Miller

He said that in Jonathan Miller's excellent BBC4 doc "A Rough History of Atheism," which I'd recommend to all DUers, atheist or not.

[JustAnotherGen]

30. I tend to agree with this statement . . .

I think we make a lot of 'allusions' to Germany and Italy.

But we are really more like Vichy France.

You have people who say, "Well I'm doing okay - I live in a good neighborhood so as long as nothing changes for me - it's okay." The Bourgeosie.

You have an 'extreme left' (or so the Neo-Cons and Far Right call us) who are saying - Fascism is not the way to go.

You have Centrists for the 'Corporations'. (Corporate Dems and Centrist Neo-Cons)


Bush is appointed as was Petain.
Laval ='s Cheney.
Rove was the Propaganda Minister.

I'd say not only are we content - but we are there already. It's been fairly peaceful transition. We face rising costs instead of a black market. If you're in the upper middle class or beyond you can afford that 'black market' - so it's not hurting you. We have travel restrictions in place (think about crossing the line from Northern France to Southern France). You have the 'evil ones' (the poor as opposed to those who practice Judaism). I see a lot of analogies.

And most important? I think if the Freepers and their ilk had ANY of our home addresses and phone numbers they'd denounce us to save their own asses. Just my Euros and change for what it's worth.



Disclaimer - - Chirac was right. J' adore un Francais man. I'm part French (Great Grandpapa immigrated from Marseille) - so I'm not hating on the French. I'm just calling it for what it is - from my point of view.

[deutsey]

31. My wife and I spent the night in DC over the weekend

As you may know, there were IMF/World Bank protests over the weekend in DC that turned violent in Georgetown. We were watching the local news Sunday morning and one person they interviewed said she believed all protests should be made illegal. I believe there quite a few people who either feel the same way or are apathetic either way.

[JustAnotherGen]

32. Did you want to

Reach through your television set and smack some sense into her?

See - she's one of "Them". She'd turn the other cheek if her neighbor was rounded up in the middle of the night.

[deutsey]

34. We were appalled

It's one thing to suspect those attitudes are held by some Americans, but quite another to hear someone like her (i.e., not a member of a cult or fringe political group, but apparently an average citizen) say such things.

[seabeyond]

33. i need that as a bumpersticker. what a concept. maybe

you are right. i havent even had my coffee yet and certainly not ready to type. but that makes perfect sense and a cncept i have just never perceived from that angle. i have been fighting fighting fighting it and so many dont get many. maybe they do get it and that is what they want

a duh moment for me

wow

thanks

[treestar]

35. They are too far from it to understand that they will not be "safe"

at all, in a fascist country. You have all the usual sources of danger still there, plus the new danger from the government.

That's the part they don't get. They need more exposure to former Soviets and E. Germans and others who can describe it graphically for them.

It's the "I do nothing wrong crowd," the "I have nothing to hide" crowd. They need to really open their house to a real police search. They just thinks it is theoretical.

[L. Coyote]

37. I think many Americans are quite content living in a fascist country

Especially the "party" members who own homes, have good secure jobs, health care, pensions, cradle to grave benefits ....

Don't rock their world.