When our government acts in FASCISTIC ways, is that fascism . . . ???

[defendandprotect]

I've just bought Naomi Wolf's book --

however, it does strike me that we are looking perhaps at this in a rather upside down

way ---

Perhaps rather than asking "is this fascism yet" and basing it on whether or not we're in

concentration camps ---

Perhaps we should actually be asking . . . "Has our government behaved in FASCISTIC ways?"

My answer is YES ---

[rucky]

1. Is our governments learning?

NO getting worse. world can't wait.

must have COOKIE!

[Blashyrkh]

2. Exactly. People are expecting a 1930's redux. It won't happen that way.

[gateley]

3. Yes. And Naomi Wolf made me aware of how it was behaving fascistically (sp!)

in SO MANY WAYS!

[AdHocSolver]

4. Any country controlled by a military/industrial complex in which citizens are denied basic rights...

is fascist. This is simplistic, but provides for all of the features of a fascist government: centralized autocratic control, suppression of opposition and basic rights, economic and social regimentation. The concentration camps are one method of achieving a fascist environment, but aren't necessary to achieve the goals outlined above.

One doesn't need concentration camps to have a fascist society. Yet if you consider that the U.S. has the largest prison population on the planet, larger than China or Russia, than one could say that those prisons qualify as de facto concentration camps. (The alternative conclusion would be that the U.S. has the crookedest population.)

Another feature of American prisons that would qualify them as concentration camps is the billions of dollars of goods that are manufactured by the inmates at below the minimum wage for private corporations. A famous sign over the entrance to Auschwitz was "Arbeit Macht Frei", roughly translated, "Work makes you free". Many of the Nazi concentration camps were work camps set up by German industry to make arms and other materiel for the German war effort.

[defendandprotect]

5. And VOTESCAM -- computer voting --- over 40 years . . . !!!!!

[Greyhound]

10. Welcome to my Buddy List. You've nailed it. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Once you are done readying hte book

go and read Klein...

These two books make all the pieces in the puzzle fall into place

[defendandprotect]

8. OK -- I'll take your advice and catch up with both as soon as I can ---

my reading a little slowed down right now . . .

If you can, maybe you both want to keep in mind perhaps giving some insights you've gotten
from these books . .. . somewhere along the way ????

[JeffR]

7. Hmm. Agreed.

[Hosnon]

9. The second question, to me, should be: For what percentage of the total acts of our

government do the fascistic acts account?

Obviously, 100% would do the trick and 0% would not. At first glance, I would say 66%, or, twice as many fascistic acts as non-fascistic acts, is the event horizon.

[Cerridwen]

11. The next question would then be,

should a democratic republic have even one?

What percentage or amount of fascistic acts is tolerable to a democracy?

What number negates democracy?