Is America Yearning for Fascism

The similarities between the former Bush Administration and those of a fascist government were overwhelming. And when a recent billboard popped up with a photo of W and the caption Miss Me Yet? it has to make you wonder whether or not Americans actually prefer a fascist form of government. Thats exactly the question that best-selling author Chris Hedges has posed, and he recently spoke to Ring of Fire's Mike Papantonio about his reasoning behind this very serious observation.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Fascism
• Chris Hedges
• George W Bush
• Tea Party
• Glenn Beck
• Sarah Palin
• Oathkeepers
• Government
• Politics
• Mike Papantonio
• Ring of Fire

[pwmkeys7958]

Its all very well saying lets go back to some sort of sane system, but presumably at the beginning of the present system things were sane then too. What is wrong is human nature which is fundamentally flawed, and entropy always ensures that things wind down to the surrounding conditions, unless more energy is imported into the system - eternal vigilence etc. Lets get real and raise consciousness to proper humanity and aim for superman - not in a caped-red underwear sort of way.

[RoonGang09]

Neocons are all for fascism.

[09jake12]

He's wrong on one thing. This is not a failure of free markets, it's a failure of the state. Corporations were created by the government and the "elite" people are always talking about are sustained by the state. Almost every american is dependent on the government one way or another because politicians basically want to buy voters momentarily but in the long run it is unsustainable. Not that hard to figure out people.

[DaHonestAbe]

Who was the guy at 2:40?

[srspower]

@Keadin

It doesn't.

[xexixk]

@orbis2009 You confuse a direct democracy with a representative democracy. The US was never a direct democracy. It is a representative democracy, we vote for lawmakers who in turn make the decisions. If one doesn't like the decisions they make, then vote against them at the next election.

[orbis2009]

Many on the political Left rightly bemoan the loss of genuine democracy in our political context in this nation. Certainly the powers are loathe to consult the people in direct referenda about the timely issues of the day. But would The Left ACCEPT the result of genuine referendums if, say, a majority of the people in the nation voted directly to ban abortion? or would they cry fascism & whine to the Black Robes to overturn the majority? What then becomes of their alleged love for democracy?

[MarmaladeINFP]

@OdinCalls14 I'm reading Andrew Sullivan's The Conservative Soul. He also criticizes Bush & neo-cons as not being real conservatives, but he doesn't think libertarians are real conservates either. He sees conservatives as traditionally being for a small & yet strong govt. Traditional conservatism was against radicalism & resisted change in favor of traditional institutions, social norms & the status quo. I'd add that, b/c US began w/ classical liberalism, US conservatism has a different flavor.

[MarmaladeINFP]

@OdinCalls14 The confusion is that liberalism & conservatism are a bit reversed in the US. Liberalism comes from classical liberalism, but when some on the far right talk of real conservatism they often think of libertarianism which also comes from classical liberalism. And libertarianism began as a socialist workers movement in Europe. As for anarchism, it also comes from classical liberalism & many anarchists are socialists. Traditionally in Europe, conservatives such as Tories were pro-govt.

[OdinCalls14]

@MarmaladeINFP

To say some liberals are anarchists is to totally redefine the word "liberal" to the point where it means nothing. If anything, conservatives are the closer ones to anarchism.

Today's republicans, such as Bush and McCain, aren't conservative at all. They're "neo-conservative" which basically means they're liberals who are against gay marriage and abortion. The only true conservatives are people like Ron Paul and Chuck Baldwin.