Who are the real fascists?

[AJ9000]

There has been a lot of talk recently by the Bush administration about the threat that "Islamic fascism" poses to the world. The underlying strategy behind this dubious rhetoric, is to make a comparison between this supposed "Islamic fascism," and the European fascism of the 1930s that preceded World War II.

By doing this, they hope to scare the American public into believing that unless they accept an aggressive foreign-policy of preemptive warfare, a Nazi-like power grab by "Islamic fascists" will be forthcoming, wreaking great destruction throughout the world.

But a closer look at recent world events, and an examination of what fascism actually is, reveals who the real fascists are.

Fascism, in a nutshell, is a particular form of authoritarian government, in which big-industry merges with the state. Benito Mussolini, the fascist Italian dictator whose name is synonymous with the term, went so far as to say that: "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism, because it is a merger of State and corporate power."

With the quid-pro-quo relationship that exists between our American government and big-business, who could argue with a straight face that this is not precisely what we have in America today?

Just consider, for one example, the relationship between Vice President Dick Cheney, and Halliburton.

As a government official in the early 90s, Cheney helped arrange lucrative contracts for Halliburton and its subsidiaries by having them perform services for troops, such as cleaning and cooking, that used to be performed by enlisted men and women themselves. He was subsequently made CEO of Halliburton, raising his net worth into the tens of millions of dollars. When Cheney returned to governmnet power as Vice President, he pushed hard for the preemptive invasion of Iraq, and Halliburton has profited immensely as a result of its military-industrial contracts there.

That is a fine example of fascism at work.

Combine this with the vast expansion of unconstitutional governmental powers domestically, with America's new doctrine of preemptive warfare, and it becomes clear that it is actually the the United States government that has recently adopted a fascist ideology. (And it is this change in our government, not "bad intelligence," that explains America's invasion of Iraq under false pretenses.)

As to the so called "Islamic fascists" and their hatred of America, a recent U.S. State Department report revealed the true cause of their anti-American sentiment: U.S. foreign policy.

Although there is indeed a global ideological movement taking place among Muslim peoples today, it is not the result of any fascist ideologies. Rather, it is a resistance movement that is a direct reaction to the fascist-driven imperialism of the 21st century United States, now racing to seize control of Middle Eastern gas and oil by force, and to reshape the region to its (and Israel's) liking.

So, don't fall for the ruse that is the threat of "Islamic fascism."

In truth, it is the fascism of the current United States government that poses the real threat to democracy and world peace. And if it is not stopped soon by the American people, then it will expand the death and destruction it has wrought in Iraq to other parts of the world, and destroy what's left of the constitution at home.

[Reckon]

1. Yes, it's very clear!

http://www.amconmag.com/06_30_03/feature.html

"Flirting with Fascism

Neocon theorist Michael Ledeen draws more from Italian fascism than from the American Right."

snip..

"Creative destruction is our middle name, both within our own society and abroad. We tear down the old order every day, from business to science, literature, art, architecture, and cinema to politics and the law. Our enemies have always hated this whirlwind of energy and creativity, which menaces their traditions (whatever they may be) and shames them for their inability to keep pace. Seeing America undo traditional societies, they fear us, for they do not wish to be undone. They cannot feel secure so long as we are there, for our very existence—our existence, not our politics—threatens their legitimacy. They must attack us in order to survive, just as we must destroy them to advance our historic mission."

more... http://www.amconmag.com/06_30_03/feature.html


Ledeen also wrote a book of his theory of revolution -- "Freedom Betrayed"

[Fredda Weinberg]

2. Who said, "Fascism is a religious conception"?

Mussolini in “The Doctrine of Fascism”

"Fascism is a religious conception in which man is seen in his immanent relationship with a superior law and with an objective Will that transcends the particular individual and raises him to conscious membership of a spiritual society. Whoever has seen in the religious politics of the Fascist regime nothing but mere opportunism has not understood that Fascism besides being a system of government is also, and above all, a system of thought."

[Ms. Clio]

4. So you can read, and quote, Mussolini, if only very selectively

interesting.

He was referring to a religious relationship with the State, not with God.

[Fredda Weinberg]

5. I think one of us understands Mussolini

The Fascist State does not remain indifferent to the fact of religion in general and to that particular positive religion which is Italian Catholicism. The State has no theology, but it has an ethic. . . . The Fascist State does not create a "God" of its own, as Robespierre once, at the height of the Convention's foolishness, wished to do; nor does it vainly seek, like Bolshevism, to expel religion from the minds of men. Fascism respects the God of the ascetics, of the saints, of the heroes, and also God as seen and prayed to by the simple and primitive heart of the people

http://www.dickinson.edu/~rhyne/232/Nine/PoliticalSocialDoctrine.html

[Ms. Clio]

6. Yes, Mussolini understood the "simple and primitive heart of the people"

just like Hitler. Religion was a tool, and the most important entity was the State.

"The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State. The conception of the Liberal State is not that of a directing force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on the other hand, the Fascist State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality -- thus it may be called the "ethic" State....

...The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone....

[Fredda Weinberg]

8. And the fundamentalist Islamic equivalent of "the State" is ...

I'll give you a hint ... in English it means "submission."

[Ms. Clio]

9. just more propaganda -- you are determined to link an entire religion

practiced by 2 billion people in dozens of different countries with the narrow interpretation of a few thousand zealots with dreams of empire. Who are far far less dangerous to the world than the nominally Christian zealots who already have an empire and all the deadly toys that come with it.

[Fredda Weinberg]

10. I've been careful with my terminology

So don't accuse me of linking mainstream Islam with the fundamentalists who have taken up arms against secular regimes.

As for dangerous, there's this hole in the ground we got in NYC that didn't get there because of Christian zealots.

I understand the domestic political need to reject the assertions of the questionably legitimate regime, but you've resorted to every trick in their playbook.

[Ms. Clio]

12. You are the one who plays the 9/11 card, the biggest trick in the playbook

weak and lame.

[T Town Jake]

11. Ronnie Reagan & Ms. Clio: "facts are stupid things."

Sorry if you don't like 'em, but "Fredda" is right - and you are simpering your way through silly justifications, one after another.

[eviltwin2525]

7. Fascism respects power. Period.

[alvarezadams]

13. Falangism is probably closer...

and religion indeed plays a large part in the falangist concept of the state.

[flordehinojos]

3. thank you for this post and for your crystal clear exposition of who the

real fascists are. may you send it on to norah o'donnell and the rest of those in the MSM who are turning a blind eye to all the bush crap which he uses very knowingly so to steal our country for his family, for his neocon friends, and for his pocket.