9-6-06, 6:25 a.m.
It is outrageous for any of the neocons in the Bush administration to call anybody a fascist without looking in the mirror first! Although I was not raised in the faith, my Jewish ancestors came from Europe and most likely some of my distant relatives died in the Holocaust.
Seventy-some years after Hitler's rise to power, as a non-Republican American, I can relate too well to what it must have been like to be a Jew living in Germany in the early 1930's. Under the guise of democracy, this country has been taken over by a fascist regime that is scarily similar to Old Germany. The Bush administration uses Orwellian doublespeak to detract from the real definition of fascism that was ironically changed sometime around the year 1984, but before then, fascism was defined as: 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.
Hitler combined the forces of government, religion and industry – including the media – in a typical fascist way. Terrorism was used to instill fear in the people and justify one-party control over the country. Thom Hartmann parallels the two regimes beautifully in his article, 'When Democracy Failed – 2005, The Warnings of History' available at: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0222-22.htm
Since Cheney and Rumsfeld have dropped the F-bomb, it's open season for America to have an honest dialogue on exactly what regime most closely resembles fascism. I'm afraid in this case; we have to say that USA is number one.
Today, the Republican Party has thuggishly taken over America using many of Hitler's tactics and a few he'd never have thought of. Hitler's fascist regime used the media to brainwash the public into believing Jews were a threat to the state. In America's present-day fascism, Democrats and liberals are branded as enemies of the motherland that 'embolden the terrorists.' The lie that 'liberals control the media,' is repeated unchallenged while it is a fact that Republicans have gained huge advantages since dismantling The Fairness Doctrine (that prevented political domination of the public airwaves) and gave mega-media corporations ownership of multiple stations within a given region. One media company can control everything you hear, read or watch on TV, and even with the illusion of competition amongst the 5 big media companies, all broadcasts present the same stories the same way with only nuanced differences.
You can hardly spin the dial on the radio or TV without landing on some conservative commentator deriding all things liberal or progressive. It is pounded into the brains of the public that Democrats are this, that and the other thing while pundits avoid reporting the actual damage Republicans have wrought by recklessly waging a disastrous war, fleecing American consumers through deregulation, and bankrupting the public coffers. The American news media are nothing but a sad joke – like a court jesters that entertain without ever upsetting the king.
The half of America that didn't vote for Bush and opposed the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq is framed as un-American within GOP talking points. Liberal is an unpopular word now, even though we like a barkeeper that pours liberally, or an employer that is liberal with their wages – though that is rare these days.
I'm sure the Jews of Nazi Germany were hopeful that their nightmare would pass as they meekly tried not to make a scene. But it took the Second World War to bring Hitler's fascist madness to an end. Too many Democrats have hidden their core beliefs and gone along with the Republican referendum. That appeasement has been the undoing of democracy in America and helped to make this a one-party nation.
The seemingly superior Republicans presently holding all the cards have essentially nullified the Democratic Party. Significant election fraud has been documented in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections that likely gave Bush 2 unearned presidencies. It seems the few times elections have been contested; Republicans own the high courts. In San Diego's 50th District, Republican shenanigans saw to it that Brian Bilbray was sworn into office just one week after the June 6 election – before all of the votes were counted and the election was even certified. Swearing in Bilbray essentially means that the election can only be contested by an act of congress and we know that's just not going to happen. What a fittingly crooked way for the GOP to replace Randy 'Duke' Cunningham!
But unlike Jews in Nazi Germany, we have inalienable rights, according to the founding documents this nation once treasured and protected. Media corporations now package our news, just like every other commodity is boxed or wrapped for America's consumption, but the public is catching on that there's no substance to what is being sold.
Based on issues and not politics, people are turning out in greater numbers at various public demonstrations. This outward frustration correlates to the lack of access and dialogue citizens have in government and media. More citizens are writing to newspapers and other publications. Whether the issue is illegal immigration, voting integrity, or the war in Iraq, more people here and abroad are taking it to the streets.
Free speech is still a guaranteed right in this country, and it's best to use it before we lose it. Republicans may rule into perpetuity, but good Americans will never go silently into the abyss. Many of us still believe in the ideal of a government of, by and for the people.
Progressive people don't have to hide in the attic. We can publish our diaries in blog form on the Internet. We can come together at community meetings, discuss the issues and have the open dialogue that is painfully absent in government chambers and on our former public, now privatized, airwaves. And when needed, we will take it the streets, because when pushed, Americans have never been meek about defending our democracy.
The protests of the 1960's helped bring an end to the Vietnam War in the 1970's. It is natural for people to stand up when political ideologies undermine human values. Fascism once again threatens this old world and this time it's taken a foothold on our own soil. In World War II, 'V' was for victory. In the 21st century, V is for voices.
'People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.' (V for Vendetta, the movie)
-Paul Jacobs is a voting activist in California
From
