The 14 Characteristics of Fascism, Part 4

Another in our series on the 14 Characteristics of Fascism and how the Republicans and BushCo in particular use them. -Dusty

PART IV: THE SUPREMACY OF THE MILITARY
Essay 2: The Recruitment of Skinheads, and Nazis
By BibleBelted

And to think there was a time when we thought the Bush Administration only anted to exploit the troops by using them as props, as propaganda tools whenever he wanted to boost his sagging approval ratings. Now we know differently. It isn’t only a matter of exploiting those troops who are truly honorable, but also a matter of attracting sadistic bullies, thugs, and hatemongers on the far right. Since this article was written in the summer of 2005 we have learned that the United States military, in an attempt to meet quotas, has lowered the bar and has been recruiting–of all things– criminals, addicts, and more chillingly, skinheads and Nazis.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center the United States Military has now been infested with NeoNazis and skinheads who hope to use their military training here at home. How bad is it? The following quote comes from a right wing hate blog:

“Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman’s war,” he wrote. “It will be house-to-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and ‘cleansed.”

Ask yourselves this: Can this be a coincidence? When you look at the Bush Administration’s attitude towards civil liberties, at the Administration’s almost obsessive desire to know what every American is doing at almost any time, and it’s basic contempt for the Constitution, is it really too hard to believe that the Administration secretly approves of goons like the one who I quoted above? Granted, the Administration isn’t as flamboyant as the Skin Heads or the Aryan Nation, but when you look at some of their policies the similarities are indeed stunning.

*Nazis hate both, nonwhites and representative government. Bush and his cronies are doing everything in their power to legalize discrimination against nonwhite voters.

*Nazis typically believe in a strong central government, in dictatorship. George W. Bush hasn’t only made off the cuff remarks about how his job would be so much easier if he were a dictator, he has done everything in his power to centralize the power of the three branches of government in the presidency, creating a unitary executive branch in which the Legslative and judicial branches are either meaningless or mere rubber stamps for the Fuhrer select.

*Nazis are obsessed with flags and symbols. George W. Bush and the Republican Party are also obsessed with symbolism, and wrap themselves in the flag whenever they want to score points with troglodytitic, Republican voters.

*Aryans and skinheads are virulently homophobic–so of course we have the Bush Administration and the Rabid Christian Reich trying to impose bans on everything from gay marriage and civil unions to gay adoptions and equal employment opportunities for gays and lesbians.

*Nazis typically single out specific groups for scapegoating (persecution). The rhetoric against gays and immigrants in this country sounds as if it were written by Heinrich Himmler.

*During the 1920s and 1930s the Hitler regime clamped down on the free press. Today George W. Bush and authoritarian followers bark treason against the so called liberal media whenever the government is caught spying on the personal affairs of the American people.

At a first glance you would think that this is the last thing that the Bush Administration would want. But when you think about it a little more deeply you realize that it actually plays right into their hands. This Administration has thrived on the fear of the American people since Bush was lucky enough to have 911 occur on his very neglectful watch. Since September 2001, the Bush Administration has done everything in its power to promote fear and terror of its own. The game plan could not be more clear. The American people tend to become more aggressive and more conservative when they are fearful, and this Administration isn’t about to do anything that will alleviate that fear. Instead, it will propose policies that sound tough and defiant to the Republican base and which will deliberately provoke the terrorists, virtually guaranteeing a climate of fear and suspicion in which the Administration can continue its usurpation of our Constitutional rights. Nothing sounds more frightening than an angry terrorist threatening vengeance on the evening news, and this Administration has become quite adept at tweaking the noses of terrorists and in so doing extracting the kind of rabid, verbal remarks that inflict terror and paranoia. Which of course does little to win public opinion in the Middle East, but if your ultimate objective is perpetual warfare (think Orwell’s 1984), perpetual fear, and perpetual totalitarianism at home, then you really don’t need to worry about winning the propaganda war, because doing so will only create a climate of safety and comfort in which the American people will want to reclaim their civil rights.

And as we all know by now security and ultimate victory are only empty words that the President and his handlers use when they want to sound patriotic. The last thing they want is a definitive victory and they certainly don’t want to put the American people at ease.

Not when their unique brand of domestic fear-mongering has worked so well for them in the past.

End Essay 2

SPECIFIC SOURCES FOR BOTH ESSAYS IN PART IV
WEBSITES:

Out of School and Into the Military
by Soffia Jarrin-Thomas
Z Magazine online (February 2006)
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Feb2006/thomas0206.html

No Child Left Behind by Military Recruiters
by Leah C, Wells
Published December 6, 2002 by commondreams.org
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1206-08.htm

Military Recruiters Accessing Pupil Data
By Jennifer Mrozowski
Published by The Cincinnati Enquirer (online edition)
January 6, 2003
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/01/06/loc_military06.html

“Some Things You Should Know About
Media Violence and Media Literacy”
Published by the American Academy of Pediatrics
June 6, 1995
http://www.aap.org/advocacy/childhealthmonth/media.htm

Higher education funding cuts prompt public outcry
By Bradley Gwendolyn
Academe, May/June 2001
Published at Look Smart Find Articles
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3860/is_200105/ai_n8940960?cm_ven=YPI

Compromising Our Future
(Sudden cuts in federal education spending demonstrate government priorities gone awry
By the Crimson Staff
June 6, 2006
Published at The Harvard Crimson
http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513735

Globalization, Low Wages and U. S. Foreign Policy
By John F. Cowan
July 22, 1996
http://home.pacbell.net/jfcowan/econ/TWWAGES.HTM

Working…and Poor
By Michelle Conlin and Aaron Bernstein
Business Week online
May 31, 2004

Manipulating the Faucet of Fear
by Ellen Goodman
From the online edition of the Seattle Times
April 14, 2006
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2002929123_goodman14.html

Hate Groups are Infiltrating the Military
By John Kifner
Published: July 7, 2006
Online Edition of the New York Times

War on terrorism
Project for the Center for Media and Democracy
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=War_on_terrorism
As of this writing, last modified September 5, 2006

Sphere: Related Content