[extropy-chat] so is America fascist yet?

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Jeff Medina <analyticphilosophy at gmail.com> wrote:

> For what it's worth (seeing as I'm not the original target of the
> query):
> 
> I do not find the fascist moniker much of an exaggeration (if at
> all),
> am utterly disgusted by the administration, and have multiple friends
> who voted for Bush in both elections. A number of whom have openly
> stated they believe Bush is moving America towards Christian
> theocracy, and that this is the Right Direction for both the country
> and the world.
> 
> I'm curious - on what construal of "fascist" is the Bush
> administration *not*? For all the scoffing at the term, I've yet to
> come across a genuine explication of what fascism is alongside how
> Bush isn't it. Certainly, I've seen plenty of rants about how Bush
> clearly isn't murdering dissenting citizens the way some other
> fascist systems have, but this is a distinction in degree, not type.
> 

I suppose, in that regard, he is less fascist than Wilson (who approved
the execution of American citizens who dodged military service), Hoover
(who approved MacArthur's killing hundreds of veterans in the Bonus
Army massacre), Roosevelt, who approved the Japanese internment,
implemented the largest confiscations of property rights in US history,
had quite a number of draft dodgers executed (as well as 6 American
Nazi saboteurs), and approved the turning away of hundreds, if not
thousands, of jewish refugees seeking escape from the Nazis... Then you
have Truman who turned over many thousands of Russian POWs to Stalin,
(who had them executed), allowed the USSR to jump into Japan and seize
half of Korea and Vietnam and China, and left office with an approval
rating of 23%. You then have Kennedy and Johnson who engineered the
Vietnam war, its draft, and surveillance upon hundreds, if not
thousands of opposition figures...


=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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