[extropy-chat] so is America fascist yet?

[Jeff Medina]

While some of the actions you list might rightly be called fascist,
your listing them certainly does not support your claim that the Bush
administration is "less fascist" than the others. A rather more
comprehensive comparison between the full programs of the various
administrations would be needed to determine that in a reasonable
sense.

Also, see the links I provided for an explanation of what
characterizes fascism [in annotated bullet point format in the case of
the first link, quite referenceable] as I mean it here if you'd
seriously like to compare "degree of fascism" across American
presidencies.


On Thu, 27 Jan 2005 09:35:25 -0800 (PST), Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> --- 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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