“Fascist States of America” Series #5: Parsing the Message…
[Note: This series will focus entirely on combatting fascism in America and around the world with my only weapon, words. (I’m not an NRA member!) It’s not antifa per se; it’s pro democracy. If you recognize words blasting your political preferences here, you’re part of the problem! To the rest of you, don’t worry about me. The fascist plutocracy of the 0.1% doesn’t do their own dirty work; and their toadies who do, don’t read very much, like their lord and savior, Donald J. Trump. So I doubt these essays will even hurt my book sales, mostly because that same plutocracy has already determined they will be low!]
Let’s get one thing straight: America’s potentially fatal sickness doesn’t depend on semantics; the words used to describe it are irrelevant. How the fascist plutocracy treats the sick patient is what’s terribly wrong and un-American. Differences between “fascism” and other names for the sickness are akin to the difference between “flatulence” and “fart”: both words describe a stench. America is no longer a democracy or republic—it’s a country where a fearful plutocracy does its best to ensure that it survives so they can become richer at the expense of the rest of us. Wealth distribution in America is the worst it has been during its previous history. You might call it “us vs. them,” but it’s really more “plutocracy vs. the common people.” It is in that sense that we now have the Fascist States of America.
I’ve discovered a little book (ooh, maybe a second book review this week?) that makes many of the points I’ve made in this series, probably doing it better than I have…except for semantics. Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson in Let Them Eat Tweets use the term “plutocratic populism” for “fascism.” I don’t understand why so many like them are afraid of the word fascism. I started this series with part of Wikipedia’s definition: “Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy….” That’s plutocratic populism as defined by those authors. Let’s not sugarcoat it by avoiding the word fascism.
Otherwise, I have to give credit where credit is due: Those authors have analyzed the hell out of our current conundrum, the turn to fascism in America driven by s plutocracy that uses the tools of outmoded institutions of American government and exploits fanatics who believe they’ve been stepped on (they have been, but by the plutocracy and their serfs, the Good Ole Piranhas). These fanatics are generally white males, who are uneducated, blue collar or rural, and religious to the extreme. They have been left behind and are unprepared for existence in the modern world, and they’re stupid enough to drink the plutocracy’s Kool-Aid.
There’s only a semantical disagreement in our analyses. When democracy dies, a rich plutocracy is usually to blame, creating the fascist state in service to that plutocracy. Call it what you like, but ancient Rome, Russia in the early 20th century, Germany later on, and now the US and too many European states, have turned to fascism. The patricians in Rome, the Communist elites in Russia, big corporations in Nazi Germany, backers of Fidesz in Hungary and the AKP in Turkey, and the American elites backing the Good Ole Piranhas are the villains here; they’re the plutocrats. Plutocracy is the enemy, not ideologies. It has always tried to enrich its members, always a minority, at the expense, health, and wishes of other people. This is fascism, folks, plain and simple, and that plague has never been eradicated.
That said, I can recommend this book. (My only real quibble is with its stupid title, which has little relation to the discussion contained therein.) It’s a sound political analysis of what can destroy America and even the rest of the planet if we let it. As weapons become more and more lethal, repeating the error of fascism over and over again can become the deadliest plague this planet has known. It could destroy everything we hold dear. The plutocrats depend on lackeys like Nero, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Erdogan, Orban, Putin, and yes, that “f&^%ing moron” himself, Donald J. Trump and all his cronies, to do their bidding. He and other psychotics control WMDs that can be delivered at the touch of the button, and the plutocracy is setting us up for that.
I’ll finish with a quote from Hacker and Pierson’s little book: “Trump was potentially the metastasis of a malignant cancer [fascism]. American voters removed the tumor, but our democracy is still very sick.” I’ll just edit a bit: “…still very sick because the plutocracy isn’t yet done with us as long as it’s alive.” Fascist plutocracy is still breathing in America, and that breath is like a dragon’s, ready to blaze across America and the world…unless we stop it.
***
Comments are always welcome.
Free fiction anyone? Everyone seems to be looking for book deals and freebies. If you’re in that group, here’s an offer for you! Go to my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page to see a list of free PDF downloads and follow the directions to download free stories. The short fiction listed there covers my three genres—mysteries, thrillers, and sci-fi (some are combined in one story). Heinlein popularized the acronym TANSTAAFL, short for “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch,” but you might find the short stories and novellas listed here to be a tasty free snack to prepare you for the full meal of one of my novels. Enjoy!
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
