Helping Our Peninsula's Environment

By Dr. Lawrence Britt

Dr. Lawrence Britt, a political scientist, wrote an article about fascism, which appeared in Free Inquiry magazine -- a journal of humanist thought. Dr. Britt studied the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile). He found the regimes all had 14 things in common, and he calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism. The article is "Fascism Anyone?," Lawrence Britt, Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20.

The 14 characteristics are:

D. Dilworth's questions about our United States:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottoes, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

Notice any increase in flags recently?

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

In the past two years the US military killed thousands of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq. It has endorsed torture of 9-11 suspects, kidnapped "suspects" ("extraordinary rendition") and put them in overseas CIA prisons to torture them "outside the jurisdiction of the US," wiretapped every phone call, fax and email, and secretly held US citizens without access to attorneys or courts.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

Even though Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9-11, Bush vilified him for it and used as an excuse to wage war and take full control of Iraq's massive oil reserves.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

The US Military budget is the world's largest (even though we have no threat as we did during the Cold War); it is larger than the world's next 5 largest military budgets combined.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

No woman has ever been elected US President. The Equal Rights Amendment has yet to pass in the US. Even in states which guarantee some equality (e.g. California) women still are paid substantially less for the same job.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes access to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

See Project Censored at Sonoma State University which has operated since 1992.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

G.W. Bush's administration has issued eight (8) false threats of new terrorist attacks on us as of 2003. The fear climate caused the US Congress to pass what has been called the Dictator Act (extremely misleadingly misnamed as the Patriot Act).

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

What do you think?

No US President has been elected without proclaiming his religious affiliation.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

The US is run exclusively by those elected with corporate and business campaign contributions - from the President down to and including all state offices and most local government offices.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

The Taft-Hartley Act in the 1950's is a powerful anti-union law.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

National Endowment for the Arts vs. Senator Jesse Helms filibusters?

However, I am not aware of any academics who have been singled out for arrest.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses, and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

In Florida, some 70 percent of prisoners were jailed for drug related "crimes" that did not exist 70 years ago.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

Why no investigation of --

"V.P." Dick Cheney & Halliburton, and "President" Bush and Harken Energy's role in our energy crisis.

The (3-2) FCC media concentration ruling opposed by 99.9 percent of the public comments. The chairman (voting for it) was Colin Powell's son.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Bush vs. Gore 2000. The US Supreme Court voted 5-4 to seat Bush.

Bush was seated even though no one disputes that a majority of votes were against him.

Why no investigation of the plane crash which took the life of John Ashcroft's Senate opponent? Ashcroft lost anyway and was appointed Attorney General by Bush.

Why no investigation of Paul Wellstone's plane crash?

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