Did the US lose WWII ?The Most Dangerous Phase of Trump’s Rule (7/10/2020)There have always been fascists in the US making up a part of the Republican party. They have become mainstream and are ready to take over government and change it to a dictatorship. They openly say they would shred the Constitution and that alone should prevent them from taking an oath for high office. The war against fascism has come home. WWII defeated Fascism, at least temporarily, although the virus remains and has metastasized, apparently the political right is ascendant world-wide. The Republican party has always had a fascist fringe, but Trump made it mainstream. In the contest for good government, it is democracy vs dictatorship. Republicans, to gain power, divide people so they fight each other, wage a culture war to remove fundamentally important parts of history from education: racism, gender studies, holocaust, genocide, slavery. Maybe that's why this generation seems to have forgotten why we fought WWII. America was great when FDR got us out of the depression with the FDIC, New Deal, created the WPA, drafted the four freedoms, soon after came the Second Bill of Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN and international economic institutions, the IMF, World Bank were designed for economic stability and to prevent war. Churchill spoke about a United States of Europe. The EU erased national boundaries, allowed people to move freely among European countries, created a common currency, and a federal government. It looks to be threatened by a right-wing resurgence assisted by Russia and Trump's US. Cambridge Analytica's use of Facebook helped to accomplish Brexit. After WWII the highest US marginal tax rate was over 90%, Ike famously warned about the military-industrial complex, the Marshall Plan helped reconstruction after war devastation. Republicans never liked the FDR vision or the New Deal including the economic stabilizers, the international institutions and, over decades, reversed a lot of it with the assistance of oligarchs and the religious right. They call it socialism now. They steadily reduced high marginal tax rates removing the burden from the wealthy, busted unions, empowered corporations, attacked democracy, sunk the middle class. Income inequality soared. They scorned human rights in their ruinous, pointless, forever wars. Most Americans valued the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, ¨Give me your tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free ¨. The US had fairly soft borders. Poor Mexicans or South Americans could work seasonally picking crops or doing jobs Americans did not want. There was no border emergency then, but migration has become a GOP wedge issue that they have no interest in resolving. It motivates their base. However, if the President can declare an emergency at any time, then the Congress no longer has the power of the purse, yet another assault on the Constitution. Flaws in the original Constitution enabled Republican Presidents, assisted by election rigging including gerrymandering, voter suppression, foreign meddling, to win without the popular vote. As Republican tax cuts put increasing burden on taxpayers, growing wealth inequality resulted in government that no longer does what people, when polled, want. Democracy slowly withered away. After WWII, the US was the last major country standing, helped recovery from the war, but itself became an empire. It built the largest standing military in the world, engaged in many pointless wars, and didn't take care of the well being of people at home. Fascist, authoritarian, racist, self-serving billionaires took over an illegitimate government that slowly overturned all of the formerly high values for which the US was admired. US fought many small wars for investors and failed to support popular movements. Terrorist blowback or mass immigration should have surprised no one. It all went well until Reagan, who brought fascism back again. Appointing John Roberts to the Supreme Court ended the Voting Rights Act, allowed gerrymandering, opened the floodgates of big dark money, made corporations people, busted unions, Rupert Murdoch became a US citizen and the fair use doctrine was eliminated. Big tax cuts went to corporations and the wealthy exacerbating wealth disparities. It has been all down hill toward fascism every since. None of this could be accomplished were it not for media concentration and more intense propaganda. The US electorate doesn´t know a lot of what government is doing because it operates in secret and big dark money enabled by Citizens United funds propaganda, buys elections, and lobbys Congress. Republican policy ended the good times ended with the election of Reagan who accelerated wealth inequality and the decline of the middle class. made it ok to dismantle unions, since the GOP hates democracy in the workplace as much as they do at political level. Progressivity was removed from taxes and made everything more expensive including College tuition, social programs, and allowed infrastructure to deteriorate. It has been all downhill for the middle class since Reagan. He undid the fairness doctrine and let Rupert Murdoch in to broadcast GOP propaganda. Infrastructure decayed as Republicans cut taxes and imposed austerity, although it would have made sense to maintain it since interest rates were low. Instead Republicans passed tax cuts for the wealthy. Republicans, over decades, revoked FDR’s high values. They spurn international institutions like the UN, the ICC, and even NATO which are indispensable for existential global threats like climate damage or nuclear proliferation (which they oppose). Under Trump they downsized the State Department, bloated the military, withdrew from international agreements, and formed a new axis of authoritarians. The Supreme Court in Bush v Gore not only cast doubt on the legitimacy of elections, but also effectively stopped any mitigation of climate damage. In the Heller decision SCOTUS allowed robust gun rights which made the US a shooting gallery. Corporate supremacy crippled the power of unions and Citizens United shoved the US toward Fascism. The effect of weakened unions, corporate empowerment, the flood of money into politics, meant that oligarchs could buy elections to control the political process and so could foreign operatives such as Russia. The middle class shrunk as the very wealthy gamed the system for their own benefit. It was not trickle down, but Niagra up. After 9/11 government created a vast 'homeland security' bureacracy, tightened travel restrictions, curtailed civil liberties with the Patriot Act, and created the national security state. Congress abrogated its power to declare war when it passed the AUMF, the Authorization for Use of Military Force, and allowed the forever wars. Despite Ike's warning, the military-industrial-congressional complex won. Bush lied to go to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that lasted for decades, cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars, and achieved nothing. Trump refused Congress oversight and blocked their requests. He packed the Courts with loyalists, but defied the Courts if they disagree with him. His personal lawyer who headed the DOJ represented his interests, not the countries. Checks and balances are apparently no longer functioning. Republicans can barely keep the government open. Billionaire Republicans despise democracy and suppress it in every way possible, suppress science, pander to religious right (but only Christians), refuse to acknowledge the necessity for a sustainable environment. This is US government by Republicans. Fascism is a late stage of capitalism in which extreme income inequality places governing power in the hands of a few wealthy individuals. Institutions are beholden to such government so media is purged to favor propaganda. Elections are rigged to favor minority rule. Racism and religion are exploited using wedge issues like abortion, gender conformity. Political opponents and dissidents are punished. Compare the attributes of Nazi Germany to those of present day US: a strong man head of state with a cult-like following, increasingly pandered to by his party, a heavily armed group of supporters, robust military expansion that sacrifices basic needs of the people, huge tax gifts to wealthy supporters from deficit spending of $1.5 trillion, even more wealth is extracted from people by privatizing, deregulating, and allowing corporations to be unleashed, flagrant racism, right wing propaganda, and human rights abuse, and violent political and racist intimidation become normal. The dictionary definition of fascism is rule by corporations. Given the universal surveillance that is part of all electronic communications, how is it possible to argue the US is not a Fascist state… and of course it is number one in incarcerations, world's largest military, arms supplier, and nuclear armaments. GOP leader says opposition are vermin, a a threat from within justifying violence. First day in office he would invoke the Insurrection Act, invoke military for sweeping raids, mass deportations, giant camps, replace the civil service with loyalists along with other destructive measures in project 2025. The US has been addicted to war ever since WWII, and lost every one: Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, and many others. The US may have bankrupted itself in pursuit of empire. It looks as though those wars was partly for the benefit of investors. Because Republicans support corporate supremacy, an authoritarian leader, deny the looming threat of climate change, boosted military spending, and have started a new nuclear arms race. They are on a path for destruction. They are a suicide cult like Jim Jones, only for the entire planet. If they bring Fascism home, we lost WWII. The mass shootings are a sign that the wars have come home. We are headed for dystopia, climate collapse, and extinction should Republicans continue as usual.
Missed OportunityBernie Sanders proposals are remarkably similar to FDR´s: a living wage, health care for all, paid leave, free public Colleges, strong social supports. All good investments without which we are on a path to the bottom and ultimate climate devastation.
Make America great again by voting out Republicans and consider substantial change to the Constitution. Here is what to expect when Republicans win.
"Tell Trump you didn't learn from Hitler. You can't fight on two fronts. You can't take on radical Islam and China. You will end up in the bunker, like Hitler." Milos Zeman, president of the Czech Republic in discussion with Steve Bannon. Conditions are now similar to those before previous World Wars, could be a WW III. The “disintegration” of global capitalism could unleash world war 3, warns top EU economist. Video“The End of America”: Feminist Social Critic Naomi Wolf Warns US in Slow Descent into Fascism Bibliography‘Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism,’ by Rachel Maddow It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders American Nightmare, Facing the Challenge of Fascism, Henry A. Giroux How Fascism Works, The Politics of Us and Them: Jason Stanley The Road to Unfreedom, Timothy Snyder How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America Heather Cox Richardson The Rise of the Fourth Reich, Jim Marrs How Democracies Die: Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt From Fascism to Populism in History: Federico Finchelstein Hitler´s American Friends, The Third Reich´s Supporters in the United States: Bradley W. Hart Fascism: A Warning, Madeleine Albright The United States of Fear: Tom Englehardt (see TomDispatch.Com) Democracy
Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism: Sheldon S. Wolin The anatomy of fascism: Robert O Paxton America at War With Itself : Henry A, Giroux Transatlantic Fascism: Ideology, Violence, and the Sacred in Argentina and Italy, 1919-1945: Federico Finchelstein Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law: James Q. Whitman Kennedy and Roosevelt: The Uneasy Alliance: Michael Beschloss and James MacGregor Burns Big Business and Hitler: Jacques R. Pauwels Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII: John Cornwell Hitler's Religion: The Twisted Beliefs that Drove the Third Reich: Richard Weikart Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler: Antony C. Sutton Republic, Lost: How Money Corrupts Congress and a Plan to Stop It: Lawrence Lessig links). Download this excellent, free book: pdf download. The Suffocation of Democracy: Christopher R. Browning 10/25/2018 THE DEATH OF DEMOCRACY, Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic By Benjamin Carter Hett Failed States, Noam Chomsky No Is Not Enough, Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need: Naomi Klein. On Tyranny, Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century: Timothy Snyder Democracy Betrayed, The Rise of the Surveillance Security State, William W. Keller Can It Happen Here ? Cass Sunstein collection of essays. Our Damaged Democracy: Joseph Califano Jr. The Crisis Of The Middle-Class Constitution, Why Economic Inequality Threatens Our Republic: Ganesh Sitaraman FIRE AND FURY, Inside the Trump White House: Michael Wolff Antifa, The Anti-Fascist Handbook: Mark Bray The Counterrevolution, How Our Government Went to War Against Its Own Citizens: Bernard E. Harcourt Democracy in Chains, The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan For America: Nancy MacLean (2017) The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger & How to Save It, Yascha Mounk RATF**KED, The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America’s Democracy: David Daley War on peace : the end of diplomacy and the decline of American influence. Ronan Farrow. American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America Chris Hedges. God
And the Fascists, the Vatican alliance with Mussolini, Franco, Hitler and Pavelic: Karlheinz Deschner Constantine's Sword (a history of anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church based on James Carroll's book of the same name. Explores the link between the U.S. military and the Christian right.) The Doomsday Machine, Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner: Daniel Ellsberg IBM and the Holocaust, Edwin Black Winner Take All Politics: Hacker and Pierson The Case For Impeachment: Allan J. Lichtman Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy: Jacob S., Hacker and Paul Pierson Wages of Rebellion, the Moral Imperative of Revolt: Chris Hedges Hitler's American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law, James Q. Whitman Battlefield America: the War on the American People: John W.Whitehead Blowback: America's Recruitment of Nazis and Its Destructive Impact on Our Domestic and Foreign Policy: Christopher Simpson Anatomy of Fascism: Robert O. Paxton
Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism: Sheldon S. Wolin American Swastika: Charles Higham Authoritarianism
and Polarization in American Politics: Marc Hetherington and Jonathan Weiler The End of America: Naomi Wolf Facing Fascism: Jerry Sorlucco Bloodthirsty Bitches and Pious Pimps of Power: Gerry Spence American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America Chris Hedges. Antifa, The Anti-Fascist Handbook: Mark Bray When Corporations Rule the World: David Korten It Can Happen Here Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush: Joe Conason. Iron Fists: Branding the 20th Century Totalitarian State: Steven Heller It Can't Happen Here: Sinclair Lewis IBM and the Holocaust, Edwin Black The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt Fascism in Action: A Documented Study and Analysis of Fascism in Europe (Free to Download) The Nazis Next Door: How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men: Eric Lichtblau Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America: Annie Jacobsen See here. |